NOTE: screenshots may contain violence, gore, blood and complete wreckage of body members. Read at own risk. Developer - Bethesda Game Studios Publishers - Bethesda Softworks Release date - EU October 30, 2008 Genre - Action Role-Playing Game Rating - PEGI: 18+ Imagine the world in the present, as it is now. Done? Now, imagine the world 70 years ahead of that time. Done again? Now imagine a nuclear holocaust, hitting this once peaceful world, with such powerful atomic weapons that life is erradicated from Earth. ... What? Life? Erradicated? No! Set 200 years after that great atomic war, Fallout3 tell us the story of a once small child, whose life had previously been spent on an underground shelter. These places are called Vaults, and they were built to protect all the citizens from the harm of radiation and explosions. There are more than one hundred Vaults, but even all these Vaults were not enough to protect everyone. It all begins in Vault 101, home to another child. But this is no ordinary child, with no ordinary future. This child's future is the world's (or better, Wasteland's) very own. You ARE this child. Your father is aiding the birth, for he is one of the greatest doctors in Vault 101. As you see the light of day, your father talks to you, you choose your name and even get to choose your sex and future appearance. Who would have ever guessed that such a small creature would once be the world's last hope... or the world's greatest enemy. The one and only Megaton, city of junk and junkies (low quality image). After your birth, time passes on, and a year is skipped. You learn the basics of the world, then some more time is skipped, this time on your birthday party, where you get your greatest friend, the PIP-Boy. Once more, time goes on, and this time, you take the G.O.A.T., short for Generalized Occupational Aptitude Test, which should decide what you would do in the future. For the last time, you skip some more time ahead, only to be woken up by your friend Amata. She tells you that your dad fled the Vault, alone. And when the Overseer (the one who rules the Vault) knew about it, he ordered his men to kill his best friend and then you. Your only choice is to flee from the Vault yourself, venturing into the great Wasteland (the main scenery) searching for your father. The problem is, the Wasteland struggles to halt your quest and your survival. Its an enormous map (around 41 square kilometers large) with the worst the world would ever have to offer. As said, human life was not eradicated. You'd be better off if it had been. Among the survivors, there are the ones that were kept unarmed, like you, who were in the Vault when the war started. Then, you also have the ghouls, creatures who were once humans, whose appearance is... ghoulish, victims of extreme radiation exposure, unlucky enough to survive. Other creatures, more like aliens than anything else, are the mutants, victims of radiation and experiments, which made them suffer heavy transformations. There also are bugs and other animals, like dogs, radroaches, radscorpions and many more, also victims of radiation. SHISHKABOOM! One less. But the ones to be respected the most are the other humans, whose family wasn't taken into Vaults, but made their life throughout the Wasteland. They got all together, created cities and villages, used ruins as shelters and survived all the dangers of the Wasteland. Their kingdoms are spread throughout the game, into places like Megaton, a prosperous city made of junk from the war, or Rivet City, made out of the remains of a ship, and many other places. Struggling for survival is always hard, but rewarding. In these cities, you can find everything: churches, restaurants, clinics, equipment suppliers; everything you would have ever needed is there. Happily, exploring the Wasteland is nothing else but fantastic. Your first glance out of the Vault, and you're bound to be astonished at what you see. Life? None at sight. Colours? Grey, brown and black dominate the horizon. Destruction? Plenty of it. Half standing, half destroyed buildings are exhibited in front of you; a gray, unfriendly sky looks avidly at the newcomer; D.C.'s megaliths emerge on the edge of the map as you take the risk of your recently given quest. Soon, you discover your first city, Megaton. And now, here is life. This is the legendary city, erected from junk and metal, whose inhabitants struggle to keep standing. But this is the first of the many cities, villages, malls, stations and shelters scattered throughout the map. Who would say, 10mm cut legs, heh?! Guns and weapons are, certainly, something humanity always fought over. And Fallout 3 is no exception. The categories included are Unarmed (using your bare fists