Fallout 3 Review
(There may be spoilers)
(There may be spoilers)
Fallout 3 is, as the more vigilant reader may have noticed, the third game in the highly successful Fallout series. It was developed and published by Bethesda Softworks, creators of the Elder Scrolls series, most recently Oblivion, which I was not a fan of. It was developed for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. This review is based on the PC version. Fallout 3 was released in 2008.
When your father leaves the Vault where you were born and have spent all your life, hell breaks loose as the Overseer, the leader of the Vault, goes to extreme methods to prevent any other escapes. You manage to escape the Vault and you step into the sunlight for the first time. After the temporary loss of sight from the bright sunlight, you are greeted by the ravaged ruins of Washington DC, the Capital Wasteland. From here on you are pretty much free to do what you want. Will you try and find your father? Or will bring terror to the already suffering inhabitants of the Wasteland? The choice is yours.
Fallout 3 is different from the other games in the Fallout series, (None of which I have played) mainly in the sense that you now play from a first-person perspective, (There is also a third person view, but I never used it) and that the combat is now real-time instead of turn-based. Fallout 3 has, on gameplay terms, more in common with Oblivion than with the previous Fallout games. Fallout 3 has sometimes been dubbed ?Oblivion with guns?.
The combat is the same as in most FPS's, but you have the option of using the VATS system, which enables you to pick out a specific part of the enemy that you want to fire at. This, however, uses action-points, so use it carefully as the action-points take a little while to regenerate.
The weapons aren't very varied, but you'll find some use for all of them (i.e. some are very powerful, but you won't find much ammo for it, or some are good at long range, but lose their edge on short range.).
Like the other games Bethesda has made, Fallout 3 features a fast-travel in the map. This is a good thing, as the fun of exploring goes somewhat away when you have visited the place once.
The setting is simply fantastic and you'll want to keep exploring, as there is bound to something more out there. Life in the Wasteland is tough, and every time (Especially in the beginning) you find a safe-haven, you'll let out a sigh of relief. The game takes place 200 years after a nuclear war that has devastated the US and probably the world, and the way life in post-apocalyptic America is portrayed makes you feel genuinely sorry for all the beings you encounter in your travels.
The cities and settlements you encounter feel very unique, and they all have a very different history. This was one of the problems I had with Oblivion. The cities seemed very generic and there wasn't that feeling that this was a unique place. That there definitely is in Fallout 3, from Rivet City, which is actually an abandoned carrier ship, to Little Lamplight, where all the inhabitants are children.
One thing that I, unfortunately, encountered was invisible walls. Well, not exactly invisible walls, but place where there is some much debris, that apparently you can walk over it. This can be very annoying when you are traveling in central DC and you have to go long shortcuts just to get to place where you're supposed to be. This also takes focus away from the non-linearity of the game, but in the end it's just annoying.
The quests are generally very interesting with some interesting characters and locations, although one quest, Rielly's Rangers, was a drag. It was too long and nothing really happened except killing Super Mutants, and while that's fun enough, you can get tired of it.
The graphics of Fallout 3 are very good. The character animations are a bit samey though, I've encounter the same woman about 30 times, yet for some reason she has a different name. The scenery is amazing, although again it gets a bit samey, but then again, it works well to create the desolate feeling of the Wasteland. The colors are a mix of brown and brown, with a bit of yellow and gray. In other words, not the most colorful game, but it works. It adds perfectly to the mood of the game.
The sound of the weapons is quite good, no problems there. The soundtrack is amazing, from ?Civilization? to ?I Don't Want to Set the World On Fire? you'll be humming along.
The voice-acting is definitely an improvement from Oblivion, and Liam Neeson is very good in his role as the father. Still, you often encounter the same people in different locations (And by the same people, I don't mean the exact same people, but people that are basically clones of each other).
Fallout 3 is a game you don't want to miss out on, it has its flaws, but most can be overlooked. Whether it will appeal to a longtime fan of the old Fallout games, I can't say. But to a newcomer, this is a fantastic game.
Pros:
Fantastic setting
Great soundtrack
Unique cities
Engaging story
Fun exploration
Cons:
?Invisible? walls!
Generic voice-acting
A few boring quests
Samey character animations
Graphics: 8
Gameplay: 9
Sound: 8
Lasting Value: 9
Overall, Fallout 3 gets 9/10
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Please give some feedback so I, hopefully, can improve.
EDIT: Now with centered pictures.
