Writing a review for Fallout 3 is like playing golf in a mine field! However hard I (or so to say anyone…) may try to get it right in the first shot, chances is some game fan may 'blast' the reviewer over disagreement on some aspect of this game. And why not - a brilliant and huge RPG like Fallout 3 commands respect, awe & dedicated long game-play hours. One has to be extremely careful writing about a game that has left millions of gamers charged up around the world. With the hope of evoking less 'blasts' and more bouquets, I hereby pen down my post-play thoughts on the Playstation 3 version of this wonderful game.
Intro - "So what is Fallout 3?"
Fallout 3 is the third sequel in the series of role-playing games set in the universe of post nuclear annihilation. Though the first two games were developed by now defunct Black Isle Studios (part of Interplay Entertainment), the third title has been made by Bethesda Softworks (my favorite Elder Scrolls studio!) which now also owns the right to make all Fallout games. Fallout 3 is set 36 years after Fallout 2 and 200 years after nuclear war devastated the game's world.
Story - "Does this RPG have a plot?"
That's a tough one! Not because it does not have a main quest (albeit nothing fancy or memorable except the climax), but because there is so much to do in the Fallout world, that you may actually loose track of your "story" in no time! You are born and raised in a "vault" – special anti-nuclear bunkers capable of protecting & sustaining life. While your mom died during child-birth, come age 19 & your dad goes missing too. Forced to escape the vault, you begin searching for him in the wasteland around now ruined Washington D.C. The main quest is centered on your father's attempts to conclude Project Purity - a revolutionary technique to free all wasteland water of radiation that will help bring normalcy to the life of waste-landers. As you explore the wasteland, you will encounter hundreds of characters who may engage you in side quests. Completion of these quests helps in further exploration & enhancement of your skill-sets. The number of these quests is way less than that of Bethesda's Oblivion, but quite a lot of them are pretty thrilling (nuking a town and watching it from the highest point in the game world for e.g.)
Whether you prefer to dissolve yourself into the umpteen quests of the wasteland or strictly follow your papa's directions depends on the level of your nomadic adventurer spirit, but rest assured, your satisfaction gauge will always be pointing towards the "full" level!
Gameplay – "Can I do whatever I feel like?"
Yes, you can do whatever you feel like. You can choose to escape or face combat, you can choose to sneak, lie or kill, you can choose to be good or bad – but whatever you do, don't forget the famous one-liner from Bioshock: "We all make choices in the beginning, but in the end, it's our choices that make us!!" The Fallout world is extraordinary & requires you to be one as well!
While your growth phase from an infant to a teen in the vault doubles up as a tutorial level, meaty gameplay triggers in when you step out in the wasteland. Though small compared to Oblivion, Fallout's world is still quite large. You will traverse huge landscapes & long underground metro tunnels to get to your destinations. Once you discover a location, you can then fast travel to it from any point (unlike Far Cry 2 where traveling was a chore!). You will perform many activities like (but not limited to) conversation, combat, stealing, lock-picking, computer hacking, weapon creation through scavenged items and even decorating your apartment with useful gadgets – thereby adding an element of believable liveliness in the game world.
Fallout is set in a lawless wasteland and it makes no bones about the fact that guns & grenades are your best companions. However, all the combat stuff that you prepare, scavenge, steal or buy in the wasteland has an effective life & needs regular repairs to ensure its continuity & effectiveness. So before getting trigger happy, ensure you're using the right weapon and not the one you plan to make your alter-ego (lest you should end up wasting it!). Even armor may have skill enhancing effects and remembering to dress appropriately for the right occasion (from conversation to combat) helps in sailing through them faster.
The game benefits very heavily from the combat-oriented Vault-tec Assisted Targeting System (or V.A.T.S.) which makes shooting a fun-filled, gratifying & infectious experience. For gamers to whom V.A.T.S. is greek or latin, remember the rare shooting sequences in Max Payne where the camera flew along with the bullet & the bad guy died in slow motion? (now don't say "What's Max Payne?"). Well here when you engage V.A.T.S. at the click of a button (it's optional btw!), the game world freezes to let you analyze whom & where (body part) you want to shoot. After selecting a sequence of shots for single / multiple targets, you will witness execution of those shots in various slow-mo camera angles. What's more, the resulting splattering / flying of limbs & dead bodies delivers a superb & gratifying visual treat that will make you want to do it repeatedly. However, V.A.T.S. drains your fatigue meter & you need to engage in normal FPS combat while the meter recharges after usage.
The enemies in Fallout are pretty tough (what else did you expect from radiation exposed ghouls & mutants?) which is why you need to have a steady hand in combat. Properly aimed shots at various body parts evoke different reactions – shoot a leg & the target hobbles & slows down, shoot the arm and the target may drop his weapon, shoot the antennas of some creatures & they go berserk …….. the responses are extensive! Though V.A.T.S. definitely gives you an upper edge in combat (especially at higher skill levels), I will not complain because the wasteland is filled with creatures who take anything from a single bullet to a mini-nuke to go down. Multiply the encounter in terms of numbers you're facing, and the first few strategic V.A.T.S. shots may actually decide the odds of your survival in a firefight!
