Fallout 3

Somehow I missed the bandwagon on Fallout 3 when it came out a year ago, but while the DLC slowly poured out, my interest started to pique again as the game's promises were finally seeking my curiosity.  The result was one of the most conflicting feelings of brilliance and joylessness ever conceived with a game and its gameplay.

The biggest strength of Fallout 3 is its setting. The mix of retro-50s and futurism is a brilliant mix, and while the story of the apocalypse is more or less pieced together by the viewer if they so choose, it's all very compelling and it's frankly hard to take your eyes off of it. And while the setting does offer many questions, it offers so many pleasant distractions to keep you occupied, you're just so enthralled with it all. From your time in the Vault, to when you first enter the outside world, to putting a dish on top of the Washington Monument, you're loving every moment of taking in the sights and the details. And while the story is interesting, it's more or less a path to take you across the world the game has created, even if that means placing very deliberate obstacles to lead you in one direction or another. Then of course, you can wander off the path and take on all these different sidequests that range in worth and interest, but there are still a few interesting diversions to find in the Wastes.

But perhaps the most memorable sequence in the entire game is a little place called "Tranquility Lane." You see, it's actually a simulation, but it's a simulation of a little circle of houses run by a madman scientist that has taken the form of a little girl. The atmosphere is a direct copy of a 50s sitcom ala Leave It To Beaver, complete with friendly neighbors and background music. You can leave the simulation and complete your quest here one of two ways, simply investigate and activate items in a creepy abandoned house, or cause mayhem. The mayhem is especially fun. Your first task will be to make a boy at a lemonade stand cry. You can do this by killing his mother... That'll bring some tears. You must then break up a marriage. Convincing the wife that the husband is a cross-dresser by planting ladies underwear on his workbench should do the trick. Then, kill everybody left on Tranquility Lane. A large knife and a hockey mask should do the trick. So sick, but so twistedly brilliant. The game certainly makes it more rewarding, and easier to play as an evil character. But also interesting, you can kill any character in the game at any point. Sure, it may disrupt the course of the game and how much you get done, but the option is always there.

But then again, the combat is annoying and not fun in the least. In my experience at least, there simply isn't enough health packs and ammo to go around, and even though it is a true RPG, I felt myself managing the whole experience too much, to the point it just wasn't fun anymore. Especially when you are carrying too many items, you walk at an incredibly slow pace, making transportation utter torture. Then upon looking around, I found a cheat called "God Mode." Problem solved. I don't have to worry about dying, or managing my inventory too much. However, it's pretty sad when you need a cheat to make a game playable, much less fun.

And if the main story wasn't enough, you have the DLC.

Operation Anchorage: While it could have been more detailed on the setting, since it is pre-war, the location is nice and the combat situations are decent.

The Pitt: Didn't interest me as you were dealing with slavers and raiders the whole time, which I didn't find interesting during the main storyline.

Broken Steel: It serves as a continuation to the story more than anything else. You essentially get to the see the consequences of your actions from the ending of the main game, which is very satisfying. And while the combat situations don't work, or any of the main quests, this works on story, and it gives you a very interesting choice at the end.

Point Lookout: I didn't love the atmosphere, but it's certainly the interesting in its setting and story. It even gets pretty trippy in spots.

Mothership Zeta: Yeah, they kind of jumped the shark here. Aliens? Really? The weapons are good, but that's pretty much it.

Also, if you played the game with GNR Radio on as much as I did, then you probably got a heavy overload of the 30s/40s/50s soundtrack. All of the songs fit the game, and frankly, they gave me a better appreciation for their genre of music. Certainly not what you'd expect. I mean, I found myself getting songs by The Ink Spots and Danny Kaye stuck in my head! So, well-played for such a tiny aspect of the game.

Overall, getting through the main story and the DLC took me under 40 hours to complete, with the DLC taking up about half of that time. Now certainly, the Game of the Year Edition is a great deal, and you should at least play it once for the setting, but I don't really have the urge to play it a second time. The game just doesn't give you any reason to, and it wasn't fun enough to discover the world again. Not to mention, there were major issues with the combat and management of the game as a whole. I'll still check out New Vegas, but Fallout 4 certainly has a lot to improve on and fix to make the it not so disappointing, gameplay-wise at least.