Fallout 3 Review

BY Kalidh Mohamed | POSTED: 28 October 2008

A beautiful wasteland waiting to be explored...



We all remember ‘Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion’ back in 2006 that received much love and praise from wizards throughout the gaming empire, and gave a new meaning to an RPG game. The Big-Daddies are back with their latest post-nuclear iteration and once again changing the very foundation an RPG game is built upon. This time, its coming to us in the form of Fallout 3. Afficinados of the past Fallout games may recall that the series had strictly adhered to the PC platform and this, for the first time is a Fallout title on a multi-platform rampage.

While there are some games that are keen on sending you straight into battle regardless of the bronze pin on your shirt, Fallout 3 takes a more detailed approach, treating you like a baby and showing your way through. And that’s how it really does! The game starts in a delivery room with your father awkwardly staring at your “entrance” as a baby. Rather than shoving a character creation module up your face and letting you spend time to customize your character, Fallout 3 does this so in several stages of your life. The game convincingly shoves you into a cascade of nostalgia the moment you’re in your baby feet trotting along like you could run a marathon.

Most part of your childhood will be spent roaming the closed confines of your residential tomb still believing the outside world to be unsafe and polluted with radiation, 200 years after a nuclear fallout. The game has a very solid under-structure for providing a sensational gaming experience. The best part is, how much can a game invoke your childhood memories? You might be surprised in finding out just how well Fallout 3 does that job.

All of this is not without my conscience arguing, with a resolute thought going through my mind saying, “S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Skies was the same type of game”. It is true to an extent that the STALKER series has been doing this for sometime now, where the theater is a post nuclear world filled with death and destruction. But, Fallout 3 fallows in a very subliminal way of making everything seem so pink and dandy that you would’ve had no clue of whats coming at you. How best a game makes you believe in such an aspect determines that magic “something”, that we often refer to as an exceptional gameplay value. The “something” that Clear Skies never had.

Just as warm as your starting moments are, the game horridly throws you out into the real world in search of your missing father. First glance at the outside world portrays a ravished terrain more worse than a war torn battlefield. The undeniable carnage and destruction that towers before you will give you a new found respect for your dirty closet. Included in the package are the hordes of mutants, super mutants, ghouls and zombies, all wanting to stop at nothing short of having your severed head in their trophy case. While the game needs to be redeemed in some aspects of storytelling, like more dialogue options with NPCs rather than the meek neutral, rude and good responses, we would’ve also preferred a talking character like that in Mass Effect rather than selecting a piece of text from predefined sets like an ATM machine.

Not only does the game look and sound beautiful, it offers an arsenal of weapons from mini nuke launchers to home brewed weapons that tips the replayability scale. No matter what direction you tackle Fallout 3 from, this game remains fresh every time you play it and engrosses the player endlessly in its mere uncontainable campaign. Combat has a refreshing take in this new title, but sometimes the VATS system that’s offered in-game still needs work. Running and gunning down half a dozen zombies is interesting, but it becomes child’s play when you use the VATS system to zoom into the enemy’s body and target specific areas of their body for a one hit kill. Doesn’t really require any skill there in our opinion, but unless you’re a big fan of gore and love to see splattering body parts from a 100 different angles, the combat system requires more balance. For some weird reason, shooting someone 5 times on their head from a 2 feet distance is more inaccurate, rendering the dude still alive as opposed to using the VATS system to score a headshot a mile away. 

Fallout 3 like its elder brother “Scrolls”, depends heavily on exploring your environment. Skill points earned in the game can be used to increase your character’s attributes much like Oblivion. The game will progress in a way that might influence good and bad decisions. You can play the game as either good or George Bush, but it will take a toll on your karma. Some decisions like blowing up an entire city will test your morals to its limits. The main quest itself packs in about 40 hours of gameplay, 10 of which are spent ogling at national monuments standing in shambles.

Fallout 3 portrays carnage in such a magnificent scale that even Mozart would appreciate the tender beauty that destruction has to offer. There’s always something left to explore no matter how well you’ve ransacked the territory. Weapon designs couldn't have been better, combining the 1950s vibe into everything you interact with. The retrospective artistic design is what we came to appreciate the most. Think of it as BioShock minus the water…

Unique character animations is an added bonus with each character looking different from the other unlike Oblivion where a dungeon slave looks like the count with the exception of messy hair and a green skin. Each character you meet in Fallout 3 will play a major role in your quest offering you with added missions and rewards. The replay value of Fallout 3 is without a doubt, the icing on the cake giving a different feel and emotion every time you play it.

At the end of the day, we’re happy that the seemingly endless wait is over to get our hands on this game and yet, sad at the same time that we might not see another game of equal quality, gameplay and value for a long time to come. Combining 1950s art style with a sci-fi mix, gives the game a unique heartbeat. Fallout 3 is a game that will last in your mind long after you’re done playing it, thanks to its memorable characters and adrenaline filled combats. We can finally derive at a conclusion that Fallout 3 is NOT Oblivion with guns!