The game's nuclear war took place some where in the 1950s. Consequently, though 200 years have passed, the cultural evolution is still under a time warp. Most of the paraphernalia, junked vehicles & civilian locations you will find in the wasteland will carry a heavy 1950s feel to it (just like Bioshock). Your arduous quests in the wasteland are journalized & managed through a PiP-Boy – an advanced hand wrapped device that will also act as a map guide, status & inventory manager.
Like a true blue RPG, Fallout allows you to develop your character any way you like. You can choose your character's name, appearance, attributes (aligned within one of the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. categories) early on during your birth in the game. As you play and level up, you get to distribute points you gain across the attributes to enhance your skill-sets. Whether you want to become a thief, scientist or a trigger happy psycho is totally up to you! Since quests have multiple & sometimes conflicting choices, you get the privilege to be either a hero or the villain. The effect of your actions will judge the level of your karma. Higher karma = you're a very good guy & low karma = you're the villain! Being good or bad has its own effects in terms of dialogue choices & quest execution further on.
Many game situations are challenging and require a structured thought process before they can be aligned with. For e.g.: Food & water restores health but they are heavy on radiation – so consume them and you may end up with radiation poisoning. Similarly, do too much good and the contract for your beheaded corpse will start floating around the wasteland in no time! Kill a character and all associated quests will be lost with it. Funny or weird as it may sound, small details like these ultimately add lots of realism to the behavior of the entire fallout world that hasn't known normalcy & governance for 200 years!
Graphics - "What does a wasteland look like?"
Step out of the vault and your first look at the Fallout world may qualify as a finalist in the list of "most memorable video game scene". As the blinding light slowly gives way to a blurry & then a sharp visual of a ruined (yet majestic) landscape, a perfect sense of déjà vu creeps in. It's a rare feat for a game to evoke strong emotional reactions but Fallout manages to do that somehow. Everything in the Fallout world is beautifully crafted – from ruined Washington monuments to vast landscapes, from superb sky & day-night effects to weapon models & animations. Fallout shines like a star in the graphics department.
However, the under-detailed character models had me wondering if the character engine was also residing in some vault for 200 years! Bland features & limited animations make them look ugly compared to the beautifully detailed landscape they reside in. Their movement feels floaty & the optional third person perspective for the player can get repelling at times. There are other visual glitches like movement through solid floors / walls, irregular spawning of characters, sub-optimal textures etc. but thankfully these are less & tolerable.
While many world locations are big & varied, repetitiveness creeps in at some level designs. The metro tunnels, underground basements & sewers all carry almost same level designs even in different locations. Building ruins will also start feeling similar after you spend an extensive number of hours exploring the game world. However, it is easy to ignore these otherwise boring elements thanks to the sense of purpose in your explorations where lowering your guard may lead to death or broken limbs in no time.
Sound:
The music of Fallout 3 is very similar to that of Oblivion, many peaceful tunes played out during normal explorations sound like derivatives of the Oblivion ones. But combat tunes are quite pulsating & add weight to the tension. The game also features some awesome sound effects & ambient noises. While resounding gunshots will make your weapon feel capable during combat, disturbing enemy sounds in dark metro tunnels will put you on the edge of your couches instantly! Infact sound effects have so much influence that depending on the situation, you may find yourself wondering whether it's an action – adventure game or survival horror one! The voice-work is also crisp & varied, thereby toning down the effect of lack of character model variety in the game.
Performance
The game is plagued by some technical visual issues. Though I've heard that the Playstation version has more of them compared to the X360, no confirmation can be made because I played it only on my PS3 at high-def res. While the frame-rate was steady for 99% of the game, characters & textures were buggy sometimes. The map marker depicting quest targets / location is in the habit of going awry on some occasions. So is the character interaction that freezes for a second or two before continuing. The overall experience however is commendable considering the long draw distances & extensively traversable landscape detailed out in the game.
Closing Comments
Did I finish fallout 3? Honestly speaking, I don't know if completion of main quest is the correct way to conclude that an RPG is "finished". But I have played the game extensively and will be continuing with it for sometime. Despite some frustrating technical glitches & evident Oblivion inspiration, it's hard to get enough of the game and put it down. It's a very immersive RPG that cannot be given a miss for all the nuclear bombs (or bombshells ;)) in this world! The game's standalone merits are its gorgeous landscape, engaging game-play, immersive environments & deeply interesting quests. While the real world governments know better to avoid a nuclear holocaust, you can safely invest your money in Fallout to experience the virtual one & be extremely satisfied after doing so! Happy Gaming!
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