Fallout 3 review

Ah, the Fallout series. An iconic post-apocalyptic RPG set after a nuclear war that forces humanity to live in underground Vaults for years as radiation dies down. The series was originally developed by Black Isle, before Bethesda took the reigns for the game. Bethesda, as you may know, developed the popular Elder Scrolls series of games, the latest of which being Oblivion.

Although Oblivion is a great game, as are the other Elder Scrolls games, their gameplay mechanics are completely different compared to Fallout 1 and 2’s, so this aroused much concern from fans as to whether Bethesda could faithfully reconstruct the much loved series or if they would just make Oblivion with guns. Well, judging on face value alone, it’s easy to say they went with the “Oblivion with guns” option, but how true is this? Read the review to find out.

Straight from the get go, Fallout 3 is better than Oblivion. Oblivion’s introduction consisted of you being in prison for some reason, then following the emperor for some reason, and then being sent on a quest to save the world…for some reason. Fallout 3 starts differently: you start at birth, which is a very clever way of setting up the character creation process. Select “Male” and the Doctor says “it’s a beautiful baby boy!”. It may be a small thing, but it really adds a certain punch to the intro. You then fiddle around with your appearance before going to infancy. This is where you learn how to move, and set up your stats using a baby book called SPECIAL. Some might find this method of creating your character too long, considering most other RPGs give you one screen at the beginning to do it on, but it really adds to the atmosphere and helps you immerse yourself in the game. After the character creation and some various quests in the Vault, you’re told your Dad has run away. You are then kicked out the Vault, and this is where the game truly starts.

The first thing you’ll want to do upon leaving the Vault is go to the much touted Megaton, something Bethesda talked about a lot during promotion. Megaton is a small town of survivors, with a nuclear bomb sitting dead center of their little Hoover-ville. This is the first real taste of “Good or Evil” in the game, as the player can leave Megaton the way it was, or as a huge crater. As a fan of “choice” in games, I really enjoyed this part of the game, but it ultimately sets up for disappointment. After you’ve destroyed an entire town, there’s nothing more evil you can really do. I feel that Megaton should of been further into the game, as after that every evil deed seems shallow in comparison. “Okay, I told a beggar to shut up. But that’s not evil considering I murdered an entire town” is something I thought a lot during my travels through the wastelands. That’s really a minor annoyance, thankfully the greatness of the rest of the game makes up for it.

The graphics in Fallout 3 are well done. It’s not the most beautiful game on the 360, but then again it’s not supposed to be. Broken houses and debris litter the ground and the view distance is impressive, to say the least. The textures aren’t as great as they could be in places, but with a game this massive we’ve come to suspect that the graphics wouldn’t be spectacular. However, that’s not to say they are bad, and suit the game very well. The designers must have spent ages twiddling them and it shows, as they’re one of the main factors that draws you into the experience. The frame rate handles surprisingly well, considering the large amount of data having to be handled on screen at once. One thing I do have to mention about the graphics, is that I’ve heard the PS3 version of the game is far inferior to the 360 and PC versions. I haven’t seen this myself, considering I’m playing the 360 version, but PS3 owners should keep this in mind.

The sound in this game is fantastic. The voice acting is far superior to Oblivion’s (I saw a mudcrab the other day) and the music…well, I’m going out on a limb here and saying it’s the best music in the history of gaming. There are various radio stations the player can select to play whilst out in the wastelands. Admittedly, I don’t know if I have all of them, but I will tell you about the ones I do have. The first is the Enclave Radio. The Enclave are people claiming to be the new US Government, and their radio station shows it. The “DJ” reminds me of 1960 Stereotypical Communist Hating Radio Hosts, and tells you constantly about how great the Enclave is. This is broken up by patriotic American music that fits the overall theme of this station well. The second radio station I obtained (you might get it later, seeing on how open the game is) was Galaxy News Radio, and let me tell you, I LOVE this station. The DJ has a cool rebellious voice who tells you news on the Wasteland, and also talks about your travels. This is broken up by 1930s Big Band Music, which is the best music to be wandering the wasteland with. Sounds like it’ll be out of place, but no, it really fits. Having this radio on whilst playing is a must, it completes the game and proves that music can complete a game. The third station I’ve got is Agatha’s Station. You get this station by completing a series of quests for an old lady named Agatha. Her station consists of her sitting there playing Violin all day, whilst occasionally saying “thanks to the young man who helped me”. Yeah, I found this station particularly uninteresting, and more confusing as to why she was thanking me after I shot her in the face with her dead husbands revolver.

The story of the game is well…lacking. It’s over before you know it, and doesn’t really instill the emotion that other games have with with their stories recently. There isn’t really much to say on the story, but I will tell you one thing: there’s a Vault where you look for your dad in. You go into a hallucinogenic machine, and trust me, this is the best part of the game, hands down. That one mission makes up for the otherwise gigantic waste of disk space that is “The main story”.

Ah, and now I talk about the meat of the game: the gameplay. How does it compare to the original Fallout games? Is it just Oblivion with guns? Well, it certainly compares well to the games. But, in some ways, it also is Oblivion with guns. In fact, if you’ve played Oblivion, you will know exactly how to play Fallout 3 as soon as you start, but that doesn’t mean it’s a complete copy. The game’s much touted “VATS” system is a treat to use, and some Fallout-inspired humor is certainly present, but the niggling thought that you’ve played this before never really goes away. I remember not long into playing I saw a human wielding a melee weapon, running exactly the same as a person with a dagger runs in Oblivion; which really threw me out of the experience. It also upset me that Bethesda would reuse animations like that, especially after all the Oblivion stick they got during development. It seems like a really cheap move, and something I would not expect from Bethesda. However, ignore these things and you’ll find a truly deep and immersive gameplay experience. The VATS feature works well, and 30 hours in I’m still not bored of it. It adds to the Fallout flavor and doesn’t make things as easy as I originally feared, but even though a lot of work has obviously been put into VATS, shooting without it works just as fine to. In fact, in some situations it works better.

Honestly, I don’t think anyone wants to hear that much about the combat when it comes to Fallout 3. The main pull of the game is of course the massive moral choice system, as well as huge dialogue trees and interesting characters, and yes, it does have all of these. The moral choice system, though seemingly a bit weedy after the impact of Megaton, works very well, a lot better than some games anyway. The dialogue works in every aspect, usually with a wide variety of things to say, and most of the characters seem lovingly crafted. I say most because there are people called “Rivet City Villager” who don’t say anything, but the majority of the people you meet will talk to you, and respond differently to things you say; Which is a major difference from Oblivion, let me tell you. Here, asking two people “How to get to place A” will warrant two completely different answers, unlike Oblivion where you were given the same answer by the same voice actor. The game really shines in this respect, and will be one of the factors that keep you playing.

So, is Fallout 3 a worthy addition to the Fallout series? Well, yes, it is, but it would fit better as the Elder Scrolls V. It feels more like a flavor of Oblivion than a Fallout game, but this is by no means a bad thing. People who enjoyed Oblivion will definitely love this, and old Fallout fans…well, if the Fallout-esque humor doesn’t pull you in, then the interesting characters, brilliant combat system or even the beautifully crafted environments probably will. One of the better games out this year, and any person who calls himself a WRPG fan should have this on their Christmas list.

NOTE: This review was originally written for GamerBlag, a wonderful review blog that I wrote for once and then couldn't be bothered to write for again. It was written about a week after the game came out, hence the Christmas list bit.
NOTE2: A year after this review was written, I felt I should say that I wrote this trying not to draw comparisions to the originals.