Many years ago, a company by the name of Interplay released a little game called Fallout.
Fallout was a post-apocalyptic role-playing game; one that had solid role-playing mechanics, beautifully detailed graphics and a simple yet practical main quest. It also gave players something that few games before it (and, indeed, few games since) had: freedom, the freedom to carve your own destiny however you saw fit.
If the player felt that the best way to save their Vault was to kill all who stood in their way, the game accommodated for it. If you decided that you’d rather peddle drugs to minors or perhaps save a city from mob rule, you could. It is games like Fallout and the brilliant Fallout 2 that helped change computer role-playing games
from number-crunching nerd machines to timeless, thought-provoking and emotional journeys of discovery.
With a legacy of that magnitude, Fallout 3 has a lot to live up to. Not only does it need to keep the mountains of long-time fans happy, it needs to succeed in this modern gaming environment and attract new players. Does it perform? Is Fallout 3 a worthy successor to the series, and does it deserve the coveted Vault Boy on the back of the box?
Should you, as either a hardened veteran or normal, map-obsessed potential newcomer give a damn about this game? Yes, it absolutely does, and you most certainly should.
Making a departure from the ravaged West Coast of the United States, Fallout 3 takes place in the equally ruined wastelands of the East Coast Washington D.C. area. The player begins in Vault 101: one of the few vaults left unopened since the bombs first fell and blanketed the Earth in radioactive fallout. It’s here that the player begins to craft their character, choosing from the typical skills and statistics Fallout players should be accustomed to, but in a decidedly Bethesda style by putting the player through a number of tests and exercises and recommending a ‘class’ for them to take.
Shortly into the game, the player’s father mysteriously disappears from the Vault, and it’s up to you to find him. This begins your journey, but finding dad won’t be the only thing on your mind when you venture out into the Capital Wasteland.
In keeping with Fallout tradition, the main quest is fairly straightforward, not terribly complicated and quite doable in a fairly short amount of time. If you’re driven and determined to beeline through the main story, you might find yourself done with Fallout 3 in less than ten hours (possibly even less than six, if you take a few shortcuts).
However, like its predecessors, the game’s real appeal and replay value lie in its side quests – exploration of the Wasteland and interaction with many of the game world’s weird and wonderful inhabitants. Often, this approach to gametime extension could be seen as a bit of a cheek, but the quality of the side quests is such that they far outweigh that of the main quest.
While the game does have its share of ‘Fed-Ex’ quests and other RPG mainstays, the delivery of each challenge to the player and the depth of the NPC delivering it mark every quest as a special occasion. Players tend to feel compelled to complete quests for more reasons than monetary reward, but for those who are just out to score a couple of caps (bottle caps, the currency of the Wastes), extortion and blackmail are two excellent ways to bulk up your wallet.
Unfortunately, while Bethesda has clearly been hard at work getting Fallout 3 as close to perfection as possible, it suffers terribly in the technical department. Robotic animation and lifeless characters are still a big problem, but they are at least a few steps up from Oblivion – unlike the floaty and unresponsive first-person camera that still finds itself despicably detached from the game world.
While these are all elements that take a bit of getting used to – but ultimately don’t ruin the game – the same can’t be said of the ridiculous number of bugs. From random crashes to failing to start at all, Fallout 3 comes dangerously close to the ‘broken’ label. There are a number of quick fixes and a single patch at the time of writing (with another, bigger patch on its way), and many people have no complaints at all, but there are still irritating problems that players on all three platforms are reportedly facing.
Thankfully, there’s a positive light on the technical front to help balance out the niggly bits. The textures and models in the game world are designed with more care and attention to detail than in any other game I’ve seen: damaged roads, dangling highways and ruined buildings litter the landscape, and physics-enabled trash and salvageable items are strewn everywhere for the player to pick up and throw around.
The gameplay is good, but it’s important for a Fallout title to pack that little something extra: not to pull any punches and make sure the player has a smirk on their face as often as possible.
The dark, twisted humour and relentless freedom that made the previous titles so popular have been toned down a notch. Children are safe from well-placed tactical nukes and most NPCs’ attitudes towards drugs have become
so nonchalant that it almost totally removes that dirty feeling players get when ‘dealing’.
It’s completely fair and understandable that, with the gaming market as sensitive as it is, Bethesda has dodged some potentially difficult situations, but the slightly reorientated approach does take a little getting used to if you’ve been hanging out with the original Vault Dweller for a while.
Still, it’s entirely possible to play the game as a complete jackass.
Most quests have been designed with at least three ways to complete them: the good way, the bad way and the easy way, often with a few degrees of variation between them.
Fallout 3 is not a perfect game, and almost all complaints about technical bugs, the length of the main quest and cries of anguish over the choice of firstperson representation are valid, but one shouldn’t be put off by them.
Despite its flaws, Fallout 3 remains true to its heritage. It is the evolution of the series and opens it up to countless new gamers who missed the magic that was Fallout and Fallout 2.
While it isn’t a better game than its predecessors, it manages to stand as both a representative of the series for this generation and an engaging, entertaining and extremely playable game on its own.
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