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Review: Fallout 3


foxdie

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Fallout 3

 

It has been a while since I wrote a review, and having been declined a section for gaming in the past I decided not to waste my time. I’m just glad some nOOby-random decided to mention it might be a good idea for the powers-that-be to finally add this section. However, lets not taint my thought process while I try to remain positive.

 

After playing Oblivion day in day out for much of 2007 I was excited to hear that the same studio was working on Fallout 3 (Bethesda), a sequel to a hidden gem of a series which crept over some time in the last decade unnoticed by most. And while I was a little bitter that I had to wait several weeks over Christmas to play the game while it remained unwrapped in the most obvious place, tantalising me like a pedo in a playground I am happy to report my conclusions.

 

The game starts by having to play through several periods of your miserable child-life, as you grow up; you go through the process attributing key skills and features to your character. Now this differs from Oblivion in the fact this was handled in about 2 pages, race, attributes. Done. This time around you spend near an hour going through every viable option, blonde/brown, black/white, shaved/unshaved, circumcised etc etc of course it’s created to allow you to relate to your character, and as you answer various questions differently you gain assorted skills in relation to your responses. Now this sounds great on paper, but puts the fear of god in you that you might finish this “skill feature” period as a pastry chef because one of the option you choose earlier was to beat aunt Betsy with a rolling pin. However fear not as I learnt that no matter what you choose your not stuck, and as you reach the exit to finally begin the game you tried to play an hour ago again you’re confronted by a screen asking you if you’re happy with your choices, and if you would like to change them. Great for me because it meant I went from gynaecologist (don’t answer question “how would you deal with rabid female raider” with answer “D”) to angry killer assassin commando. This is done in two pages which summarised all the different options presented earlier. And while this was great for me, but I did feel I just wasted the previous 2 hours deeply considering each question and how it could affect the final outcome.

I must mention that I am only half way through the story, and not started the side missions. However, you will recognise one voice in the game straight away. This makes me wonder if I had the budget to cast Liam Neeson as a character in a video game, my first thought wouldn’t be to kill the character off in the first 2 hours of game play. They did the same to Captain Picard in Oblivion.

As you go visit your first settlement you suddenly notice the similarities with Oblivion, If you manage to resist the temptation to break into everyone's home and loot their belongings, it's possible to mine the town for your first clue to as to were to go to kick start main story line. After that its quite clear where to go. Its only when you leave the first settlement (suitbably named megaton due to huge nuclear bomb placed as the town centre piece) that you start to struggle to come to terms with the freedom, and end up, as I did, clinging to Megaton like a life raft. When you finally do start following up leads and exploring, the sheer scope comes as a shock. You'll come across a seemingly abandoned underground station and see what's inside, only to discover that it's part of a coherent network that spans the length and breadth of Wasteland. Far from a pointless dungeon, this subterranean world has a purpose, connecting discrete areas and providing access to quests you'd otherwise never encounter.

Now I enjoyed Oblivion, as you can probably guess by the way it mention on every other line. But all the ingredients are here to make Fallout a better game. No more swords and shields, but in comes high powered rifles and laser weapons. And while they’ve scrapped a few niggles from oblivion (i.e. Having to sleep to level your character, all enemies raising level with making the game infinitely harder as you spammed time leveling). They’ve introduced a few new neat things too, when you level up not only do assign a handful of points to various chosen skills like you did Oblivion (and every other RPG in history) but you now also choose a skill asset, these range from increasing an ability with a particular weapon, Chance of finding certain things, increased damage against particular enemies etc etc). There’s also Karma to worry about which I haven’t quite figured out, all I know is its bad to kill the old lady and steal the pork n’beans stashed in the fridge. One thing that threatens to undermine Fallout 3 is the massive amount of repetition while scavenging and exploring. As entertaining as it undoubtedly is to check out every last empty office, factory or subway station, you do get into a cycle of checking every locker and desk, entwined with a succession of OCD battles against Super Mutants and Ghouls. Then again, one of Fallout 3's strengths is that it doesn't seem to matter how long you trawl the Wasteland, or how many times you snap into V.A.T.S ((Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) A treat I’ll leave for you to figure out). It's always entertaining to duke it out, seeing how many different stylish ways it can cut together the uber-violence as entrails flap around. And even when you feel like you've seen everything the game has to offer, you find yourself greeted by entirely new creatures, characters and architecturally unique areas more than 60 hours into the game. The sheer scope and ambition shames most other blockbuster games.

 

In conclusion the graphics are superb, you’ve got a longetivity and immersion which will make fallout 3 a classic of the future for sure. But, and this is a big but (and only because im fed up of writing “however”). I can’t turn it on. I know that sounds strange but I cant physical work out the energy to switch on the console and play this game. The fact is I’ve had 2 hours free and decided to write this shitty review than play the game. It’s strange, I can’t quite put my finger on it, perhaps it’s the depth of the game, or the tedious trekking between goals. If not, maybe it’s the idea of knowing im no less relevant to the bigger picture in this virtual world as I am in the real one, this depresses me.

 

10/10

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Copy and paste this into PS3 lol? Its worth getting then. Ive put about 5 or 6 hours into Oblivion (only got it late december) and i feel the same about not wanting to turn it on..its fantastic and i will go and master it one day..but..i cant describe why i cant play it,its almost tedious opening every chest in every room and slashing an NPC then opening the next chest...then having to go the shop and sell the Shite cos u cant carry any more leather boots...
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My soon to be 16 year old (tomorrow) thinks this game is the mutts nuts! He keeps restarting the game to be good, then evil, then good, etc! It's one of his top 3 faves at present, this one, GOW2 and Dead Space. :)
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Online capabilities? Quoite tempted to chuck Oblivion on ebay and buy fallout off ebay (like trading in at GAME except u only need to outlay about 3 quid lol)

 

If it can do online ill get Oblivion on ebay tonight,if its not then ill complete oblivion at least once then get rid of it and buy fallout with the money

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