We’re living in a golden age for video game adaptations. Recent hits like HBO’s “The Last of Us” series and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” were refreshing palette cleansers after decades of terrible movies and shows based on popular games. And it looks like Prime Video's new “Fallout” series is the latest success to add to the list.
Based on the best-selling gaming franchise currently stewarded by Bethesda Game Studios (but started in 1997 by a company called Interplay Entertainment), "Fallout" is a post-apocalyptic drama series set in a 1950s-inspired future.
That probably sounds like an oxymoron to those unfamiliar with the RPG games, but basically, it means that you can shoot enemies with an explosive laser rifle while listening to some classic jazz music at the same time.
“Fallout's" eight-episode first season debuts on Prime Video in just a matter of hours (Wednesday, April 10 at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT to be precise), and will chronicle the (mis)adventures of three characters in the nuclear-ruined wasteland of Los Angeles.
The show will focus on Lucy (Ella Purnell), a sheltered survivor raised in an underground vault, Maximus (Aaron Moten), a new recruit in the Brotherhood of Steel paramilitary group and Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins), a mutated gunslinger who survived the initial nuclear blast.
Ahead of the Prime Video original's debut today, select critics were given early access to the show, and their reviews are now dropping. Right off the bat, “Fallout” has early a strong reception and currently holds an impressive 91% score on Rotten Tomatoes from 35 reviews.
For comparison, at the time of writing, “Fallout” ranks ahead of Paramount Plus' “Halo” series which managed a 70% score for its first season (its recent second season improved with a 90% rating), and slightly behind HBO’s “The Last of Us” which scored 96% and won various awards earlier this year.
'Fallout' reviews — here’s what the critics say
BBC’s Neil Armstrong was particularly impressed by the show describing it as “both totally rad and an absolute blast” in a cheeky wink to the source material (rad is a status effect in the "Fallout" video games).
Vulture’s Nicholas Quah was also a fan of the Prime Video show: “There’s a lot to recommend with ‘Fallout,'" they said in a generally positive review.
“Finding a tonal balance between the drama and the comedy is a razor’s edge, but 'Fallout' makes it look effortless. As a result, spending time in this hardened world is as fun, engaging, and engrossing as the games,” said William Goodman of TheWrap.
Nick Schager of The Daily Beast labeled the show, “A monumental achievement of sci-fi world-building, presenting an alternately horrifying and exhilarating vision of a United States held together by little more than duct tape and Wonder Glue, unflagging optimism and ultra-violent mercilessness.”
Fans of the "Fallout" video game franchise will be pleased to know that the show appears to be respectful of its source material. “For those already invested in this atomic dust bowl, ['Fallout'] should prove a satisfying, if not sensational, extension of the franchise – just about more bang than whimper,” said the Independent’s Nick Hilton.
But among the majority of positive write-ups, there have been a few critics less impressed with Amazon’s big-budget small-screen adaptation. Brain Lowry of CNN has been one of the show’s toughest critics so far.
“As Season 1 concludes, there’s less a sense of anticipation for what comes next than general relief that this somewhat messy introduction, and the contortions to incorporate its eclectic roster of players, is over,” said Lowry.
Nevertheless, it does seem most critics think this is a show worth watching, and Amazon will surely be pleased with this initial reception. Of course, the next test will be the show’s biggest as it’ll have to win the approval of the most demanding group around: gamers.
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