Atomic hit
The third installment of the Fallout series dropped into gamers laps everywhere Oct. 28. Bethesda Game Studios’ Fallout 3 is a first-person shooter, with some role-playing game aspects added on. This combination gives it an enormous open world feel and freedom RPG and FPS gamers all enjoy.
The story of this game takes place in 2277, about 30 years after the setting of the previous Fallout post-nuclear holocaust/apocalypse, Fallout 2. Although long and drawn out, Fallout 3’s plot doesn’t leave gamers hanging. Gamers play from their birth to their death bed, with some well-placed tutorials in between to introduce the slightly awkward learning curve.
It is important to understand Fallout 3 is first and foremost an RPG in first person. It is filled with RPG features Fallout fans have come to love. A completely open and enormous world, fully interactive objects and people and a targeting system with a hint of classic RPG fight sequences in it all help to make this shooter an RPG at heart.
Weapons, items and clothing all play their roles throughout looking for the players’ lost father, the main quest. Interacting with the impressive amount of random characters throughout the game and improving on schools helps and hinders progress. Side quests can turn quickly from little novellas to full-fledged side stories, making the total game time pretty hard to measure.
However with the leveling system in place, it is wise for players to do some side missions to build skills and power before attempting to complete the main quest. One can try but find out quickly how a character at Level 1 stands up (or rather, falls down) to a Level 15 super mutant.
It’s easy to tell Bethesda put the time and effort into making this game look good, as it definitely gives that ominous nuclear holocaust feel. However, it’s clear they didn’t want to stray far from success. Bethesda knew what worked with their FPS fantasy hit, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and didn’t want much change.
It feels like they took Oblivion and overlaid a futuristic skin on it. It looks and feels like a post-apocalyptic Oblivion. Fallout 3 has its own unique new features, but Oblivion definitely pokes its head out every now and then. Don’t worry. If anything, this is a good quality.
Overall, Fallout 3 will give those with the time and patience to build the stats and stamina necessary to complete the main quest a run for their money. It’s got its ups, downs and its share of glitches, but they’re not enough to make true Fallout fans turn away. It’s pretty looking, entertaining and has a unique blend of two major game genres, which gives it a much wider fan base. A warning to those with weak stomachs: The blood and gore are intense. So enjoy the arm blasting, eye-popping (literally), decapitating fun with a barf bag nearby.
Published on November 11, 2008 at 12:00 pm
