Fallout 3: Having Fun After the Nuclear Apocalypse.
Fallout 3 is a video game.
It's a very good video game.
It's a very good video game that you will probably never be able to play because your parents are too over-protective.
The story behind the game is very simple; the world has come to an end. Nuclear warfare has wiped out most of the human population and has severely mutated the survivors.
Your character has waited out the nuclear war in an underground vault and escapes on the trail of her dad who is on a selfless mission to restore pure drinking water to the denizens of the wastes.
But no one really cares about all of that story stuff. It's really just a convenient excuse for you to go wandering around burnt-out buildings shooting mutants, animals, people, robots, and pretty much anything that that can move.
Where Fallout 3 rises above its niche of kill-everything shooter, however, is in its gameplay.
The VATS targeting system is a particularly nice touch. After you've stored up enough points, you can hit the VATS button to stop time and take aim at your opponent's specific body parts. Intense gore usually ensues. This was one of the most enjoyable of the aspects of the game to me. I’m horrible at aiming with analog sticks, so when I can cheat and take direct aim at something’s head without having to worry about time, I feel very good. The slow-motion shooting sequence and bloodied flying body parts that follow are also nice.
Fallout 3 is also a hybrid RPG.
Really? You don't know what an RPG is?
You wouldn't happen to have been raised by nuns, would you?
RPG stands for Role Playing Game. Essentially meaning that Fallout 3 focuses in on your character as well as the plot. Kind of like Oblivion or Jeanne D'Arc. Or, to use an example that you've probably heard of: Pokèmon. The real Pokèmon. The Red and Blue versions. None of that Crystal and Diamond crap. Those aren’t even colours.
After you kill enough stuff in the wastes, you'll level up, allowing you to increase your skills in areas such as medicine, lock-picking, sneaking, charisma, and bad-assery.
Now you may be thinking "KC, Why would I wander around shooting things so that I could become more efficient at shooting things? Isn't that kind of redundant?"
The answer is yes. Yes it is absolutely redundant. But it feels so good. You can't possibly realise what a thrill it is to find out that you've killed enough stuff to get better at killing.
I'm not even joking. I've spent at least 20 straight hours doing this. It's some neurotic urge programmed into every RPG gamer's brain. We think that we're actually making progress by levelling up, but, in reality, the difficulty level just rises with each level we gain to offset any benefits we might have received.
It's a horrible cycle.
So, unless you're completely bonkers, you should probably be spending your time doing something productive. Maybe log off this site, tell your mother you love her, start a small business, take up photography. You know; stuff like that.
What? ...
Oh, the review. Right.
Fallout 3 also utilizes a moral meter in the style of Fable or Black and White. Nearly every move that you make in the wastes will earn you "good" or "bad" karma. Helping the ghouls and Tenpenny residents get along will earn you "good karma". Killing everyone in the Tower and taking their rooms and ammunition will earn you "bad karma". I know which one is more satisfying.
Characters will respond to your karma level accordingly. I can't tell you what happens when you have good karma (helping people out was always such a hassle), but when you have really bad karma, wasteland vigilantes will come after you, slavers will be friendlier towards you, and law enforcement officials in "urban" centres will make snarky comments about you.
"You'd better not make any trouble..."
Yeah, right. Or you'll what, shoot me?
They actually do shoot you, though. Trust me. I found that out after they shot me. And I thought that nobody would miss the town priest. I mean, c'mon! He was crazier than a raccoon on methamphetamine! They should have put one through his brain years ago. I was doing those people a Favour!
What is fantastic (or perhaps annoying) about the game is that it's open ended. You can explore the map at your own pace and complete missions as you see fit to. Whatever you do, though, will have an impact on the wasteland.
If you ever decide to blow up the town of Megaton, for example, you won't be able to go back there to hang out with your friends. It's a tough choice, but I think the atomic explosion cut-scene is worth it.
The same goes for the village of Oasis. You can choose to help the tree-huggers and help to restore greenery to the wasteland OR you can kill them and take their stuff.
Fallout 3's weak point, however, also lies with this open-ended concept. The main plot is decidedly lacking and generally unfulfilling to complete. It is also too short. Oh, and you don't ever get to kill communists. Ever. There are communists all around, but you never even see them. I wanted to kill communists, not purify some stupid water source. Thankfully, though, the publisher is promising an expansion that does involve killing communists.
In conclusion, Fallout 3 is a very well-done game that definitely needs your attention if you own a PS3, Xbox 360, or decent PC.
You don't have one of those?
No problem! just play it at a friend's house.
Don't have any friends?
Who needs them! Just get a part-time job somewhere and save up for one (A PS3, not a friend) and you'll be on your way to gaming bliss!
KC's score:
85/100
Happy Gaming!
