Fallout 3

Bethesda, known for their infamous Elder Scrolls series which are well known for being massive, expansive and will keep you entertained for a possible hundred hours of total gameplay. Fallout 3 is actually the first game by this company and generally, the series hasn’t had a real entry in the franchise since ten years ago when Fallout 2 was released onto the PC. However since then we have had two so, so spin off games Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel for the PC and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox but since the fall of the original developer, Black Isle Studios in 2003, the series was then in a state of purgatory and the future for the Fallout series was somewhat uncertain. There was a Fallout 3 in development by Black Isle which was similar to previous two proper Fallout games where the game was played in an isometric view and combat was handle via a turned-based battle system but the Fallout 3 that actually got released is a very different breed altogether. People are often referring to Fallout 3 as being “Oblivion” with guns but since The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was released to critical acclaim back for the Xbox 360 and PC back in early 2006, this is an amazing thing. Fallout 3 is still an awesome game though some of the same problems that plagued Oblivion stick out a bit more in 2008.

In Fallout 3, it starts off with your character being born out of of your mother’s womb and here you will be able to choose your character’s sex and your general appearance. The custom character options aren’t too amazing but they get the job done and you don’t see your character very often anyway. The game then goes forward in time to when you were a toddler, pre-teenager and up to present day. During these phases you are introduced to many of the games mechanics such as the basic controls, how to engage in combat and to some of the main characters. Things go well but after living your whole life in Vault 101 because it is safe from the outside world, you learn that your father has left the Vault and you leave the Vault and learn why he left and see where he has left.

Since Fallout 3 is an open-ended RPG, as soon as you leave the Vault, you are open to explore a very large and expansive area based around Washington D.C where there were supposedly several atom bombs that turned the place into a wasteland. Fallout 3’s environment has many different locations to explore and many different quests to partake outside of the main quest. The Main Quest of finding your father isn’t very long but it is inevitable that you are going to try and just explore the wasteland and doing the side-quests since it is so compelling. The only problem is that the side-quests aren’t highlighted in anyway and you are likely to possibly miss out on some of the quests. I have played over 40 hours of Fallout 3 and those 40 hours never felt stale or baron; it was very interesting and a very immersive experience.

Much of the time in Fallout 3, you will engage in combat and while the game at first looks like a first-person shooter; you should try and not play the game like one. The combat is in real time opposed to be turn-based like before and while you can fire like a first-person shooter, you can also attack using VATS which stands for the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System. This was placed in the game to make it seem more like older Fallout games where you targeted an enemy and then a different body part and there was a likelihood of how much damage you are going to do and if you are actually going to hit them. While this sounds like a bit like the old Fallout games, it isn’t in reality as you use VATS just to shoot off several shots and then you will finish the fight using real time combat. In the game there are both melee and ranged weapon attacks and there is a wide variety of weapons from sledgehammers and combat knives to assault rifles and miniguns. Combat is visceral and very satisfying but you will not confuse it with a real FPS as the controls aren’t as responsive as they usually are and it is often difficult to take down multiple enemies at the same time. As you use your weapons, the condition will get worse over time and weapon damage will be reduced and eventually the weapon will break all together. Weapon repairs are available but this is a sign that everything you do in Fallout 3 has consequences.

Speaking of consequences, Fallout 3 offers the player three different ways of dealing with the game’s situations. For example, you can be the general good person in the game, trying to find the more non-violent way of dealing with a quest or you can be a real jerk and kill innocents, steal items from people, lock pick doors that shouldn’t be picked etc. Being the bad person is generally easier as you can deal with a lot of situations by killing someone and taking what you need afterwards opposed to actually doing a mission for them. You can also be a neutral character which is simply a mix of both. This does drastically changes on how you play the game and it also affects some of the story as different characters will react differently towards you if you are and it will also affect what characters you can recruit to come with you and fight with you. Some characters will want to fight with you if you are good and vice versa. The Karma system is well implanted and fits into well into the game.

The graphics in Fallout 3 are definitely strong but they are not going to make you jump out of your seat. The game utilises the same engine that was used in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion which was an amazing looking game back in early 2006 but the same glitches and bugs that were in that game are mostly present in Fallout 3 which is a shame and it sticks out more than ever nowadays. The glitches are minor, such as odd character behaviour when characters jitter and sometimes they will just walk around and then run all of a sudden. Yeah, this is nitpicking but it dampens the great atmosphere that Fallout 3 is trying to create. The rest of the game looks great overall, especially the wasteland. have captured the essence that the wasteland is a baron, hostile environment and everyone who is there is simply trying to survive and make a living. The character models on the characters and enemies look great too display great detail and texture work. My only other complaint is when you are engaged in a conversation with another character, sometimes the lip-sync isn’t right and it just looks bizarre. Overall Fallout 3 is a very impressive game to look at both technically and artistically.

The sound in the game is actually generally more impressive than the graphics. The voice acting is wonderful with lots of different types of speech and all of it is well done. Actor Liam Neeson plays the role of Dad in the game and he provides an excellent performance. The sounds of action such as gunshots and the sound of a sledgehammer hitting a radscorpion is pretty delightful.

While Fallout 3 will definitely keep the player going for a very long time, it is only if the player wants to. If you just go through the main quest without partaking in the side quests, then the game is probably going to be 10-15 hours give or take to get through the game start to finish. This is still much longer than a lot of other games but you are not fully experiencing Fallout 3 to it’s fullest. For me it took over 40 hours as mentioned a lot of that time was just exploring the environment for weapons and loot and also trying to find the side quests which can be somewhat difficult to locate. As is the case with single-player based RPGs, this game has no multiplayer or anything of the sort so Fallout 3 might not have the longevity of other games but it should still last a long time granted you like it of course.

Overall, Fallout 3 is a great game and it should appeal to lots of different kinds of people such as first-person shooter fans or RPG fans, it does a good job of being fun for both types of players. Fallout 3 is one of the best RPG experiences I have ever had and is easily recommended.