Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Innovative"

As a massive fan of the turn based tactical games Fallout 1 and 2 and Fallout tactics, i was praying silently that Bethesda could do the series justice as i loaded up the game for the first time on my new beast of a computer system.

From the start I was excited and impressed by many of the aspects of the game. The graphics were superior to most games i had played, bar crysis and a few select others, and the VATS combat system (that allows you to essentially pause the game and specify the areas of the enemy's body that you wish to strike in combat) was a real treat for me, providing a unique tangent to the tried and true FPS formula. Perks were another thing that i was very happy were left in the game, which provide varying in game bonuses, including unique dialogue choices and subsequent quests, as well as combat and stat improvements in and out of the VATS system. The dialogue options were also intriguing, given that there was a far greater degree of choice for the players to make than in Oblivion, and with greater and more varied number of consequences that resulted. Opening up the game map the first time was staggering for me, since there was so much area to explore (and with much of it hidden underground in the metro area). Adrenaline pumping, i sat down and prepared to play this game into oblivion (pun intended).

As i left the Vault, blurry eyed, i gazed out across the wasteland before me. "Damn, this place is a mess" i thought, as i looked at my surroundings. It wasn't the destruction, however that i was looking at, but instead, it was, the attention to detail that really caught my eye. Burnt out cars, skeletons complete with their worn and discheveled clothes draped around them and grinning at me in silence. This is COOL i thought, as I wandered off in the direction of the nearest waypoint on my map, which just so happened to be Megaton.

In Megaton, i was greeted by an interestingly attired, but well mannered robot, who usered me into the main town. The town was well designed, and looked like a scene taken from a cross between Mad Max and the floating town in Water World that gets FUBARED. There was a BIT to see and do in Megaton, but to be honest, there was not much in the way of quests to occupy my time. In fact, apart from the craterside supply store, its slightly imbalanced owner and her quirky quests, there was very little at all in the way of SIGNIFICANT quest related material to appease my appetite, so i set to wandering around the wasteland and killing things with extreme prejudice :D

Maybe there is something wrong with me, but i found, and still find something so enjoyable about blowing the absolute **** out of creatures and humans alike. Some of the death shots with my guns (particularly the combat shotgun and sniper rifle) were so gory, that i couldn't help but giggle in maniacal glee. Heads blown off at close range, or legs and torsos being thrown high into the sky after some poor, stupid raider happened to step on one of my mines or collided with my grenades left me thinking that we had come a long way since soldier of fortune! This to me is one of the greatest replay value features of this game, as i frequently come back to it time and time again to deliver post apocalyptic mayhem to the creatures and scumbags (or virtuous) of the wasteland. Even better, there are certain perks, namely the "Bloody mess" perk that take things up a notch to the outright sadistic (I think the perk name speaks for itself), but i'm okay with that o_O

The interface, system, or "Pip-Boy" works well, and it is very easy to navigate through your inventory, stats, quests and map sections with minimal fuss.

The enemies are all very different in appearance, but in terms of AI, i found that they were very very bland. Don't get me wrong, i enjoy nuking gigantic, 3 storey super-mutant behemoths as they run towards me with their telegraph pole-sized clubs as much as the next man, but it would have been nice to see a bit more time invested in combat AI to improve the experience. It seems a bit stupid to me for a raider to be running at me with a pool que when i'm decked out in a full suit of power armor, and weilding a minigun or 8mm flakk cannon (please don't scratch the paint job on my lovely power armour with your pool que mr raider)! I also found it rather silly that you could blow the head off a raider in sneak mode with his friend only metres away, and not attract his attention. This definately needs improvement on the next installment if/when it comes out.

I also found that once again like in Oblivion that despite the fact enemies are more varied in their combat abilities and weaponry, there just weren't enough different types of them to satisfy me. Maybe after Baldur's gate II i'm a bit hard to please about varieties of enemies, but i believe with certainty that THERE SHOULD BE MORE TYPES of enemies, and not just re-textured models that have had their names changed.

Quests i found to be solid and varied, but in my opinion too few, and too far between rampages. It is my personal opinion that Bethesda has taken a large step backwards in both Oblivion and Fallout 3 when it comes to storyline and story based immersion. Morrowind may be lacking many of the features that Oblivion and Fallout 3 offer, but in terms of the depth of storyline, and the sheer number of quests, both large and small, there is no contest. I remember in fact that the main storyline in Morrowind had many many hours of gameplay attached to it before you could finally confront Dagoth Ur at Red Mountain. The main quests for Oblivion and Fallout 3, however, can be completed in quite a short period of time, and are not as rich in narrative as Morrowind was, or as immersive. FORTUNATELY, it is the attention to detail in Fallout 3 that makes this seem less of a problem, and the larger quests ARE well constructed and fun to play through. Another bonus to this game is the DLC that is available, which adds extras to the game, along with all of the non-official mods created by community modders worldwide, and this is absolutely wonderful for anyone who wants a bit more after they grow tired of Vanilla Fallout 3. There are some amazing mods floating around on the web that the public can get a hold of, including FOOK - FallOut Overhaul Kit, which adds over 100 new guns, extra quests and perks and other goodies, MMM - Marts Mutagen mod, which improves enemy AI and increases creature spawns, WMK - Weapon Mod Kits and many many others.

In terms of items, most specifically weapons, i found myself a bit disappointed with the variety of weapons in the game, not in terms of types of weapons, but variety within those types, ie - the number of types of SMG's, Assault rifles, etc, but as i mentioned in my previous paragraph, this has been largely addressed by modders, and is less of a gripe for me now. I also believe that many of the VATS statistics should have been modified to be more realistic. Sniper rifles to me in particular were no-where near as accurate as they should have been, and given their slow reload time, made things a bit frustrating at times Armour looks great, and is well balanced to offer tradeoffs for those debating whether to go stealth or full frontal attack

Now, on to stability of the game... This is one area that i was particularly unhappy with, as there was rarely a stint of gameplay that i went through without the game crashing at some point, and usually at the most important time in the game. I remember an extreme tantrum i threw after the game crashed in the final stages of the main quest, further compounded by the fact that my save game had been corrupted and i had to go back and load a previously saved game from 2 hours before. On forum sites i was told by Bethesda "Make sure you have the latest video drivers installed." I followed this advice to little avail and consequently ended up giving up on trying to get their help. Since then they have released numerous patches that have fixed many of the bugs, but stability (at least for me) still remains elusive most days i play it, so i suggest saving games frequently and in multiple slots.

On the afore mentioned point, and as a personal opinion, i think it would be wiser in future if Bethesda committed a greater degree of time into game testing for bugs before they release their next game to ensure stability. Translation = wait for a few patches to come out before you buy their next big release game.

In summary, i have given Fallout 3 8.5/10, because IT REALLY IS A STANDOUT GAME. I must have played this game at least 150 hours, and i still keep coming back to it. Not many games capture my attention in this same way, and that is a big thing for me. The Graphics are great, the quests are fun and solid, even if there aren't as many as i would like. The attention to detail, especially in the metro area is truly phenomenal, the game runs well, despite some stability issues, and lastly, and most importantly, the combat is extremely engaging and addictive!!

My verdict...
Go out and buy this game!