The Verdict:
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Fallout 3
| Genre | RPG |
| Developer | Bethesda Game Studios |
| Publisher | Bethesda Softworks |
| Modes | Singleplayer |
| Rating | BBFC 18 |
| Released | 31.10.2008 |
2077 - The city of Washington DC is bombarded by nuclear bombs. For two horrific hours, bombs fly, destroying and irradiating the city building by building. Luckily just hours before the citizens of America took refuge in giant underground shelters know as vaults.
2277 - You are just and average dweller of Vault 101. You awake to see your best friend standing above your bed. Your Dad has escaped! And so begins your epic quest to find your Dad and the many mysteries surrounding Washington DC and the Great War.
For four strong years, Bethesda Softworks have worked solidly on the old Interplay hit, Fallout. In the third instalment you take on the role of a whole new vault dweller in a one-hundred hour journey through Washington DC. Meeting Monsters, Creatures and Ghouls you will never get bored of trawling through the post-apocalyptic wasteland in what was so very nearly Game of the Year.
The gameplay, without a doubt, is the most important part to any game. It can make or break a game and this most certainly makes it!
As you would expect from any RPG (role-play game) you have the ability to wander around to your hearts content. This of course is no exception and you will quite easily find yourself spending hours walking around a derelict city.
The leveling system is simple. Gain XP from doing quests and killing you foes and level up. There are a grand total of 20 levels to get through, each one is increasingly harder to obtain. When you do level up you will receive “skill points” to add to one of your character’s many attributes. These can dramatically alter your progress and outcome in the game but it’s almost impossible to max them all out. This is a great selling point as it forces you to think about your choices. On top of skill points, you have perks. Each time you level up you will be given the option to choose just one perk. These also dramatically alter your skills.
Fallout 3’s combat system is hugely different to that of most games. Although the weapons themselves aren’t greatly detailed there are plenty to choose from. Unfortunately the guns, when being controlled by you, are insanely difficult to use. The crosshair is small and fiddly and when you finally hit on target the target moves. The free hand combat isn’t particularly brilliant in Fallout 3 but the whole combat changes with VATs.
VATs is a whole new concept to in-game combat. With the touch of a button you can freeze the game and choose where you want to hit the opponent. This is incredibly easy to do and makes the game much more playable by so many more people.
Of course to put the combat to good use you need to have a reason to use it. I mean, you can’t just go round killing to your hearts content, can you? Well, in short, yes, you can but quests are still a huge part of the game, in fact they are the game! As you travel around you will meet new people with new problems. It is of course your job to solve these problems and this is what the story is based around. The main questline of course is to find your Dad but there’s so much more to do in the ruins of Washington DC. Quests range from finding ancient violins to finding homes for wasteland survivors. Each quest will add potentially hours to your game time and will unlock more mysteries of Washington DC. The side quests add a whole new game to the game itself and are worth the £40 price tag alone.
But you can’t do all of this alone! On your travels you may find a person with a certain skill. They may be heavily trained in combat or that may just be an average person to help you along. Followers can easily help you along with your current quest and in many cases are the key to victory. The AI is good but has downsides though. Your follower will mostly hit on target with deadly efficiency, they have unlimited ammo and will never let you down in combat, until they die that is. However, you will often find that they get the kill before you and stop you from getting any XP so it’s important to make sure you get a hit. They also have a tendency to die (with the exception of one follower) which can be a huge pain, especially as some followers can cost you a huge amount of money.
Graphics
When you consider that Bethesda only had a 6.5Gb limit to their games the graphics make them look like miracle workers! Every time you step into a new region or building in the game you will be blown away.
Each and every building in the vast world has a different feature or person that makes it truly stand out in the crowd. For a game of such an epic scale it’s unbelievable how much effort has gone in to it. The guns have been designed from scratch so that every switch has a purpose and each of the buildings from a single town look truly like they would in the real world.
Of course graphics aren’t just about detail. Graphics can make the game so much more fun and this is one of them. If the blood and gore bags around the world aren’t enough you can always choose to take the Bloody Mess perk. On each and every kill you make, the enemy will explode in to a bloody fireworks display that will make even the hardest to please person say wow! This is just one of many factors that goes in to making Fallout 3 such a graphically brilliant game but if I were to rave about them all we would be here all day!
Sound
50’s music and crazed men howling down the radio may not sound like your usual choice of things to listen to but in Fallout 3 you won’t find much more. Before you reach for the mute button however take a moment to listen.
As you travel around the Wasteland you will accomplish many game-changing things. Not only will you remember doing them from how fun it was but you will be reminded constantly by the few radio stations of America. Not only will you be raved about by wasteland good guy Three Dog but you will also get to listen to some of the many atmospheric songs of the 1950’s. Although they are not every gamers’ choice of music you won’t be put off by them! They add a dramatic amount of atmosphere to the game and make the experience that much more fun. Of course there’s always the option to turn this off at the click of a button.
Music, however, is not the only piece of sound in the game. Every weapon and creature has their own distinctive noise of death, firing or operation. Although the sounds aren’t always 100% accurate to what they would usually be they are a deeply detailed part of a deeply detailed game. Every time you hear a sound you will know what made it and this can be a potentially game-changing aspect saving you from death.
Finally there’s voice acting. Unfortunately, the voice acting throughout the world is largely repeated. When it is not however it is astounding. With Liam Neelson playing as your Dad you won’t forget your very first baby steps and the words spoken to you by your Father and you certainly won’t forget the cheerful banter if President Eden, played by Malcolm McDowell.
Longevity
The longevity of Fallout 3 is what makes it so mind blowing! You will never get bored of trawling through irradiated sewers and buildings due to the sheer scale and detail but the longevity is certainly helped by the quests.
In the main game you will find over 30 quests for you to complete for various different people and then there’s the quite literally endless errands available. Each quest will last at least half an hour but some may take as long as 7 hours to complete! If you do somehow become bored of quests available you can always go on a killing spree of civilisations or you could download some of the DLC (downloadable content) available in the early quarter of 2009.
Summary
- Endless quests and wasteland will keep you hooked for hours.
- Graphics and sound are hugely detailed adding extra depth to the game
- A choice of combats make it playable by anybody
- Plenty of DLC available
- A vast array of creatures and weapons to kill them with
- Skills and Perks to change the way you play and enjoy the game
- Combat is heavily dominated by VATs
- Ammo is scarce making the game hard for lower level characters
- Main quest is short (this is balanced out by side quests though)
Fallout 3 is the true definition of Role Play Game and will keep you hooked for hours. The weapons and combat make it easily accessible to anybody wanting to play. It really did deserve Game of the Year but it will continue to win awards for until Bethesda’s next masterpiece and beyond.