Fallout 3 PC Review

I have to admit that I never played the original Fallout or Fallout 2. Because of this, I will not talk about how authentic to the original Fallout 3 is to the two previous games. I will also avoid relating this game to the originals in any way. This may take away from the review for some, but it will also allow me to review it without being swayed by what I would expect from a sequel.

Fallout 3 is an action RPG that tries to do everything. A lot of people are calling it Oblivion with guns, but I disagree. The first and most interesting reason I disagree is pretty basic. I like Fallout 3 and I didn't like Oblivion. The character development system in Fallout 3 is the most original and effective sequences I've ever imagined possible. The game starts with you being born. Straight from the womb you see Dr. Liam Neeson...erm...rather your dad, delivering you to the world. From here he tries to decide what your name would be, and you are prompted to type in your name. He then brings out a device that predicts what you are going to look like. From here you change your looks and character to how you like. Why they would need a device like this in the delivery room is beyond me. You hear your mother die, followed by a flash forward to your first mission. In the first mission you are a toddler learning to speak and walk. The first mission goal is 'walk to your father', or dad as the game says. This introduces you to the general WASD/mouse controls. The game continues on through your childhood to when you find yourself at your birthday party where you get your BB gun, and Pip Boy. The Pip Boy is an arm mounted computer...thingy, that displays everything about your character,belongings, and miscellaneous world information. It's one of the most effective information devices an RPG has come up with yet.

Flashing forward a little bit more you take a GOAT test that finalizes your character type through an in game adolescent test. This is pretty much the end of the character creation. Following this your dad leaves and you are accosted by the head honcho of the 'Vault' you live in. The vault is an underground bomb shelter, that you've lived in your entire life. From birth you are indoctrinated to believe there is no life outside the vault. Hearing that your dad has left, you fight your way through the guards and break out into the outside world.

The outside world initially looks like the dead world you'd been told of inside the vault. Named the wasteland, the outside world is gray, decrepit and filled with horribly irradiated monstrosities. Apparently the world was mass scarred by nuclear blasts. Despite initial impressions, not everyone is dead . You come across settlers, animals and other less friendly residents. You must then begin your quest to locate your dad, and figure out what exactly he is trying to do out in the wasteland.

Only moderately less depressing than driving through Saskatchewan

One of the first little towns you will come across is Megaton. This little settlement is built into the crater of an undetonated live nuclear weapon. Right away you get to choose to detonate the device or to save the residents of Megaton. I decided to save it and was rewarded with a range of quests given to me by the various residents of the Megaton businesses.

These quests require you to venture into the wasteland outside. In the wasteland you will come across both friendly and enemy NPCs. Most will not be friendly. Enemies consist of local wildlife that has been mutated to huge size and overly aggressive nature. Several examples are molerats, fire ants, and mirelurks. There are also humanoid enemies such as super mutants, mercenaries and raiders. When fighting these enemies you can either treat the game like a true FPS simply blasting away while pointing your mouse, or use VATS. VATS is a fighting system based on how many attack points you have, that allows you to chose an attack on a selected enemy right down to what area of the enemy you wish to aim for. Percent to hit information is given for each area of the body. I kind of wish the animation sequences in VATS was something you could skip, but at least some nasty looking deaths show up in them.

For me, in the end, I used a mix of VATS and actual run and gun. Most explosives and area of effect weapons seemed to work better in VATS for me. While the sniper rifle was much better with me controlling things.

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