Gaming Generations :: Fallout 3

NickD · Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 7:56 pm Post subject: Fallout 3

Fallout 3

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Bethesda Softworks
Official Website: http://fallout.bethsoft.com/index.html
Release Date: 10/28/2008
Genre: RPG
Number of Players: 1
ESRB Rating: Mature
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REVIEW

I've been excited about this game since I first heard about, as have countless numbers of people. Bethesda reinvented the Fallout series to have an Elder Scrolls style camera, but a much different look and feel.

PLOT

Your whole life has been spent in Vault-Tec vault, #101 to be exact. Your mother died in childbirth and you were raised by your father. One day, your father decides he's going to up and leave and he doesn't give you an reason as to why. Since there is strict policy on vault dwellers not leaving the vault, some people are quite upset about this. Thing is, you don't even realize your father's gone until your friend comes in and tells you that the Vault's Overseer, her father, is out to find you and capture or maybe even kill you. So, you decide to leave the Vault, killing or saving people along the way.

Once you're out, in what most of the D.C. Area residents call the Capital City Wasteland, you're free to do pretty much whatever you want. From this point, you can leave right away to Megaton and continue the main storyline, or you can run around and explore. The game is gigantic and you pretty much make your own story from there. Obviously, to beat the game you'll want to find the main quest, which involves you trying to find your father to see why he ran away.

SETTING

The ruins of Washington D.C. There are plenty of sites to see. The Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the White House, Arlington Cemetary, and the like. A large portion of the area has been reduced to ruins with a lot of the landscape being barren wasteland. There is a large underground subway system to explore as well.

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay in this game is not too unlike that of Oblivion, or any other shooter-like game, with a decent amount of changes. There are, however, some very interesting changes and additions that make this into a great roleplaying game.

Combat can be played like any other shooters. Or, you can use the impressive Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (VATS). Tapping the RB will stop gameplay and allow the player to choose where on an enemy they want to aim, telling them what chance they have of hitting them there and how much damage it will do. Strategically targeting is something that should be used to the player's advantage. Shooting an enemy in the head does more damage, but shooting their legs can slow them down. The interesting part is that your limbs can also be crippled, but they can be healed individually.

You almost always have a much better chance to hit a target's body than their head, and sometimes it will do nearly as much damage. However, some enemies have protected torsos, and shooting there becomes nearly worthless. All the damage assessments are also based on the condition of the weapon. Since weapons deteriorate with each firing, they also do less damage and become less accurate. This can be solved by repairing the weapons, either through your own skill using another weapon as parts, or at a weapons dealer.

Leveling up is not like Oblivion in any way. Instead of only increasing the skills you use, you assign points to whatever skills you want to. On top of that, each time you level up, you get to choose a perk. Perks can do many different things. Some increase the rate that you get experience, some increase your skills, and some allow you to get special bonuses against certain types of enemies. There are actually a ton of different perks and you won't be able to experience all of them in one play-through of the game.

There are a ton of choices to make within the game. You can go through all the side missions, you can look for all the little secrets, or you can go straight through the story. That is part of the beauty of this game. It is truly a sandbox game, made into an RPG. You can choose to be good, neutral, or bad throughout the game and the decisions you make during each interaction can affect your overall karma rating. I went through the game playing bad first, and some of the evil things that I could do just seemed really awkward for me to do. In fact, I didn't even want to do some of them, but I didn't want to gain many good points, so evil it was.

There are over 100 different locations to visit. Not all of them have something important or a quest to do, but they all fit with overall ruined D.C. Theme. Walking through the ruins gives you a great feel of the destruction that had been rained down on the U.S.'s capital. There are tons of enemies crawling around these ruins. Some of them are irradiated people: the zombie-like ghouls and the hulk-like Super Mutants. Or, you might come across raiders or mutated animals. The almost random attacks help to make the travel between locations less pointless and less like a long walk.

I'll stop right there so I don't spoil too much. This is a game that has, and needs, its surprises.

GRAPHICS

The graphics for this game are great, especially considering the overall size of the game. You may remember my review of Legendary. The graphics in Fallout 3 are BETTER than the graphics in Legendery, as are the clipping and general level design. It's not the best looking game on the 360, but that is forgivable since there is so much content.

SOUND

The sound is fantastic. The general background sound in the game and the sound guns, creatures, etc make all flow well. None of it is distracting in any way. The game's musical soundtrack is mostly made up of songs from the mid to late 40's. The game is set during 2077, but in the storyline, it all makes sense, if you pay attention to all that stuff. The music fits well within the overall feel of the game.

SUMMARY

This game is amazing. Depending on how you play, you might be able to experience more than 50 hours worth of gameplay in one playthrough, and yet still not see everything. Personally, I beat the game in just over 50 hours, and I had done every normal mission that was available. There were still plenty of locations to explore that I didn't go to, mainly since I wanted to be able to write my review as soon as possible.

As an extra warning, if you want to do as much as possible in the game, do it before you beat the last mission, otherwise the game will end and you won't be able to continue. Alternatively, reload an old save to go back and do extra stuff. You'll know which mission it is when you get to it.

This game is my new favorite game on the 360. Sure, this game isn't exclusive, but it is definitely a must-have if you like RPGs, sandbox games, or if you loved Oblivion.

The whole experience is just incredibly impressive. There are some really interesting characters and some even more interesting moral questions. This game makes you think quite a bit. What would you really do if a nuclear war destroyed nearly everything?

Overall Score: 9.5/10

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Pictures courtesy of GameSpot.com
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Nick
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Finished Reviews:
Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS)
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (DS)
Ninja Gaiden II
Battlefield: Bad Company (360)
Gears of War
Too Human
Dead Space (360)
Legendary (360)
EndWar (360)
Fallout 3
Fatal Frame II

Writer, Actor in Flingshot Productions