Fallout 3 Now Available for PS3, PC and Xbox 360

Fallout 3, the much-anticipated third installment by Bethesda (Oblivion) of the Fallout franchise has finally come to pass. Though the game has taken a completely different direction than its predecessors by moving from a RPG above view to a FPS/third-person, it has in fact stayed true to the original idea: the world has gone to shit, live in it.

You begin fallout in Vault 101, a precautionary measure built by the people of Earth in order to survive the massive nuclear war descending on them. When I say “you begin” I’m talking from the very beginning, meaning childbirth. Unlike Fable, your aging process is divided into 3 short chapters. You’ll start out as a 1 year old infant, grow to a 10 year old boy or girl, and continue through puberty to a 16 year old teenager. At this stage you’re asked to take G.O.A.T, a test put in place by the Vault’s governments that essentially allow you to choose your characters stats. Once this is done the story truly begins as your father escapes the safety of the Vault and you chase after him. Now you’re out in the open and ready to be as moral or immoral as you see fit.

From the moment you enter the massive open-ended world appropriately named ‘The Wastelands,’ you’ll find yourself overwhelmed with the complexity of even the side missions. Side quests can sometimes feel like full story missions taking an hour to complete and other times, given the unique dialogue feature, you’ll find yourself skipping some altogether. Even with this in mind, you’ll never run dry of thing to do. The interactivity in the world is absolutely incredible, ranging from pick-pocketing citizens to blowing an entire town away. If nothing else, the world of Fallout is far from boring.

The gameplay is pretty much Oblivion with guns: you have your standard first-person real time action and the choice of a third-person view. Much like Oblivion, third-person completely sucks. The character animations are shoddy and can look ridiculous at times, but the highlights of the game will have you so immersed you’ll barley notice its faults. The weapon and inventory system is run through your “Pit Boy 3000,” a handy little watch gadget that tells you anything from what you’re carrying to where your next quest is. Movement around the world is all on foot, but experienced players will soon learn that the subway is a quick alternative route between cities and locations.

The most unique aspect of Fallout is the combat system. V.A.T.S (Vault Assisted Targeting System) is a way to stop time, choose an enemy’s body part to aim at (each limb has a hit success percentage), and unleash a slow motion cinematic attack. Be warned however that during this time enemies will still, in slow motion, fire back at you. Fallout is in no way a typical ‘run and gun’ game; relying too much on point-and-shoot will undoubtedly result in failure. The game has a Wild West sort of feel where you face your enemies head on in a hit then be hit gun fight.

Fallout will make you choose on how your character will be “karma” wise. A cruel deed (stealing or killing) will result in bad karma, whereas saving a citizen or completing a mission results in good karma. Don’t think your evil deeds will go unpunished either or you’ll be shocked when suddenly a bounty is on your head and you’re in a shootout with hired mercenaries.

The graphics of the game are beautiful keeping in mind it’s such a large scale world with no load times outside of cities and doorways. You may find at times that character and NPC animations are a bit robotic, but like everything else you’ll quickly forgive and forget whilst roaming the world.

All in all Fallout 3 delivers on everything that was promised to the point where at times it’s almost too much. The story can be finished in about 20 hours by an average player but side missions can take up to 100 hours. I can also guarantee you’ll find yourself wandering the lands for hours discovering new places without much else to show for it. It’s this type of freedom that may occasionally frustrate but at the same time sets Fallout 3 apart from the rest.

You’ll get your money’s worth with this game and it’s most definitely a great buy, just don’t expect a Halo-type shooter by any means.

Fallout 3 gets a 9/10

Reviewed By: Andrew Simons