Review : Fallout 3 (360)
Review : Fallout 3 (360)
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion was one of the reasons that I wanted to get an Xbox 360 and when the creators of the Elder Scrolls games Bethesda studios acquired the license to the Classic Black Isle Studio's Fallout series I was ecstatic, since I absolutely loved Oblivion, and though I had never really gotten to far into Fallout 1 or 2, I loved the setting and the Into Video to both games and if you mixed both of those together, well… to say the least I came in with high expectations. Will Fallout 3 Live up to my expectations, or will I wish I had spent my money elsewhere?
Story :
Your Character pops out of your mothers womb, and you are thrust into the world of Vault 101, and underground fallout shelter 20 years after an alternate universe WW3 wipes out civilization as anyone knew it, and the rules of the Vault are simple no one enters no one leaves, and no one questions the vault Overseer. Flash forward 16/17 years and your father bolts from the Vault no apparent reason and you must escape before the Overseer tortures you to find out why, and then you need to find your father to find out why he escaped.
Graphics:
Well many will look at Fallout 3 and immediately think that this is Oblivion gone post-apocalyptic with guns, which would be accurate since this is using the same engine as Oblivion, but that does not make this game any less beautiful, massive in scale, or amazing in vision, since as with Oblivion, Fallout 3 looks great, the world is massive and unlike Oblivion most the areas look different and unique, and that includes people as well you wont be finding too many people that look exactly alike, though the create a character really needs some working on since you are almost guaranteed to make one ugly son of a gun if you make a guy, or a very plain woman.
Music & Sound:
Music wise the game has a good natural soundtrack, but since this is the modern world, you really won't spend much time listening to it, seeing as there are radio stations about for you to listen to, and it provides a much more compelling music choices to listen to on your Pip-boy 3000. that is relative though, in this alternate world technology progressed a little slower but a little more radically, the cold war was with China not Russia, and as our culture had grown we were stuck in the 1950's even though the year in Fallout 3 is set in is 2077, and so the radio stations available are limited to a few selections, Enclave radio if you don't mind hearing American Propaganda all the time along with the patriotic music that goes with, GNR which plays classic show tunes and an occasional radio show, and Agatha's station that you unlock in a mission that plays classical violin. Normally that would be fine but when the day is done the station you will find your self listening to the most is GNR and sadly the licensed soundtrack wears thin after a day or so of playing the game, and I would have liked to have had some more songs, I did notice that they had the theme song from the original Fallout game as one of the songs on GNR's play list, but was saddened to find out that they couldn't get the theme song from Fallout 2, and I would have liked some more variety like maybe some Gershwin, and a few more show tunes like maybe "Singing in the rain" or something to add a much broader mix to the game. The voice acting has improved as one would have hoped so you now won't be running into so many people sounding alike
Control & Game play:
Fallout 3 plays almost exactly like Oblivion which is a good thing for those of us that loved Oblivion's control scheme, and the guns do spice things up for the game play, and in a nod to the classic series the VATS system from the original fallout series makes its appearance, and you will find that it is necessary to mix up using the VATS, and just normal run and gun game play, though the game can be played either way. Run and gunners will find that they are more likely to hit their target in VATS (something I found it had in common with Fallout 2 which I went back and played after playing Fallout 3), and VATS users will find that they may not always kill their target in VATS, and low action points will force you to finish off your target without VATS.
Design & Fun Factor:
There is almost something primal and enjoyable about taking out an enemy, and when you take out one in the VATS you get to see and absurdly high amount of blood and gore to almost comic levels, and if you get an upgrade you can up the violence even more, or you can have a mysterious stranger pop up to finish off a random foe you failed to kill, you would think it would get old but it doesn't. Bethesda Software has once again made a master work with Fallout 3, and while there are still a few bugs they won't detour you from enjoying this game, and will likely be addressed in the upcoming patch Bethesda just announced, if there is anything that might detour someone it is the somewhat disappointing ending, and while I will not go into details here since that would require spoilers you can read my feelings here, warning spoilers ahead! But disappointing ending aside the game it's self is so broad and engrossing that one may not even ever see the end and if you end the game, there is still so much to do there is almost a guarantee that you missed something that you could have done to the D.C. wasteland when you do beat the game.
Fallout 3 is almost everything I had hoped it would be, and it is well worth your time and money! I give Fallout 3 very enthusiastic thumbs up!
Fallout 3 (360):
Pros:
Addictive game play
Good graphics
Good sound
Must play for RPG fans
Might actually convert people that hate RPG games
Cons:
Radio Stations get old after a while
Ending is kind of disappointing
A few glitches still remain
Character Creation needs some tweaking