PC Game Fun Time

After spending about a week with Fallout 3, I think I have experienced enough to write a decent review.  I haven’t spent much time on the main quest, so I won’t be able to talk much about that.  However, I do have a character currently at level 11, and have seen a pretty fair fraction of the game world.

Being a high profile, hyped title, Fallout 3 automatically received glowing reviews from the majority of the mainstream gaming press.  However, there has been a very real concern from much of the fan base that the game suffers from being to much like Oblivion.

It is true, Fallout 3 does feel similar to the previous major title from Bethesda.  If you totally hated Oblivion, you will probably hate Fallout 3.  If, instead, you thought Oblivion was a pretty good game, but marred by some serious flaws, there is a good chance you will love Fallout 3.

First of all, Fallout 3 takes all the strengths of Oblivion and makes them its own.  The immersive nature of a first person game with gorgeous graphics is definitely here.  The annoying stuttering issues with Oblivion while outside are gone as well.  More importantly, Fallout 3 also has an incredible atmosphere going for it.  Everything from the wastelands to the scattered settlements to the Washington D. C. ruins fits beautifully into the game to create a sense of immersion far greater than anything seen in Oblivion.  The use of some of the most recognizable landmarks in the United States, such as the Capitol building and the Washington Monument, creates a sense of awe, something rarely seen in a video game.  (Disclaimer: I live and work in the D. C. area.)

Even more importantly, the larger problems with Oblivion are simply not present in Fallout 3.  The leveling system is quite similar to that from the original Fallout games, using a combination of skill points and special “perks” that can add a lot of flavor to the gameplay.  The system is very simple and easy to understand, and also allows for a tremendous amount of character customization.  It does not encourage the kind of mindless stat building that was present in Oblivion.

Character interaction is another area where Fallout 3 clearly takes a cue from its predecessors.  The hopelessly stupid and boring minigame from Oblivion is completely absent.  Instead, there are meaningful character interactions with tons of well written dialog.  The voice acting is a notch up from Oblivion as well, and is overall quite good.  Many of the characters even have interesting back stories!  The much touted “Radiant A.I.” also works much better this time around.  Gone are the inane non player character conversations from Oblivion, replaced with a much smaller number of more tightly scripted interactions.

The auto leveling system from Oblivion has been substantially overhauled, and for the better.  There is still some leveling up of enemies along with you, however it is much less egregious than in Oblivion.  I am overall pleased with the system, as it gives you a nice balance of being able to do some serious exploration even at low levels while keeping the feeling of gaining in power as you advance.  You will still encounter the lowly radroaches from time to time at even the highest levels.  Also, you will occasionally be somewhat outclassed by your opposition at lower levels.

Quest lines in Fallout 3 are uniformly good to excellent.  While some quests are simple collection missions, even these do not feel boring because even going from Point A to Point B on the overworld map is rarely a chore.  The “major” sidequests have impressed me most of all.  Each one is often a several hour affair, usually involving a great deal of exploration, dialog and combat.

The combat, by the way, is probably one of the weaker aspects of the gameplay.  While I personally find that blowing limbs off of enemies rarely gets old, I can see how some might eventually find it tiresome.  The overall feel of combat is not up to par with a good first person shooter, and the VATS system basically encourages you to always go for the headshot.  Luckily, there is a large selection of weapons, including some you can craft yourself from parts you find out in the wastes.

One area where Fallout 3 definitely comes up short is in the quality of the animations.  This has traditionally been a weak spot for Bethesda, who strangely tend to excel in just about every other graphical related area.  While not a big deal while playing in first person mode, in third person the animations are bad enough to be jarring.  This unfortunately contributes to the third person mode being largely unusable.

An additional complaint that many gamers might have regards the difficulty.  The damage, radiation, and crippling systems of Fallout and Fallout 2 have all been made substantially more “user friendly”.  Stimpacks, which are relatively cheap and easy to find, can be used as much as you like with no negative consequences.  You can easily and instantly heal even the most serious wounds.  Similarly, radiation poisoning can be healed quickly and cheaply with Rad-Away.  I don’t particularly mind this, as I would typically just reload a previous save whenever my character became crippled in Fallout, not wanting to have to deal with the sometimes severe and long term consequences.  That being said, Fallout 3 is perhaps too easy - as long as you have a good supply of Stimpacks, you can basically survive just about anything.

Ultimately, my opinion of Fallout 3 is now very strongly positive.  I don’t know if the game will hold many hundred hours of replay value.  There are some signs it may not.  I am quite confident, though, that it holds for me at least several dozen more hours of enjoyment.  This is in addition to the 15 or 20 hours I have already put into it, and it makes Fallout 3 a must-play in my book.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 10:47 pm by Grokmoo and is filed under Reviews. Keywords: Tags: Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Oblivion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.