Over a decade ago, the fantastic, and sadly defunct, Black Isle Studios put out a little PC game called Fallout; a game that takes place in the post apocalyptic future, heavily influenced by the post-WWII paranoia of nuclear war that griped so many back in the 50's. The Fallout world is essentially a look at what life would have been like had technology never advanced following WWII, and if the entire world had been subject to The Great War; a nuclear war that rendered the entire world a wasteland.

Despite being developed and published by an entirely new studio, Fallout 3 doesn't diverge from the pre-existing setting, aside from being located in Washington D.C.. You're still a vault dweller, emerging from your Vault-Tec vault a certain amount of years following the war, and you've still got a vast wasteland to explore. Bethesda, who everyone will know as the developers of the The Elders Scrolls series, picked up the license off of the now (semi?) defunct Interplay. Although the setting and overall feel of the Fallout universe wasn't drastically changed when Bethesda got a hold of the license, the style and gameplay took a radical departure. Bethesda ditched the over-head camera, instead opting to go with the first-person/third-person camera from The Elders Scrolls, and the turn-based combat has been wiped away in favor of a couple FPS conventions.


Your typical Super Mutant following a headshot from a pistol. Yeah...pistol.

Although Fallout 3 does take place in first-person, it isn't a shooter by any means. It is possible to play the game successfully entirely in first-person, but as the game wasn't built as a straight shooter, with all attacks and chances to hit based on stats and invisible die-rolls, your accuracy with a gun isn't always as reliable as how well you aim. That's where VATS comes in. The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System is essentially the turn-based part of Fallout 3, although entirely optional, I went through the game using it almost exclusively. In VATS, the game is paused, and you decide which part of an enemy you wish to fire at. Depending on several different factors, including distance, weapon type, and your skill with said weapon, you'll get a percentage to hit on various parts of an enemies body. Things like the torso and legs are usually fairly easy to hit, while more deadly shots, such as the headshot, are normally more difficult. Once you choose your targets and the amount of times you want to fire, your amount of actions are based on AP points, the game will go into a cinematic style scene where the outcome of your choice is played out, normally with the exploding of an enemies head, or the loss of a limb. The combat stays fun and engaging throughout the experience, especially once you start to build up perks, get different weapons, and increase your skill points.

The brutality in Fallout 3 is so over-the-top, that it becomes fairly comical, and it seems entirely on purpose. The entire game world is filled with gags and amusing, yet painfully morbid, humor. Various perks, special abilities you choose as you level up, even extended the gore further. Bloody Mess, a perk that gives you a damage boost, also causes the majority of enemies you face to explode into a fountain of blood and gore, with limbs flying every which way, despite the fact you may have only shot them in the leg with a hunting rifle.

This over-the-top, brutal, sadistically funny style is sprinkled throughout the world. And although seeing an enemies head careening fifty yards away after a punch to the face is great for awhile, it does tend to wear, as it happens nearly every time you kill something. There are portions of the world where the immense amount of gore and sadistic nature of the inhabitants prove creepy, though, and sometimes overly so. When the game gets serious, it tends to go a little too far, which, at times, breaks some of the charm.

One huge part of the Fallout games has always been about stumbling across quests, and then solving them in the most sadistic way possible. Thankfully, that still holds true for Fallout 3. By now, everyone is well aware of the extremely publicized decision you get to make early on in the game, in which you choose whether to destroy an entire town, or save it, but there are many many more ways to prove how much of a complete asshole you can be. Clear a town of fire ants and find a lone kid there? Parents dead, all alone? Not my problem, kid! That jerk who picked on you when you were little? His mom is in trouble? Just pick the best option; “fuck you!” blow his head off and watch as his mom gets killed by radroaches. The options for being a dick, or being noble, are numerous, and pop up in almost every single conversation.


V.A.T.S. is the easiest, and quickest, way to rain destruction on your foes. It also results in exploding knee caps 2/3 times.

