Fallout 3 begins with the character you play being born, you then get to select how you want to look in the future, whether your male or female and other minor features about the character your playing. Trying not to give the story away, you see small highlights out of your life as you grow up each giving you a small aspect of the future game such as your abilities etc. However the free roam story doesn't begin until you get out of the vault. This is where the real RPG element begins. With the main story quests to do and also a lot of side quests.
Having not played any of the previous fallouts or oblivion i cannot compare this to them. I am also not a big RPG fan and therefore I wasn't sure what to expect or whether I'd even like it. As a concept i found it really confusing at first. I didn't know where to go or what I was doing or even the point in everything you do. However once you get into it and begin to understand it you realise the scale of the storyline, doing anything can have a huge impact in the future, such as killing other people, the karma system, can all have an impact on your future quests and possible rewards. Although some of the links are unnoticeable and it won't hinder your gameplay. Most of the time you won't even know you've done it.
The graphics are OK with great scenic views, the landscape is huge and if you were to imagine what a landscape would look like after a nuclear bomb, then it looks just like it with some noticeable landmarks that do actually exist. However character wise, the characters do not look great and also don't always do as you'd expect. Although it is a 1st person and 3rd person game the 3rd person view is terrible. Your character looks rubbish especially the movements, therefore it is only good as a 1st person game.
The gameplay has two key features, the Pip Boy 3000 and the V.A.T.S. system. The Pip Boy is essentially your menu system, changing weapons, items, viewing health, skills etc. At first it takes some getting used to but really comes in handy and is actually a good idea and fits well with the game. The V.A.T.S is also a unique feature. With a flick of a button the game freezes and you can see the enemy/enemies within your sight and choose which one to attack, where to attack them and also the likeliness that your going to hit that part of the body. This is a key element as fighting normally can be difficult and very inaccurate so this is essential to use and the game really revolves around it.
The game is very long and could quite easily eat up your life. It can be very frustrating but you will always find yourself going back to it unless you get really annoyed with it. But it is very playable for and for a long time.
The big negative is the glitches. You can get stuck almost anywhere, I hit one where I reloaded after dying and for some reason i was constantly punching and it wouldn't let me shoot and it wasnt my trigger because it wasn't doing it in the dashboard. Fortunately for me resetting my xbox fixed this. However some where you get stuck can be complete gamebreakers where, due to the fact the game saves automatically very often, you can find yourself going back ages and losing a lot of gameplay. This is one of the few occasions where you find that you get fed up and just put it away forever.
Overall, a great almost addictive game which can be played for hours on end. However it is really let down by the glitches I feel, and to get the full out of it a guide would be very useful, there is an online guide if you search "fallout wikia" in google which can be very helpful and imformative, also listing the glitches trying to prevent you getting stuck and losing hours. But a great game!!
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Advantages: Excellent graphics all round, tremendous environments and premises, fairly innovative. new content Disadvantages: poor character development, buggy, linear.
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Jan 23rd, 2009
exceptional by (7%):
very helpful by (93%):
