If you’re reading this then you have enough gaming experience to realize that there are many genres of video game.  Driving, shooting, first person shooters, dreaded platformers.  There’s a different type of game for every player, and indeed every mood.  Before discussing this game we should look a little closer at the genre to make sure we’re all clear on what this game is and what it is not.  Fallout3 is a hardcore, traditional Role Playing Game (RPG).  Many games have been released claiming to be an RPG.  A couple of good examples would be the Fables, Crackdown, or Mass Effect.  All great games i played until my fingers bled, but none a true RPG.  These games are all dumbed down versions of a true RPG, to a point that it was more about the combat systems, fighting, and cool graphics than character improvement and strategy.  Again, nothing against what I have titled the Action RPG genre… but make no mistake,  Fallout3 is a Role Playing Game.  Vast open maps with truely intelligent AI that make you wonder if they looking to harm or help you.  A leveling system that requires you to pick a specialty and live (or die) by those choices.  Endless dialogue trees and consequences for every action.  This game even makes you think about what items you carry!  Carry too many items and you become over-encumbered… every gamers true nightmare.  So all that said, if you aren’t interested in a game that makes you think, just stop reading now.  This is no shooter, no running or gunning, and thank heaven… you can only jump a foot or two at a time.  On to the game…

Fallout3 starts differently than any other game you’ve ever played.  It’s an experience unlike any other.  I’ll refrain from spoiling the wonderful surprise that is the beginning of your life in a post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland, but suffice it to say it’s memorable.  You spend the first three hours of this game developing the basics of your character.  The developer, Bethesda, does a very good job of making this creation cycle natural and even a little comical.  When you’re done you’re spit out in to a world of hulking brutes that want to tear you to shreds, giant animals desperate to eat your face, and yes… the obligatory zombie that is so jealous of your smooth skin that it is determined to take it from you.  Oh, and did I mention your only weapon will be a small pistol?  Needless to say, you better be ready.  Once you are jettisoned from your safe, comfortable home into the big wide world all bets are off.  There are no rails, there are no mandatory quests.  There is nothing but a big empty map and the feeling of total inadequacy.  You’re free to follow the quest that is presented to you in the very well designed Inventory/Menu system, or you can literally wander the world looking for a fight to pick.

Now the fun begins.   Every enemy conquered, every conversation done well, every lock picked provides you with precious experience points.  Just like any other RPG, when you get enough points you level up.  HERE is where one of the differences between this game and other similar games comes up.  Firstly, the game FORCES you to level.  You can’t put it off until later, you can’t wait until it’s convenient.  Once you’re not in active battle the screen pops up and POOF, you’re leveling.  The second difference is that this game has a leveling limit.  You cannot surpass level 20.  That’s right, you have a limited number of times that you can improve your character.  There is no level 21.  You can’t out think the game, there are no cheats… there’s 20.  Period.  Why is this important?  Because it means you can’t be all things.  Unlike other games, where you can max out every ability, you have to be smart about how you want to play the game.  Do you want to be the stealthy ninja, or do you want to be a mauler that walks about with his trusty missile launcher?  Or maybe you want to be a charismatic charmer.  You can be any of those things, but you can’t be all of those things.  Make your character however you want them to be.  Take them wherever you want to go.  It’s the ultimate open world (sandbox) game.  Surprises are all over the place, rewards in every tunnel (also known as dungeon).

Just like any RPG this game starts out TOUGH.  You’ll spend the first few levels picking your fights wisely and using the time tested “RUN LIKE HELL” strategy from time to time.  After several levels up you’ll start to notice that things are getting easier.   The world will start making sense.  You may even have an ally or two.  Eventually you stop worrying about money or health packs, you figure out what you can carry without exceeding the limit on how much weight you can bare, and you find your place in this desolate… often depressing… little world.

Oh yeah, the technical stuff.  Graphics are great, though it does suffer from the occasional pop-in problem.  Once rendered the graphics are down right stunning.  Music is good.  Voice acting is standard.  Storyline is compelling (thus far).  All in all it’s a great game.   I recommend it to anyone that can commit to serious hours of mutant fighting, fire ant slaying, dungeon crawling fun.

So, bottom line time.  Who should or should not buy this game.  The number one factor in that decision is time.  This is not a 12 hour play through.  This isn’t a 24 hour play through.  I have well exceeded the $1/hour mark on this game, logging 100+ hours to date, and have barely scratched the surface of the main story line.  IF you let it, this game will reach out from your television and absorb the very essence of your being.  You will sleep, eat, and poop Fallout.  It will be the end of you.  UNLESS…. you are an adrenaline junky.  What’s commonly referred to as a twitch gamer.  If all you play is FPS, uh… don’t try this game.  Don’t get me wrong, the combat in this game will blow your mind.  But it’s not the high paced run and gun style of a Halo or Gears of War.  This is a thinking mans game punctuated with moments of INTENSE action.  This game will probably win a load of Game of the Year awards, but it’s not for every bullet hose toting zombie shooting hormone pumping gamerhead.

Interested?  Buy it now or Trade for it on Goozex

–David Hayes

8 Comments »

1. 

   “This isn’t a 24 hour play through. I have well exceeded the $1/hour mark on this game, logging 100+ hours to date, and have barely scratched the surface of the main story line.”

   You can actually complete the main story line in just a few hours of game play. In fact you can complete the main story line at a level six. If you replay the game you can even short and that if you know what you’re doing. It’s too bad they can keep their reviews honest. And it’s also interesting none of these reviewers have been suffering from a locking up like everyone else has.

   Comment by Voodoojedizin — December 31, 2008 @ 12:09 pm

2. 

   Just for the record, i HONESTLY have over 150 hours in to this game at this point (though I’m on my second play through). I’m sure one can get through the 8 or 10 main story quests in 6 hours if they try to burn through it, but why would you play an RPG to see how fast you can get through it. Also, i HONESTLY haven’t had the locking up issue voodoo references either. Has the game ever locked up? Probably. Has it happened so many times i remember it at all? No.

   Comment by bykguy — January 15, 2009 @ 12:40 pm

3. 

   I bookmarked this site, Thank you for good job!

   Comment by mark — April 15, 2009 @ 6:21 am

4. 

   Great post, well written!,

   Comment by John Manikowski — July 30, 2009 @ 3:27 pm

5. 

   great site. I love online games,

   Comment by kimberly gardner — July 30, 2009 @ 3:27 pm

6. 

   Nice man!,

   Comment by John Brockway — July 30, 2009 @ 3:28 pm

7. 

   Hi! The post is really interesting! I

   Comment by J.C. Williams — July 31, 2009 @ 4:33 am

8. [...] a little more casual but spirited than another game you might be playing at the time (*cough* Fallout 3 *cough*).  Recommend for those of you who want to feel like you know how to race in the dirty [...]

   Pingback by The Videogamer @ Borked.us » Off the edge with Baja — October 8, 2009 @ 1:57 pm

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