Fallout 3 ReviewFollow

It's been hyped for nearly 3 years. Its had its haters, and its lovers. Some people call it Bethesda's best game, so don't. Read on to find out what I thought of one of the most anticipated games of '08.



Gameplay - The game starts out with a narrative inro and leads into you being born, to being a baby, to being a child, a teenager, and finally, an older teenager before the plot truely begins. I won't delve much into the plot line being as intricate as it is, but I will say that it is one of the best parts of this game. Spot on and riveting. It kept me going through the game and made want to do nothing more than plot quests.

The gameplay is remeniscent of Oblivion mixed with System Shock. You can choose to play it like a shooter, or use the new feature known as V.A.T.S., which is a sub-targeting system that is guided by your skills, perks, and stats, to determine the damage caused and how accurate your attack will be. you target a specific body part, and if you stay on that body part, you can cripple it and make you foe significantly weaker. V.A.T.S. is another groundbraking aspect of this game. It adds more strategy to the game but is very fast paced and cinematic. Once you try it, I'm sure you'll fall in love.

After every level you will be given your stats of choice and a perk to choose. Perks can do a variety of things from increasing damage, to making your kills more gruesome tenfold. The level system does not derive from Oblivion but instead you gain experience for killing, speech challenges, pickpocketing, lock picking, etc.

One flaw I could find with this game is the same flaw I found with Oblivion. While the game is completely immersive with its enormous world with nearly twenty times more locations tan Oblivion, the loading screens will break your immersion. Which can be kind of a buzzkill. Another is that there aren't many sidequests, but the ones it does have can last for more than 3 hours.

Graphics - The graphics aren't very amazing when you few them up close. You can see how shotty the texture mapping is on 70% of the objects. But when you find yourself at a locale such as Tennpeny Tower, you can really see the beauty of such a huge world. No, bad graphics isn't necisarily a bad thing, because if it did have cutting edge, the lag world be terrible.

Soundtrack - The musical score in this game betters that of many other RPGs. The quirky marching music from Enclave Radio, to the Doowap hits from the 40s-50s on Galaxy News Radio, to the eerie scores you'll only slightly be able to hear in terminals. It really matches the games appeal and theme. Very well done.

Replayability - Come on, it's a Bethesda game. Do I really need to go into detail here? You will definately be coming back for more if you enjoyed your first playthrough. Everything in the game can be done differently. And it actually rewards you for being neutral.

Final Word - I went into this game expecting an amazing game. I left with so much more than that. I fell in love with this game the moment it let me talk like a baby. The world can be immersive before the loading screens, the action is simply amazing, V.A.T.S. is extremely addictive, the story is one of the most captivating of any of the Fallout games and one of the best of all time, and the replay value is second to very few. This is one of the only games I've ever played that I considered giving a 10. It's made my to ten games of all time. But this game isn't perfect. It's amazing, and one of the best games of all time in my opinion, but not perfect.

9.8/10