Extremely Addicting
Fallout 3 takes starts 30 years after the events of Fallout 2, and 200 years after the nuclear war that ravaged the country. The setting has changed from the West-Coast to Washington DC this time around. On the surface, survivors of the holocaust formed small towns, constantly attacked by mutants and raiders. There are no more large settlements all the huge cities have turned into little heaps of scrap. The currency that they use is Bottle caps. Clean water is verry scarce and the main focus of the game's story.
The game starts off at your birth. You see your father, James bringing you into the world and your mother going through childbirth.It jumps to your first year in Vault 101. Your father -- a well respected scientist -- sees you take your first steps. Once alone, you are allowed to explore your crib's surroundings. It is here you assign your first attribute points. The game goes forward again to your 10th birthday where you receive a PIP-Boy-3000 -- a GPS with many extra features. The vault part of the game is short but sets the games tone: you are a young man loved by his father living in a society that thinks it can control every aspect of a person's life. Everything is good, until one day you are abruptly awakened by a friend that tells you your father broken vault law by leaving the vault. Your life is in danger, so you decide to escape to search for him.
Like Oblivion you are aloud to to modify your charters features before you leave int o the world. Once outside, players get a glimpse of the horror that is the surface. The effect is very shocking, even for a video game. Vegetation is nonexistent; they have been replaced with rocks and dirt; towns and cities have been totally devastated, with the occasional house still standing; overpasses and bridges are broken to the point that they are allmost unidentifiable; road signs and cars are scattered about, reminding us that this world once had life.
After a few minutes of exploration, and after having encountered a mutant, players find Megaton, a town built around an unexploded nuclear bomb. The town is fortified with pieces of jetliner fuselages. Inside we have trailers, metallic ramps, makeshift houses and whatever else could serve as shelter. The developers really made the town look like something survivors would build out of scrap. Most of the makeshift settlements are believable in their improvised nature. It is here players can decide to either continue looking for their father or explore Megaton.
The RPG element of the game is centered on the various abilities and atrubites. After leveling up, players can put togather a certain number of points to various skills, upgrade Perks and increase attributes. Skills are exactly what the name states. A higher lock picking skill, for instance, makes opening locked objects easier. Perks add special abilities that can't be characterized as a profession.
There is alot of blood and gore, as well as gratuitous swearing, even among children. The game is pretty much designed for adults. A player can even hire the services of a prostitute. The game is mainly a shooter but it has enough RPG elements to keep both Action and RPG fans occupied. The choices players are allowed to make are what make the game fun and exciting. Simply talking to characters can avoid a lot of combat. Actually you can kill everybody that you come in contact with, even the good guys.
The story is rather short. If there was no side-missions, Fallout 3 would have been a 10-hour game. But with all the extra quests, the game gives players tons of play time, that is if one decides to fully enjoy everything. Some players will undoubtedly have problems with the game. It's one of those games where you create your legacy. Play evil and you might get some things done faster; play good and you will be everyone's errand boy, but at least you'll see the best possible plot outcomes.