I live in lovely York with my fiance and I love writing!
I live in lovely York with my fiance and I love writing!
Member since:11.05.2009
Reviews:17
Video reviews:1
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I had played fallout 2 in my early teens and had loved it. I loved the choices that you were given and the way that your actions affected your world. When I heard that Fallout 3 was being released I was ecstatic as it meant that one of my favourite games was going to get an update. I got it on Christmas day and for most of the rest of the day, I was lost to the world. It was one of the most amazing games I have played in a very long time.
With an Xbox 360 behind them, Bethesda has done a wonderful job of recreating Washington DC as a wasteland. There is hardly any lag as you explore the world and even the loading screens that are present are for the most part short and give you information about your quests and information about what you have achieved. Since fallout 3 is primarily played as a first person shooter, it is very accessable for people not used to a role playing game. The role playing element of the game is introduced early in the game and is a gradual process, allowing for people not familiar with stat points and perks a gentle start. The first stage of the game is in fact more or less a tutorial, slowly introducing you to the interface and levelling system before releasing you into the wasteland. This might seem a little tedious to seasoned role players such as myself, but is not
that long and widens the potential players.
When the leveling system is first encountered it can seem a little complicated as there two distinct parts of levelling up, choosing perks and allocating stat points. Knowing what areas to improve in can be a difficult choice sometimes and if you are new to playing RPGs it can seem a little confusing but after a while it becomes easier. The Perks that are available are just as fun and useful as in the previous game and include some old favourites like Bloody Mess, to a lot of new and incredibly fun perks. Perks, for anyone who has never played fallout before, are extra skills and abilities that range from comical to very useful. You can gain perks from either increasing in level or completing quests, so you will never be able to get all of them, which adds a tactical element, which adds to the fun.
Morality and choices are central to Fallout 3 and how your world treats you. I have been the worst person I possibly could and as a result people have shunned me and I have been hunted by bounty hunters. I have also been as good as I possibly could and people have come up to me as I have passed and given me gifts. Every conversation you have, every decision you make can have an effect on your karma and also, your karma, stats and perks can have an affect on your conversations and the options you have. I love this feature as it means that you can have so much fun, either being good, helping everyone and basking in their love, or being the scourge of humanity, killing and slaughtering where ever you go.
One staple of the fallout series has been VATS (Vault-tec Assisted Tactical System), which allows you to freeze time and target individual parts of the body. This might seem to ruin the action, but as you are limited as to how much you can use VATS, it adds to the tactical nature of the game. As each body part is independent on an enemy, it means that you can cripple, maim or just shoot in the head. This is also applies to your character, so if part of your body is crippled, you will be affected too.
Along with the normal action in the game, you also have a few mini games to test you. Hacking and lockpicking are both ways to get to extra areas or items which are not essential to the game, but will still help you along the way. Both of these modes are fun and challenging, especially on the harder levels. As with everything in the game, both hacking and lockpicking are scaled, so at the beginning of the game, there are easier challenges, but when you are at higher levels, you are still challenged.
Although there is a central quest that you follow, to complete the game, there are also a good number of side quests to complete and a huge map to explore, which means that there are potentially over a hundred hours of gameplay each time you play. Now, this is one game that I can truely say you will want to play though again. Part of this comes from the achievements you can earn, as it is not possible for you to gain all achievements by only playing through the game once. This game is epic in every way possible, from the scale of the map to the sheer amount there is to do.
The enemy AI is brilliant as well, meaning that you are not able to just run up on them. If they hear you, they will come and investigate or become alert and suspicious. If you hide from them, they will flush you out, and throw grenades, which can be very damaging.
The variety of weapons available is amazing as well, from a humble hand gun to a mini nuclear warhead launcher called a Fatman. Each weapon has their own strengths and weaknesses such as accuracy and damage as well as their own hit points. If your weapon is in bad condition it will not do as much damage and is liable to break on you. In order to keep your weapons in good conditions you can reapir them using weapons that you pick up from dead enemies.
The sound is wonderful as well, using surround sound effectively, even to the point where I was jumping when ghouls ran towards me, snarling as they did. The voice acting is brilliant as well, using some big names like Liam Neeson. The sound and music is brilliantly as well, changing to suit where you were and what was happening at the present time.
The graphics were brilliant as well, managing to handle a huge environment without suffering the quality. The facial animation of the NPCs and enemies were brilliant, making sure we knew we weren't fighting mindless zombies. The textures were briliiant as well, differing depending where you were.
The one problem that I did find with Fallout was that it was liable to crash during loading screens and occassionally during game play for no reason. Other than this slight problem, Fallout 3 is the best game of the year and I would recommend anyone (over 18 because there is a lot of swearing and gore) with an Xbox 360 to buy it.
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Requires Fallout 3 To Play, Not IncludedBroken Steel features:Battle your way to level 30, ... more
with all-new perks and achievements to unlock along the way!Extends the Main Quest, allowing you to continue playing your existing character and find out wha...
Postage & Packaging: £1.94 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Add more content to and continue your existing Fallout 3 game to finish the fight against ... more
the Enclave remnants alongside Liverty Prime.Battle your way to level 30, with all new perks and achievments to unlock along the way!Extendes the Main Quest, allo...
Requires Fallout 3 To Play, Not IncludedBroken Steel features:Battle your way to level 30, ... more
with all-new perks and achievements to unlock along the way!Extends the Main Quest, allowing you to continue playing your existing character and find out wha...
Postage & Packaging: free Super Saver Delivery Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Advantages: Excellent graphics all round, tremendous environments and premises, fairly innovative. new content Disadvantages: poor character development, buggy, linear.
Advantages: higher level cap and some new perks in Broken Steel. Point Lookout is very good. Disadvantages: new content rushed, imbalanced enemies, linear, boring, no new graphics, bad premise, ending+value
May 16th, 2009
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