Fallout 3 Review

 by Gamerphate 

 Bethesda has made a near masterpeice with the release of Fallout 3.  The creation system is interesting, as it is one of the few games I can recall you actually being birthed.  You can of course specialize in different branches of skills depending on how you plan on playing through the game.  There is also an interesting good/evil type system in play depending on which path you would like to take.  And for the most part, it allows you to play through several more times to get different game experiences.  And the gem of the game is the G.E.C.K. system that allows you to customize your own version of just how you think the Fallout 3 universe should play out.  If you are lucky enough to have the PC version of the game, there are many mods out there that you can easily apply to your game and play through Fallout 3 in a whole new way. 

To start off, we will discuss the graphics.  The look, feel, and environments of Fallout 3 are incredible.  From your humble start as a vault dweller you get a real sense of what vault life would be like.  The dimly lit corridors and cramped industrial-like quarters will have you itching to get to the outside world.  Later, as you escape the vault, and the blinding light of the wasteland shines across your screen, you get the real sense of how epic your adventure is about to become.  Indoor, and outdoor lighting is handled very well, and all the graphics look crips and modeled well.  The environment around you all seems fitting for what area you are roaming.  There are many special buildings, vaults, bunkers, and other types of odd facilities that you can explore, and the open world is fairly huge as well.  For the most part, the graphics do a great job and there is only minimal camera problems to encounter.  So in my book, they did a great job graphic wise creating the Fallout universe.

Speaking of the Fallout universe, we can't talk to much about how this game holds up without comparing it to its prior titles.  Altough there was a Brotherhood Tactics style game made, I don't like to consider it part of the main core of the Fallout universe, and especially in this review.  What I would like to compare it to is Fallout 1, and 2. In the first two games, when you entered combat, the game would pause and change into a turn-based game.  If you were a melee character, you would have to use some of your action points just walking up to the enemy you wanted to attack.  But for the most part, time would freeze and turn more into a table top turn based RPG during combat.  You could even target specific body parts for additional skill modifier roll.  The reason I bring this up, is Fallout 3 has tried to address keeping with the original style of play by adding the V.A.T.S. system.  This system allows you to basically freeze time and cue up aimed shots at the enemy using your action points.  The prior two titles were a top down view type of game, whereas in Fallout 3, we have moved to a 3D 1st/3rd person environment.  This works rather well in trying to turn a FPS into a RPG to a certain degree.  And the other interesting thing about this sort of gameplay, is that there is some level of tactics to it.  Perhaps an enemy has a gun in their hand, if you shoot their arm off, they can't hold the gun anymore, hehe.  Or certain enemies might be armored on the rest of their body, and so an aimed headshot might be the best choice of action.  Of course you do not have to use the VATS system as you can stay in real time and aim each shot manually.  However, by using VATS you can do much more damage and the way that time slows down and you can see each bullet fly through the air and strike your foe exactly where you planned is pretty darn cool. 

As far as the party system goes, you are limited to pretty much 3 members to your team.  There is you, a dog you can find named Dogmeat, and then a variety of other NPCs you can have follow you around.  But you only get to pick one NPC, and it is wise not to let  Dogmeat die at anytime as that is last you will see of him.  However, I hear that a dead Dogmeat means you have 2 party members instead at that point, and with a console command you can respawn him back into your party.  And there are other times when some NPC's will come with you as well for a short time until you finish their quest.  If you don't finish their quest, you can kind of keep them until they die.  But for the most party, they did try to pull in the party system of the first two games, and included Dogmeat.  And I do hear that with one of the expansions, there is a perk you can get that will allow you to get Dogmeat's puppies just in case he dies.   

Besides the combat, the other aspects of gameplay are also interesting.  When you encouter a puzzle, you have multiple solutions depending on how you built your character.  Perhaps you will just lock pick you way through the closet door and get the key you need.  Maybe you are charasmatic and will smoothtalk the guard into giving you a copy of the key.  Maybe you might even try to be sneaky, and use stealth to pick the pocket of a guard and steal the key.  And of course, if you had lots of gun skills, you can also go in guns blazing, and just loot the key off the guards corpse.  But this brings us to the Karma system.  The Karma system basically rates the way you deal with certain sections of the game.  If you lets say decide to let the begger live, you might get good karma.  But selecting the option where you toss him off a building might get you some bad karma.  And in a way, you really can follow the goodie goodie two-shoes path or the evil kills baby kittens path if you choose.  Some characters might have something to offer you later, and killing them might not allow you to get those options later.  But if you really want to be evil, one interesting thing you can do is pickpocket someone and then plant a live grenade in their backpack.  Afterwards, I would highly suggest backing up, because they are about to explode into a million peices. 

There is a main story path that you must follow.  And I don't want to give too much away, but your main purpose in the game is to escape from the vault and then find your dad who had escaped from the vault a bit earlier.  After you meet him, you get some plot information about what to do next, and it moves you towards the ending of the game.  Along the way, there are quite a few side mission you can play through with a good or evil twist, and the game claims your choices effected the ending.  And in a way this is true, but the way the ending plays out differently amounts to only a few extra lines of spoken text.  So in a way, the multiple endings to the game that were promised fell a little flat.  And that is one of the biggest gripes of this game is that it feels like it ends too quickly.  And not only that, you could accidently find your dad somehow and bypass a good half of the game content.  And once you do complete the thing your dad needs you to do, the game ends, abruptly.  There is no big epic battle, just a choice you must make, and so the ending feels very anti-climatic.  Now I am only talking about Fallout 3, I know that they have released some official add-ons to the game to continue the story, and I will likely review those at a later time as well.  The one good thing is that the game feels very wastelandish and the use of the VATS to pull off some fun shootouts makes the game replayable, regardless of the karma path or other choices you make. 

