Fallout 3

9.0 FPS + RPG = <3

Studio: Bethasda
Genre: RPG, FPS
Rating: M
Multiplayer: No

Story

Every great rpg has one thing in common and that is an amazing story. I'm happy to say that Fallout 3 not only met my expectations but exceeded them. One of the first things they did right was to set-up the backstory so it wasn't necessary to have played Fallout or Fallout 2. Basically it is 200 years after a nuclear holocaust and you the player has to live and survive in the wasteland that was Washington D.C. From there story development is entirely up to you. Yes there is a specific set of storyline missions but you can take on those at anytime you wish. In place of those there are many, many side missions and the whole of the wasteland is available for you to explore right off the bat. Of course if you wander into a place you shouldn't be yet you'll find out quick enough. A good example of that is I was doing a side mission that required me to go to a town that was far north and all boarded up. Well I found a way into the town only to run into the fastest, toughest, most vicious enemies in the game. Needless to say I didn'y go back there for a while. Which brings up another story positive and that is you can stop doing a mission in the middle of it without failing it and come back to it later. Another exceptional point to the story is that there is no wrong way to complete it. This gives the game a huge amount of replayability. With each choice leading down different paths and those paths leading to different endings. I don't know how many different endings, but I'm confident in saying there is at least 9. I'd definetely say Bethesda has made a great addition to the rpg genre.

Gameplay

If I picked up Fallout 3 cause I thought it was solely a fps I'd be really disappointed. Sometimes hit detection can be spotty and the accuracy (even while aiming) can be downright attrocious. Of course this isn't a fps though, it's a rpg with fps elements. This is where the V.A.T.S. system comes into play. When enabled everything is suspended while you then pick your targets and the actual point on the targets to hit using a limited number of action points. Also in this mode your accuracy is dramtically increased and the percentage to hit each desired location is displayed. After you've accepted the distribution of points you are then treated to a beautiful third person pan around of the action.
As far as the weapons go most are pretty standard. They fall into three catagories; standard, unique, and created. Standard weapons are the most common and found everywhere. They tend to be weaker and break easier but with a decent repair skill that is easily overcome. The unique weapons are the improved versions of the standard weapons. For example there is the sniper rifle but the unique version of it is called the Reservist's Rifle. These generally are very powerful and can be repaired using their standard version. The main downfall of these guns are that there is only one of each and are difficult to find. The created weapons are just that, weapons created from all the junk strewn about the wasteland. Unfortunately I rarely used tham since the standard weapons are easy to find and easy to repair. The exception to that though is the Nuka grenade that did 4x the damage of a standard grenade. All in all you'll use standard weapons the most and of those it'll come down to the combat shotgun, hunting rifle, and assault rifle. Of course once you have a plasma rifle there is no reason to really use anything else.
Now aside from V.A.T.S. everything else is what you'd expect from any rpg. You have an experience bar that shows when you're going to level up. When you level up you gain points to distribute amongst your skills. When you level up you also get to add perks to your character as well. These range from Gun Nut (adds points to your repair and small guns skills) to Bloody Mess, which causes the enemies you kill to occasionally turn into a, well a bloody mess. On paper this may all sound rather dull but this game has become an addiction to me. Traversing a huge wasteland with new places to explore over each ridge is exciting. I'll also say exploration of D.C. is simply more immersive in a first person perspective.

Graphics and Sound

Who knew an irradiated wasteland could look so good? Fallout 3 definetely has it together in the eye candy department. Right from the start you can see the dev teams attention to detail in everything you see. For instance the random enemy characters have just as much detail as the storyline npc's. You won't find a lot of interactive pieces, except the ocassional dust cloud and steaming cesspool. The night and day cycle is exceptional though. In fact the lighting aspect is so good it tend s to play an integral part of the overall experience. During the day time you can become almost careless stomping around the waste. Having a large draw distance allows you to see any roaming creatures or ambush sites. Change to night and I gaurantee you'll be more cautious walking into a dark ravine or exploring an abandoned village. That being said said you will notice some minor pop-ins of shrubbery and buildings. There is also the occasional framerate drop which unfortunately also led to complete freezeups.
The voice work in Fallout 3 is excellent. Each character actually shows off their personality through the voice actor. I'd say that the voice acting also helped give the story that much more of a sense of emotion. Overall the sound effects are also good. The enviormental noises really help expand the experience. From the creaking of rusting steel in Rivet City to the skittering of cave creatures, it all helps to really put you in the game. Weapon sound effects were good, but for me they lacked a certain oomph. Firing a .308 sniper rifle should have given me a sense of power, that was not the case for most weapons. I'd say the most lackluster thing about this game is the soundtrack. I didn't even notice a background soundtrack until I turned my tv way up. i had to turn it back down cause it was more annoying than anything. I was also disappointed that the main radio station only had a handful of songs to play. I liked what I heard i guess I just wanted more.

Overall

The game is amazing. Apart from the lackluster soundtrack and the occasional graphical hitch, there is no major issues. The story takes at a minimum of 30 hours to complete. It took me about 80 hours to complete finding all the bobbleheads and doing almost all the side quests. I find myself wanting to go through it all again too so I can experience the choices I made from a different perspective and pick up those last few trophies I missed. The game is easily worth the $60. On a side note, if you have a 360 or a good PC you may want to purchase this game for one of those. Microsoft locked up the DLC as exclusive to them. As of now they have already released the DLC "Operation:Anchorage" and plan on two more packs within the next couple months.