Fallout 3; A Short Review Where do I begin?
First of all, the story.
The story places you in the weathered boots of the Lone Wanderer - a baby in Vault 101; where no-one gets in, and no-one ever gets out. You are born, but your mother encounters difficulties and sadly dies after labour. Boo hoo. She's a bit part. You should forgive my feelings towards this obviously sad death - it's simply par for the course in the harsh world of Fallout 3. Anyway, I digress. Quickly, the player progresses through different time phases, through mini-tutorials and tenth birthday parties until the Big Day. The Big Day - when your father leaves the Vault and all hell breaks loose. Your father's closest friend is killed by Vault security, and you're next on the list. Radroaches invade, killing the inmates...panic, confusion, chaos. Thankfully your friend Amata is there to help. She supplies you with a 10mm pistol and ammo - and good luck. From there, it is your job to escape the Vault through the Overseer's office. By any means necessary, in the Fallout 3 way. Finally, you cross the threshold from the Vault into the unforgiving Wasteland, and the future is yours to forge...
Setting:
From the first flare of the sun raging across your untrained, exposed retinas the Wasteland seems a huge, intimidating place for a Vault recluse to be in - even one armed with a 10mm pistol and a pretty hefty baseball bat. The Wasteland is a large, dusty, mostly-barren...well, wasteland for the most part. The buildings are almost exclusively destroyed in some way, and the trees which once grew tall and green are withered and naked from the lethal effects of radiation. There is, however, a handy system of getting about the pretty expansive Wasteland. A dedicated underground railway system. One thing though - no trains. What did you expect? The railway - whilst empty and trainless - is a handy and sometimes vital thoroughfare to progress through the game. You'll use it at some point or another.
The map is fairly large, and each location has something new to offer - quests, trading and simple cannon fodder, if you have a big enough gun and the stones to take on more than one hostile at a time.
Combat:
Combat in Fallout 3 is very well done. As you may know, the Fallout series employs a nifty little system called V.A.T.S in battle - a system which rather handily pauses time so you can mark out specific limbs of your enemies, then trigger a cutscene with a lot of gratituitious violence, courtesy of the guy on the business end of your gun. If you prefer to go FPS - the combat outside of V.A.T.S is also very satisfying. A simple, under-stated reticule guides your aim and it is still possible to cripple limbs and score bloody headshots - just in real time. There is also a great variety of weapons in Fallout, through your basic assault rifle to the more inventive weps such as the Railway Rifle, which has the ability to pin the limbs of enemies to walls and doors. Grimy, but fun.
Characters:
The characters in Fallout are extremely varied - you won't meet one NPC like another. Each is on their own personal vendetta, whether good or bad. Everybody is slightly insane - you have to be for life in the Wasteland. Different stories, different lifestyles, different dangers...everything differentiates depending on who you talk to. Many characters provide different quests for different rewards. Many have a moral or political twist - forcing the player into thought about who to side with. It's a convincing and effective addition to what is, essentially, a game with little or no recognition of your misdemeanours/good deeds. Without this I think you would be looking at a very different review score.
In conclusion, the world of Fallout is a deep, immersive and often confusing one. There is so much to do - you have to find out for yourself. I would recommened this game to anyone; it's going cheap.