Does this game set the world on fire?
It’s been 10 years since the last Fallout game has been released and the last time we’ve seen the Vault Dweller exit out of the vault and into the Wastelands. Now Fallout 3 has been released but does it set the world on fire with Betheseda Softworks (The Elder Scrolls) as the developer?
Gameplay
Fallout 3 plays a whole lot like Oblivion in terms of gameplay mechanics with its own fallout twist on it. Different time periods calls for different weapons and armor. If you have played Oblivion, you’ll already know how to work this game.
Starting with the weapons you will notice within the first few hours of the game that ammunition does go by rather quick especially against Raiders which could be a problem if all you have is a Chinese Assault Rifle and a pistol. But since half the time your looting dead corpses or cabinets there is still a good chance you can find the ammunition you need for your 10mm pistol. The big guns like the Fat Man pack a lot of punch but ammo for it is a rarity to find. Laser weapons are different, they waste ammo less and their cartridges usually hold more which means these will end up being your weapons of choice. Melee weapons range from chainsaw daggers to police batons, they come in handy when you run out of ammo and have some uniqueness to them.
The armor is really extraordinary with fantastic designs and details ranging from the Radiation suits to the T-51b Power Armor. There are even different variants of the armor like the T-51b Tesla armor which focuses more on Agility rather than defense. The armor itself does exactly what it’s supposed to do which is of course protect you from harm whether that be radiation or bullets. Later in the game when your loot is mostly filled with Power Armor or Enclave Armor it tends to eat up the weight in which you can carry and eventually will make over encumbered and cannot run. This is when you use the nifty Repair option which gives more life to your armor and makes it defend better. You can only repair armor in which you have 2 or more of and your repair skill must be high to greater the effectiveness of the armor.
Just like in Oblivion there is a 3rd person perspective in this game but it is rather useless unless you want to see how odd your armor looks or if that new haircut will dazzle the Raiders with style. While it is an improvement from Oblivion it is still not recommended.
The combat while at times feels a bit tacked on it vastly improves with the V.A.T.S. system which puts everything in slow-mo and uses AP points which depending on the weapon you use and the skill number you have for that type of weapon you can consume the whole gauge of AP when you use V.A.T.S. The V.A.T.S. does improve combat but it can be a chore when you just want to get on with the fights and since you cannot fast forward or skip the slow-mo it can get on your nerves. But in my opinion I cannot get tired of seeing the heads fly off of the Raiders or Mr.Tenpenny using V.A.T.S. The V.A.T.S. also helps pinpoint the weakness of the enemy such as a Targeting Chip and tells you the percentile of the chance of hitting it. The enemy can still attack when in slow-mo but the rate of fire will of course be slowed down.
There are many different varieties of enemies to face from the horrific Deathclaws to the colossal Super Mutant Behemoths. Every enemy you face will definitely be either odd,quirky,scary, or comedic. The scripting for the enemy A.I. is usually to run head on and attack you but they can suppress you a big deal and take cover when a grenade is thrown at them. The friendly A.I. however is not so good they will tend to encounter bugs where they run away for no reason or just stay still and do nothing whatsoever.
The S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system helps you put points in your primary aptitude whether that be Agility or Strength it’s pretty self-explanatory and it also determines what skills you can get later on in the game
There are bugs in this game but its very rare to come across one. One being as I stated above was the friendlies running away for no obvious reason. A second bug was being stuck in a cabinet and couldn’t get out which made me get killed by a Raider. There are more but I haven’t encountered them in my 70+ hours of gameplay time and all of them can of course be patched.
Story
The story starts off in Vault 101 where you spent all of your time growing up and being bullied or getting closer to putting it in Amata until one day your dad opens the door to the outside world and causes a huge ruckus in the vault. Once you escape you are on the search for your dad and find out where he went, what his intentions are, and what can you do to help him. You are most likely not going to even follow the main quests anyways and drift off into the Capitol Wasteland.
The story itself can be changed by the decisions you make during the game. In the game you get good karma and bad karma which determines if people like you can the deals you can get at stores. The decisions you make determines what ending you will get and how you would forever be liked to be known as in the Fallout universe you can be the savior of humanity or be the devil himself, it’s your choice. The amount of different possibilities lets you bend the story to your liking which is a plus for me.
The ending itself however could have been more deep and tasteful but once you finish it you cannot continue and you must reload a save to continue playing which depending on the ending you received may or may not make sense.
The primary side quests in this game are the best side quests I have ever played and are either filled with crude and dark humor or pay homage to early 1900s movies such as the famous Ants! quest . They are all worth doing and add a good 30+ hours to your adventure.
Audio
Everything from the sounds of the bullets flying through the air to the voice acting, it is simply just stupendous. Everything truly fits in this game and Bethesda nailed it perfectly. Not to mention Bethesda was able to license the song “I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire” which is what Interplay wanted in the Fallout games for a long time. There is one nitpick for me though, as I was listening to the GNR radio station the songs repeated themselves after about 15 minutes although it could be because I was too busy killing mole rats that I did not realize music was playing until it repeated itself.
Graphics
Everything in the Capitol Wasteland is highly detailed, it truly does resemble a nuked out Washington D.C. You can tell every single object, place, or thing has been affected by the nukes that were set off well except Oasis of course (excluding Bob). The particle effects from the nukes and explosions are very well done. You can even see the differences between a newly furbished police baton to a worn out police baton. What else can I say? The graphics are simply amazing.
Conclusion
This game is definitely one of the best games I have ever played and will remain in my favorites collection until I am six feet under. The pros of this game by far outweigh the cons and it completely makes up for the 10 year wait for a sequel. Unfortunately it suffers from minor hitches and bugs which hinders gameplay at moments.
9/10
Notes
Achievement Difficulty: 5/10 Most of the achievements are primary side quests or completing the main quests. The only ones that will give you a hard time is getting to level 20 with different karma statuses and collecting all of the Vault-Tec bobbleheads.