or equipment like Brass/Spiked Knuckles), Melee Weapons (baseball bats, sledgehammers, knives, etc.), Small Guns category (which, somehow, include assault and sniper rifles, along with shotguns and regular pistols), Energy Weapons (like the Laser or Plasma Pistol/Rifle), Big Guns (includes mass destruction beauties like the minigun, the missile launcher and the fatman) and Explosives (mines and grenades), plus handmade weapons and special weapons. As you see, you have around 80 weapons out of which you can make profit. While many are useless, others pack great power that can make the difference in every battle. Shooting is not a problem on this game, although many may disagree. While on the first person perspective, you always hit your target... as long as you're correctly aiming at it. However, the damage done to your enemies is very affected by the place where you hit your enemies (might even reach a near-zero damage point), and this made many people think you rarely hit an enemy while not using V.A.T.S. The third-person perspective is not as functional as the first person, having some big issues when shooting. Anyway, when walking around the Wasteland, both are nice enough. The controls are sharp, as of now I have no complaints. A small bug here or there, nothin to worry about. Now the crashes, those are the true enemy. They can make you lose hours of Wasteland discover in the blink of an eye. But Fallout is not Fallout without bugs... is it? One of the most feared enemies, the Firelurk king. What could it be doing? Lurking. Now. For something we all need. An unbiased comparison between Fallout 1/2 and Fallout 3. The previous Fallout games are more than a decade old. More of an RPG than this new Fallout, it was exclusively in the third person in a Sims like perspective (oblique view); the storyline was deeper and your actions really were something you had to consider. There were several endings, each one according to what you had done before, unlike the third game, in which your behaviour throughout the game only affects people's disposition towards you and a couple other things. You could go on through Fallout 1/2 without firing a bullet if you felt like doing so. Fallout 3 is clearly a new generation game, corresponding to the latest FPS tendency of the market, still attending to the Fallout franchise RPG style, envolving skills like Barter, Speech and Sneak, never forgeting your actions are something to think about. Blowing up a city is not very wise, considering you still have ammo to buy, caps to take hold of (which, by the way, are the game's currency) and quests to put forth. All in all, Fallout 3 can be a major disappointment to the fans of the old series, who had waited more than a decade for a sequel to the franchise, but it was a serious contender to the title of Game of the Year. That's Fallout 1 and 2 for you, Mister! Compared to new generation games, Fallout 3 is, by all standards and possible definitions, a huge success. Graphics standing up to those of the highest quality ones (like Crysis's or Call of Duty's) and a cutting-edge gameplay, blending the adrenaline of an FPS and the endurance of an RPG, make this game compete against GTA4 or MGS4. Up until now, the only downsides are the storyline, which is very disappointing in the end, and a few bugs and crashes, turning hours of discovery into mere lost time. Presentation - 9/10 - Very good menus, blending the 50s with the... 2277s, I don't know. Ease of navigation, only a few bugs restrain it from a ten. Graphics - 9/10 - Beautiful surroundings, excellent indoors. It feels real and alive, like the Wasteland could be true. The colors are repetitive but realistic. Characters look hollow and the animations leave something to be (hugely) desired, especially the walking. Sound - 9/10 - Great voice acting and a very fitting soundtrack, even if old. Even radio stations are present. Sound effects are not the greatest, but not bad either. Gameplay - 10/10 - The game's highest point, blending a fantastic FPS pace and combat system with the deep roots of a traditional RPG. Simply fantastic, although many might disagree. Lasting Appeal - 9/10 - The main quest has nothing new to offer, as it is pretty straight forward. However, the side quests have several outcomes and a wide array of manners to complete them. Requires hours and hours, something not to fall into oblivion any soon. TOTAL SCORE - 46/50 What's up, smoothskin?
I have not had a game for the past few months that got me so hooked up like this one. Indeed very awesome (both ).
Thanks. If you have a proper GFX card, this game has awesome, awesome graphics. Played it on my HD4850 and it looks "OMG!". Are there differences between the PC and the other versions?