When you lockpick, it feels like you are locking picking.  There is a little mini game where you play with the tumblers to pick the lock.  The hacking skill has a mini game for using cypher skills to get the password for a terminal.  It takes a few tries to get the hang of, but sometimes is fun.  Although othertimes it can be frustrating, so on your first playthrough a highlevel of hacking skill or perhaps the use of a FAQ might come in handy.  But the use of the minigames in the Fallout3 is just another aspect of what makes it such an interesting game.

The music in the game is exceptional.  Each track was chosen with care, and many of the titles are Oldies that add a nostalgic feel to the game.  The Ink Blots song "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" really fits the mood as you drop a nuke down on an innocent town.  Each song is nostalgic in an old timey way, and really adds to how the game portrays the Fallout 3 universe.  The scope of the game is set in the mindset of a nuclear frightened 1960s, with all the video footage plugging the game looking just like old black and white tv footage.  Basically all the superpowers ran out of oil, and nuked each other.  There were some vaults in place that some people survived inside despite the devastation outside.  The ambient music fits any area you wander into, from an old vault to the dusty wasteland.  Aand the old timey radios that play the oldies music really set the theme of the game. 

The sound effects are also well done.  The gunshots and weapons sound decent, and there are mods out there that can replace them if you want something different.  The monsters and mutants all sound like what you would expect them to sound like.  Also, there is quite a bit of voice acting in this game.  And I am not sure that everyone would agree with me on this, but I think it was handled fairly well.  Each person has a personality, and the voice acting fits most characters rather well.  I am sure some will critic this further, and claim some level of dissent.  But for the most part I felt it was well done, as I have heard far, far worse voice acting for a game (the kind where it sounds like they are reading a cue card line by line with no emmotion.)  So, in the music and sound department, Fallout 3 scores very well in my book.

Lastly, the custom content is where the game shines the most.  Even though the story is decent, and worth a few run-throughs, the ability for the players to make their own scenarios and missions for the game adds a whole new depth to the scope of the game.     And you could just make a mod that plugs into the game so it doesn't change any of the core content other than various variables.  But the G.E.C.K. system that you use to make the mods was released well after the game went live, of course it is now live now, and being used to make new content for Fallout 3 as I type.  And that being said, if you love the game, look for mods, there are many for this game.  And if you are more savy and want to have your hand at your own Fallout 3 mission, you can do just that.  As with all things there is a learning curve, but just about anything can be done so far, so if you have the PC version and have not looked into any of the mods, dust off your copy and give it a go.

One other thing I want to point out before I sum it all up is the level caps.  Be default, you can level up until you hit level 20.  At that point, you can not level up anymore.  Granted you should be able to finish the game with no problem at level 20.  But I feel it takes away from the game when you can no longer gain experience, and the exploring turns primarily into item hunts.   Now I hear that there are mods and perhaps the official add-on that completes the story past the ending of Fallout 3 that can change a bit of this.  But for the most part, if you want to do everything in the game, you are limited to the template you pick and might require at least 2 run throughs to find everything due to the point requirements.  I am not a big fan of hitting the endgame of a game if you will and not being able to get any better except for items.  I understand if you got too much higher the game would be much easier, but I wish they would have found a better way to balance it, as you can hit level 20 fairly easily mid ways into the game if you like to take your time and roam about killing things. 

So, to sum up Fallout 3, I would have to say it was an enjoyable game.  The visuals were well done, and the sound and music went well with the experience.  The gameplay had elements that tied it back with the styles of the prior games in the series, and was able to expand upon it to bring those concepts into a 3D realtime universe.  Although the story is very good, it feels like the end happens too quickly.  And I hear that one of the expansions takes the story beyond the ending of the original Fallout 3, I still can't help but feel like you are wanting more.  And all you can do with that feeling is play the game again, and try new tactics, and explore new regions.  However, with the official add-ons and all the mods out there, this game is a must have for any fan of the Fallout series, or people interesting the RPG/FPS elements of the gameplay.  Everything ties together well, and up to the very end feels well paced.  But don't seek out your dad by exploring, because if you find him before you find the radio station, you might miss a chunk of the story.  Here is the breakdown:

Graphics : 9 (Fairly cutting edge, only minor camera collisons)
Sound : 9 ( Music is well picked Oldies, and the sound effects seem realistic)
Gameplay : 8 (The VATS is quite fun to play with / some of the mini game puzzles CAN be fun)
Addictiveness : 8  (I wonder what's in here?)

So in conclusion, Fallout 3 is a must have for anyone that has had interest in the game, but has yet to make the purchase.  It has enough depth to be worth one really good play through at least, and will always make you feel like you want to try another angle.  The good and evil aspects can change how easy or hard the game is to complete.  It seems being of good alignment is a bit harder, as stealing all the stuff you need is quite profitable.  Although there is even a difficulty slider too so that you can adjust the game to how avid you get with the combat.  The mods and add-on packs also add replay value to the game, aso all in all I would have to give this game a 9!  Fallout 3 is a great game well worth your time, and makes you think about digging your own vault just in case the bombs start to fall. 

Written by :

Gamerphate