I'm no IGN or Game Spot guy but I anyway want to give my review of a title that's lately stuck into my X-Box360 tray.
Fallout 3 is a first person action RPG and third installment of the Fallout trilogy. The game's developed by Bethesda which is well known for their Morrowind and Oblivion games. As a matter of fact, as soon as I saw the game in action -well maybe just after the first introductory chapter- I felt Oblivion's influence quite much, a sensation which got only stronger as I got diving into the game. I must say this was a nice sensation and a somewhat relieving one because, as we use to say, you don't change the winning horse -or maybe you just customize and improve it a bit.
I am always scared, when awaiting for the sequel of a famous game to be released, that the new episode would spoil the series or spoil the gameplay and feel by attempting to revolutionise the game engine. But this wasn't the case at all. Bethesda pick up the fruit of their tested and appreciated RPG engine and focused on the graphics appeal and story. Graphics and story are two great pros of this awesome game.
The year is 2277 and the location's Washington DC wasteland. In 2077 United States fought a nuclear war against China resulting in the complete devastation of the American nation (what about China and the World we don't know). After World War 2 Fallout's timeline split from ours and in 2077 the World was in the verge of its development, relying on robotics and nuclear power for even the more trivial tasks as powering cars and trucks. Despite this technical and scientific advancement, society values remained those of the 50' in our timeline. The society structure and values are pictured and described so well to be very present and strong in the game. By roaming the wasteland you can almost taste the ancient flavours even if they're just a mere reflect and survive only through devastated structures, forgotten objects and worn out posters.
The game starts with your birth and the death of your mother (what a good sign uh..). You then play some brief sequence related to your childhood and adolescence sheltered in the safety of Vault 101 with your father. Vaults are huge and very advanced nuclear shelters manufactured by Vault-Tec before the nuclear mayhem and designed to protect just a selected number of humans from the devastation and fallout. You will soon discover that there are a few of Vaults in the DC area. However you will soon be forced to leave the comfort and protection of your home and experience a new strange, dangerous, devastated world.
You begin your adventure -and new life- in an effort to track down your father who escaped the Vault without giving any explanation to anyone including his only and beloved son. The outside world is shattered and you will soon meet the desolated ruins of what once used to be a suburb called Spring Vale. In my play session it was nigh time when I exited Vault 101 and the desolating effect of the destroyed houses, the smashed and rusted furniture and the occasional ancient skeletons, was impressive.
Despite the holocaust humanity hasn't given up and the outside world is full of life. But humans aren't the only one roaming the capital wasteland, radiation turned either human beings or animal into monsters. There are the so called Ghouls which are mangled figures of those that once were humans. They're usually discriminated if not loathed mostly because of their aspect and because some of them are driven crazy by the radiation and get turned in Feral Ghouls which attack anyone who encounters them. Washington DC ruins swarm with Super Mutants, another human derived monster which are much more dangerous than the Feral Ghouls. The Super Mutants, whose origin I won't discuss here, usually haunt downtown DC streets and buildings in packs and can master a wide range of lethal weapons, from hunting rifles to miniguns and rocket launchers. Speaking of mutated animals there are rad-ants, rad-scorpions, Yao Guais (a sorta freaking ferocious bear), Mirelurks (super armored biped crabs), molerats, and abominations like the Centaur (a puke-stimulating Super Mutant pet), and Deathclaws (freaking fast and deadly ferocious).
Humans are present in a variaty of factions. Within the Capital Wasteland humans live in towns made of whatever piece of scraps of pre war metal they can find, like parts of airplanes, like Megaton, or caravans, like Arefu. Beached on the Potomac shore a rusty aircraft carrier hosts Rivet City one of the most important and largest human settlement in the game.
Where downtown DC streets are deprived from human colonization, because they're basically taken by the Super Mutants), they are also home of the Citadel, the stronghold of the local detachment of the Brotherhood of Steel, a national organization going back to the U.S. Army which struggles to somewhat normalize the nation by fighting minions (in this case mostly Super Mutants) with soldiers wearing Power Armors. Always present in your radio is the frequency of the Enclave, a mysterious organization which sports itself as the legitimate successor of the U.S. government. Other organizations present in the game are mercenaries, raiders (evil psychopaths, sociopaths killers), slavers, Brotherhood of Steel Outcasts and regulators (a sorta rangers who kill evil characters).
