Fallout 3 is one of modern role-playing games' defining masterpieces

User Rating: 10 | Fallout 3 X360
Though gaming may be more than a mere 'pastime' for most of the folks reading this review, it's still rare to come across a game that can glue your eyes to a television for weeks on end - Fallout 3 is one of those games. Whereas most games simply aren't good or long enough to hold your attention for an extended period of time, this 2008 role-playing gem is as entertaining as it is epic in scope. An absolutely massive first-person role-playing game, Fallout 3 is the kind of open ended experience that will leave most players with only a faint memory of what the outside world is really like. The sprawling post-apocalyptic wasteland that Bethesda has created for this masterpiece is chilling in its implications for the future of mankind with its constant threat of nuclear war, and the top-notch storytelling makes this wasteland a very believable world. Every decision you make matters in the long run, and the incredible depth and realism in Fallout 3 makes it quite simply one of the greatest video games you'll ever play. I don't give out perfect ratings very often, but giving this near-flawless masterpiece anything less than such an accolade would be cutting it short.

In one word - essential.