Hey, speaking of beating up things in the Wastelands...

Yeah, I could write a non adventure account of the Chosen one who ran out on his village, run guns and visit painted ladies for 20 years, but I think I just did. Besides, spending a weeks worth of caps and gecko skins on gutrot, gambling and questionable company doesn't sound too heroic. Sounds good for the New Reno tourism campaign though.

As for the Melee skills, I personally enjoy it, and this is just my opinion on some of the better aspects of it:

- It checks twice for chance of Critical Hit.

I think I read that somewhere in the manual, but I'm not quite sure if it means what I think it means. Either way, I have noticed that at comparable skill levels to Small Guns, it is easier to hit things with Melee.

- The top weapons for Melee is relatively easy to obtain and maintain.

If you fancy the supersledge, those don't use any ammo. Some don't like the knockback, but I find it to be an advantage when you put more distance between your enemies. If you like things that uses Small Energy Cells, those batteries can be found a plenty in FO2.

- Low Action Points attack.

With the appropriate perks, traits, and skill level, you can deliver about 2-3 deathblows before some people can fire an aimed shot.

Now, for the drawbacks.

- Face to face combat.

The easier approach to FO is to shoot & scoot. Doing the same with melee is a bit trickier. Not to mention there are critters that are very dangerous to melee with.

- No such thing as Burst Mode with punches.

I love the burst mode with guns, especially if you're firing from point blank. Maybe in FO3 there's going to be a "Fist of Flurry" perk. But until that happens, surrounded in melee can mean a 50\50 chance of walking away with severe wounds, or a game reload.

"Wastelands" is now hosted eh? Cool stuff, thanks for the heads up.