Fallout 3 sports several game features very well developed. I've already talked about the story; another of these prized aspect is the Karma system. Fallout 3 gives ample free choice to the player. There are countless way to proceed in the game. Karma is a dynamic picture of what is Dungeons & Dragons alignment. Depending on how you choose to behave your character can be good, neutral or evil. There are actions which give you different amount of Karma points. For example, if you choose to set off the A-bomb resting in Megaton, instead of disarming it, you'll get a huge amount of evil Karma points. More of that, by doing so several consequences in the game take place. The town is destroyed and the inhabitants killed, you can't access certain missions, your home will be somewhere else and so on. If you're evil then, raiders won't attack you, slavers will recognize you as a friend, etc... Words travel fast in the Capital Wasteland. Every situation has at least one good and one evil way to be solved, but usually the options are many more.
Another polished feature of Fallout 3 is the V.A.T.S. combat system. Before speaking of that though I must say something about the Pip-Boy 3000, the ultimate gadget Vault-Tec originally gave to those blessed people selected to be sheltered inside the Vaults. Pip-Boy is Fallout 3's green screen H.U.D. and provides the player several tools as the Geiger counter, the inventory, the map and much more. Among this more is the V.A.T.S. (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System), the ultimate tactical software for those player who like to take a breath from the action and have a more rational approach to killing. Once V.A.T.S. is enabled the action freezes and the Pip-Boy 3000 shows the image of the target with a part of its body coloured in green. According to the number of Action Points the character has, the player can aim one or more shots to different part of the enemy's body or weapon. Each body part has an energy level which, once drained, causes the body part to become crippled, with evident consequences to the enemy combat behaviour.
Like all the GDRs games, in Fallout 3 the character is governed by main features and abilities which are improved or accumulated by means of Experience Points. S.P.E.C.I.A.L., which stands for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck, are the main characteristics which are mainly chosen at the beginning of the game and can marginally be improved during the game by certain abilities or items. The Skills are the various abilities (i.e. Energy Weapons, Medicine, Lockpick, etc..) that the main character can learn through the game. Each of them is related to a certain S.P.E.C.I.A.L.. Now, Fallout 3 gives the player one more way to improve the character by means of the so-called Perks. These are very special abilities (i.e. Computer Whiz, Cyborg, Gun Nut, etc..) which enable the character to do some special thing (like have access to the slavers or regulators organizations) or do something regular (like shooting or hacking) better.
Speaking of the general appeal, Fallout 3 graphics is definitely very good. The fact is that technically it doesn't show anything like a big leap from what seen with Oblivion. This isn't a cons at all though. It's clear that, having already an engine which was doing its job quite well, Bethesda teams focused on the story and the gameplay. However, apart from pure technique, the style and detail of the graphic representation of the world is impressive. The world is huge and, despite the prevailing desolation, there are many distinct location to go sightseeing. Downtown Washington DC you can come across the remains of the pre war monuments like the Jefferson Memorial, the National Library or the ruins of the Washington monument with the radioactive pool. Walking on the deserted streets of the Capital, looking at the grey and massive buildings, all focused to hear the sign of Super Mutant ambushes, it's a rather disturbing experience.
Something that's seen of one of the best aspect (and one helping the game to be awarded of X-Box 360 game of the year by IGN) of this awesome game is the Audio. From the metallic screeching of the doors to the frequency noises of the radio, the sound is all aimed to increase the sensation of loneliness and fall of the civilization. What has mostly struck me is anyway the music. The soundtrack is outstanding. All the songs are in perfect fifties style and as a matter of fact they're all old songs from historical American singers like Cole Porter, The Ink Spots, Tex Beneke and Roy Brown). Walking on radiation scorched land listening to The Ink Spots singing "I don't want to set the world on fire" is just priceless.
Well, I suppose this is enough for now. I could certainly go on ages writing about this wonderful game and I'm certain you'll just like reading along, but you know.. I must go and play right now :D
If you like GDR games you better don't miss Fallout 3.
Here below you can see the official E3 2008 trailer which shows some of the various aspects of the game
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