A problem that does strike the game, and rather quickly, is that it's actually fairly brief, especially considering the length of time it took to polish off Oblivion. The main quest is extremely short, clocking in at about 6 hours, depending on how quickly you find your objectives. It also ends rather abruptly, suddenly coming to a close long before you ever thought it would. Even more baffling is the decision to not allow you to continue messing around in the world following the last quest. Once it's done, it's done and the only way to go back is by loading a previous save file. There are numerous side-quests and even smaller mini-quests to complete to pad out the time, but unless you find them right away, you may find yourself finishing off the game before you see the majority of them. What's there is extremely satisfying, though, and many quests are a pleasure to undertake, specifically when it comes time to make some choices and completely screw with people.

Oblivion really had navigation down and, at times, almost seemed to have it down a little too much, as you'd be hand held from objective to objective. Navigation got some tweaks for Fallout 3, and while it holds your hand a lot less, it can be a problem at times, specifically when you get to the downtown area. Here, the various buildings are almost completely destroyed, and often times you'll find yourself having to travel through the vast, dreary, ghoul infested, and utterly repetitive underground train tunnels. While these range from extremely brief to overly long, they're all pretty much the same, and more often than not, you'll get lost, or come out somewhere you had no intention of going, often far away from your objective. It doesn't help that the navigation system on your Pip-Boy, what is essentially the menu screen, gets thoroughly confused about where you need to go to come out in the right section of the city. As most areas are completely blocked off, and only accessible via the tunnels, you'll need to go a very specific way to get there, and your Pip-Boy will almost always lead you in a confusing circle, or else to a dead end.

The “dungeons” in Fallout 3 follow the same basic design as the dungeons in Oblivion. That being that there are a few different kinds, and they all look exactly the same. In Oblivion, you would have caves, mines, ruins, Daedric gates or castles. In Fallout you've got caves, Vault-Tec vaults, train tunnels, office buildings and factory buildings. Each one feels like it was pieced together from the same construction set, and you'll notice many of the same trappings, enemies and scenery in each. Some are home to rather elaborate stories, while others are simply there for the sake of being there. There are many more unique “dungeons” than there were in Oblivion, but the majority are still minor variations of each other, spread throughout the world.


You'll slaughter at least a couple thousand of these before the game is over. You'll start to leave buildings as soon as you hear one. Annoying.

The fact that so much remains the same between Oblivion and Fallout 3 is a bit disappointing. While Oblivion was extremely impressive when it was released, things have since changed, and that engine is, unfortunately, beginning to show some age. Not only in terms of certain gameplay eccentricities, but in terms of the physical world itself. The impressive physics engine is less impressive this time around, with items flying off of shelves or desk with a mere nudge, or bodies flying insane lengths after being killed. The character models still look grotesque, and even the “attractive” characters would be welcome in a circus freak show. That being said, the environments are gorgeous, and the first time you step out of Vault 101 is extremely impressive, especially the draw-distance, which seems to go on forever. The wasteland...despite being a wasteland, is full of small details, and although objects in the outdoor environments are sparse, what's there still looks fantastic.

One omission made from Oblivion to Fallout comes in the form of the armor. While armor in Oblivion had taken a couple minor hits from Morrowind, (under clothes and over clothes, separate boots, gauntlets and pauldrons) the armor in Fallout 3 is nothing short of disappointing. The only equip-able pieces come in the form of general body armor and helmets. Being able to mix and match different pieces of armor was always a lot of fun in the Elders Scrolls games, and the fact that it's been dumbed down to this degree is disappointing.

In a couple ways, Fallout 3 does feel like a slightly dumbed-down version of Oblivion, except with guns and dismemberment. I'm not sure if this was something done intentionally, perhaps to make a stab at pulling in some of that ever present casual market, but it seems odd that they'd make that attempt, while simultaneously featuring some pretty hardcore stat-based combat mechanics. That being said, Fallout 3 is definitely one of those “sum of it's parts” games, where no single area of the game is spectacular, but as a package, it comes together extremely well, delivering a very satisfying experience. The combat is highly engaging, the world is sadistically amusing, and the quests are always entertaining. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up.