GAMES WITHIN
GAMES
SIAN BRADLEY
I
n case you hadn't noticed, we quite like Fallout 4. We're Massachusetts-bound once more
here at Cubed as we
begin our Games within
Games series with one
of the most talked about
releases of 2015. There is
so much to explore in the
world outside Vault 111
that you could be forgiven for missing the mini
games that exist within
the game, but here's a
guide to the fun Pip Boybased distractions from a
post-apocalyptic wasteland that definitely needs
a couple more Donkey
Kong rip-off holotapes.
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Atomic Command
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The name is a bit of a giveaway, but Atomic
Command is a throwback to Atari’s Missile Command. Similarly, your task is to protect a city from
falling atom bombs by pointing and firing your own
missiles - because the more explosives the better.
There are eight levels with eight different locations
across America to protect including Boston. You
clearly already failed there - it’s in ruins.
This game can be found in the Museum of Freedom in Concord, upstairs near where you meet
Preston Garvey and his mismatched crew. The tape
is sat next to the working terminal in the room full
of rubble.
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Red Menace
And as you may expect, the first holotape game you come across
is a Donkey Kong clone. Instead of Mario rescuing his girlfriend, you
control a Vault Boy rescuing a female vault dweller from an angry tentacled beast. For those unfamiliar with the retro inspiration, the aim of
the game is to climb up various metal structures to reach the damsel
in distress at the top of the screen. Along the way, you have to dodge
obstacles and avoid enemies who will immediately send you to the
beginning.
The holotape can be found in the break room of Vault 111, so you can
start procrastinating from the real game right from the off.
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Pipfall
In this Pitfall! inspired romp, you must find five bobbleheads in as
many minutes while trying not to get lost in the maze-like environment
and avoiding a number of obstacles. It sounds simple, but you’ll soon
find that five minutes isn’t long at all. In fact, it may even be easier to
take on a group of Deathclaws using a baseball bat. Okay, not quite.
To find this holotape, you need to look in the boss room of Fort
Hagen Command Centre, lying underneath a desk near the boss’ own
terminal. Even evil has to take a break.
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Grognak and the Ruby Ruins
Rather than being based off of a single retro
game, Grognak and the Ruby Ruins instead bases
itself off of a very popular genre of the 80s, before
graphics allowed you to see the beads of sweat run
down the protagonist’s face - the text-based RPG.
Grognak sees you and your party setting off into
the big wide world to defeat the evil Grelok.
If you want to take a break from the wasteland to
do some reading, you can find this game lying in
the basement of Memory Den in Goodneighbour.
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Zeta Invaders
The mini-game that got everyone excited, Zeta Invaders is similar to
the hugely popular Space Invaders, where you must stop alien ships
before they land and take over the world, or whatever it is they plan to
do after getting their feet on the ground. You have three lives to get as
far as you can, with enemies increasing in speed with each level, so at
least your impending doom will be quick.
This game belongs to Nick Valentine and can be found in the back
corner of his office. No doubt ]