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Fallout 3 takes place in a post-nuclear war Washington D.C. in the year 2277, and what better setting for the guys at Bethesda Softworks to focus on than the neighboring capital of our fine country? You begin your journey being born. You are a child in the fallout shelter “Vault 101” and along with your noble scientist father voiced by Liam Neeson you make it through day by day without your mother, whom died giving birth to you. You go through the various stages of your life from a baby, a child, a teenager and finally an adult learning the various lessons of life, being able to control your character every step of the way. These lessons shape who you will become, what you look like, your sex, and your race. For example: while a teenager, you take an aptitude test that essentially molds who you will be in the game.
One day however, your father decides to bail from Vault 101, and you must venture outside the confines of the safe haven into the wretched Washington D.C. area wasteland where you will meet plenty of new friends, foes, and it will all wrap up into an incredibly explosive conclusion.
When you emerge from the Vault, the vast wasteland is depressingly beautiful as the sun cascades in a bloom over the lifeless deserts and decaying towns that once were. A lot of care has been taken to little details such as crumbling houses, children’s toys lying around, and a “Nuka-Cola” machine on the side of the road next to a bent stop sign. The first job in your journey is to the town of Megaton, which from inside and out looks like a giant, well-put-together, trash heap with some crazy but harmless town dwellers worshipping a live nuke stuck in the ground as though it were God. Here you may decide to continue on through the main quest in the game to seek out your father, or help find a way to disarm the bomb. It can be easy to venture onwards to many of the incredible side quests in the completely open world, but going through the main story is a fast-paced and enjoyable experience, taking about 20-25 hours to complete. However, make sure that when you do the main quest, you have an extra save for doing all the side quests you like, because once you end the story, so does the game.
Liam Neeson plays your papa.
The story in the game is a tale of what happens when big government tries to save the day and fails miserably. You will constantly be battling mutants of mysterious origin (the Enclave) which has essentially become the government for the United States. Along the way there are a lot of surprising twists and turns, where depending on your actions throughout, will lead to one of many different endings. Your actions are utilized through a Karma system, similar to the older Fallout titles, but what most people may be familiar with today is the “Good/Evil” system used by other RPG developers like BioWare. With it, you can tackle missions differently, and in some cases may not be able to complete a certain mission if you chose to be a noble person, or a complete jerk. One of the first examples is when you go to the town of Megaton to disarm a nuclear bomb. You could gain experience and the help of the towns’ people to disarm it, or you could get the help from more sinister origins, and ultimately get rid of the threat by setting it off and nuking the entire town. It will make you think twice before you carry on with your actions in the game, and it gives it an extra level of depth. You can figure out what is going on in the community and throughout the land by tuning into the radio on your Pipboy and listen to President Eden, the voice of the Enclave and self-proclaimed voice of the people. Or you can listen to Mad Dog Radio, a DJ personality that doesn’t even know what a disc is, and is considered the true voice of the people. The story evolves into one of righteousness and greed, and it will be up to you what path you take. The journey to track down your father ultimately has you do a 180 at one point, as things get a bit more “pleasant” in a little “ville”. You will come across a sort of Peter Pan’s lost boys/Goonies gang trio that asks you to save their friends from slavers, where you could even find yourself accepting help from a completely unlikely source. The variety in missions is a welcome change to what a lot of RPGs have been in the past, and while there are some fetch missions, there are other surprises along the way that make it more than the filler that other role-playing games fatten gameplay up with.
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JasonXe
comments | 26 |
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10/29/08
16:53:37
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Second. I will definitely rent it when it becomes available. To mˆñ
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Kiwi
comments | 1 |
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10/28/08
13:49:25
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FIRST!!
Ahem, anyway, good review. Looking forward to getting ˆñ
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