Get ready for bugs, glitches, crashes and more in the world of Fallout!
Was I disappointed? For the release of a GOTY edition...no. For the quality and playability of the game...yes. A big, fat, juicy yes in fact.
The game includes the basic Fallout 3 game. Almost everyone I know who has a PS 3 calls this game their favorite, bar none. The basic game plays well; good story, good voices, music is a bit light, good atmosphere.
It's when you get into the meat of the extra content (Oper: Anchorage, Point Lookout, Broken Steel, The Pitt and Mothership Zeta) that the problems start.
There are some very, very serious glitches in this game that begin to creep out when your save file goes over about 6,000 KB. Mostly it involves the game freezing up as you walk, fight etc. This will happen fairly often.
Then, when your save file gets over about 8,000 KB bugs get really bad. The automatic targeting systems, the so-called VATS, is practically unusuable. The game will automatically freeze every time you use VATS and stack multiple actions on top of each other. There's no way out of this other than turning off the Playstation and reloading your game. I was getting this with every single use of VATS, and then it began happening simply when I was walking around, looking at things etc.
I contacted Betheseda directly and described the problems that I was having which made the game unplayable (I was unwilling to reload my game every five minutes). Bethesda's automated response began by stating that I should make sure I have the console plugged into a wall socket and that the console is turned "On" before playing.
Then they told me that I should, every once in a while, delete the "Game Data" files to improve performance. I guess this is their way of saying "This should stop the bugs, glitches etc." It didn't stop anything. Also, Bethesda suggested I check the disc for scratches.
I traded in the GOTY version for the old, basic version sans extra content. That's why I gave GOTY an extremely low score. What is the point of owning a game that is so bugged out it is unplayable?