Games PC Fallout 3

Fallout 3

Written by Toma-kun January 17, 2009 Hits: 498 Favorites

Game Info:

Platform:

PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation3

Developer:

Bethesda Softworks

Publisher:

Zenimax Media

Players:

Format:

1 DVD

Gallery:

PC » Fallout 3 (17)

Minimum Req.:

2.4 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equiv.
1GB RAM (XP)/ 2GB RAM (Vista)
DX9 video card with 256MB RAM
6GB HDD space avail.
Windows XP/Vista

Reviewer's Machine:

3.8GHz Intel Core2 Quad
8GB DDR-SDRAM
ATI Radeon 4870x2 2GB RAM
WD Velociraptor 300GB 10K RPM
Windows Vista

Editor review

The future of Fallout is here

It's been over ten years since we first played the role of the intrepid Vault dweller who stepped outside the safety of his shelter to face the post-apocalyptic world that stood before him. Fallout 2 expanded heavily on the original and fans were left wanting even more. Our hopes were dashed as Interplay fell into financial dire straits, putting the series' future in jeopardy. Was there a soul out there brave enough to face the challenge of saving this ailing franchise? Bethesda Softworks stepped forward and told eager fans to "Prepare for the future."

Oblivion is probably still fresh in many a RPGer's mind and with its success, Bethesda seems more than ready to give the Fallout series its due. However, amidst the anticipation and excitement lurked a bit of doubt. The switch to a first-person perspective didn't bode well for hardcore fans who feared Fallout 3 would be "Oblivion with guns". While the two games share more than just the game engine, you'll find that the positives easily outweigh the negatives.

The game takes place 36 years after the events of Fallout 2 and is set in the surrounding areas of post-apocalyptic Washington D.C. Once again, you reprise the role of a vault-dweller, this time living in Vault 101. Your father is a leading vault scientist and all around great guy. Imagine your surprise when you're rudely awakened by the sound of klaxons and hearing the story of his defiance of the Overseer's orders by escaping the vault. Great for your old man that he made it out, but not so great for you since you're now public enemy number one. Armed with only a 10mm pistol and your PipBoy, you fight your way to the great big vault door and wander out into the wasteland to find dear old Dad.

While Fallout 3 is far from being simply "Oblivion with guns", it's something of a love child between two considerably different games. Once again, the Gamebryo engine is powering the visuals and the result is something decidedly last-gen. The limited color palette and the post-apocalyptic setting don't do the aging engine any favors, either. Many of the textures are blurry and lack fine details and the weapon models are particularly disappointing. Performance was also sub par; when you have such a high end setup, the performance should be the last thing on your mind. Sadly, my experience was plagued with various anomalies ranging from massive framerate drops when anti-aliasing is enabled, as well as a number of crashes. Yes, I'm playing it at the massive resolution of 2560x1600, but if Crysis ran fine at the same resolution, this game should too!

To make matters worse, consolitis is still running loose on the interface. The font size is too large and doesn't scale properly at higher resolutions resulting in copious amounts of scrolling through menus. All is not lost, however, since the game has been reported to work great with middle and lower end systems so you won't need to empty your wallet for the newest hardware to max out the details which is welcome news in today's struggling economy.

Speaking of welcome news, the non-linear open ended gameplay we fell in love with in Oblivion is alive and well in Fallout 3. The game world is supposed to be a tad smaller than Oblivion's, but you'd be hard pressed to notice. Multitudes of locations and points of interest dot the area around Washington D.C., including famous tourist spots like the Lincoln Memorial or the National Archives, so there's no shortage of places to pillage or explore.

Where the two games begin to diverge is in the mechanics; namely the use of the SPECIAL character progression system and VATS. Unlike in Oblivion, your skills do not improve as you continue to use them. Instead, you add skill points to your various skills and choose Perks to add special abilities or stat bonuses when you level up. Unfortunately, Bethesda chose to omit the boneheaded dialogue options for characters with below average Intelligence stats; I guess it's because Dad is supposed to be a scientist.

Naturally, combat cannot be avoided even with the highest Intelligence stat and the most dialogue options possible. Fortunately for you, VATS is on your side! In the previous games, VATS was made to work in tandem with the turn-based combat system allowing you to use your APs to target specific body parts to do more damage or to cause status ailments. In Fallout 3, its use has been simplified considerably; the number of targetable parts has been reduced to the bare minimum: the legs, arms, torso, and head, but no groin. In simpler terms, VATS is now practically bullet time! Entering VATS pauses the action and allows you to aim for body parts; the number of attacks you can perform is determined by the weapon and your current APs. Once the action is resumed, the commands and often gruesome results are presented spectacularly in slow-mo killcam-style and returns to real-time once your APs run out. If you didn't drop your target, then you'll have to finish them off in traditional FPS run-and-gun style because APs will take time to recharge. So is it possible to play the game without ever going into VATS?

The better question is, would you really want to? Fallout 3 introduces item degradation which affects everything from accuracy and damage for weapons and damage reduction for armor. Run-and-gun works great if your gun shoots straight, but you'll find that it's far more difficult to achieve the same success in Fallout 3. I have no problem with a poorly maintained gun spraying bullets every which way, but I expect a pristine weapon to deliver a bullet between the eyes when I point it there. Nope, it isn't that simple; heck, I've seen a perfect 10mm pistol trace a tin can with bullet holes from two arm lengths away! Thankfully, accuracy is improved while in VATS, but count on missing a ton of easy shots even at 99% accuracy. Perhaps it's a clever attempt by Bethesda to discourage playing the game like a FPS, but without the level scaling system from Oblivion it's looking more like a misguided way to make the game more challenging. A little disappointing, considering what they should have learned from Oblivion.

Glaring shortcomings aside, Fallout 3 is an enjoyable game. You can aimlessly head towards any direction and never fail to find something interesting to see or do. You can become a beacon of light and lift the broken spirits of the wasteland's denizens or exploit and coerce them for your own greedy desires. Busting heads may be too easy, but thanks to VATS and the Bloody Mess perk, it's morbidly entertaining to see how many different ways you can kill a band of raiders in slow-motion.

Much like the venerable Vault Dweller, not everybody will like what this game has become since leaving Black Isle Studios, but consider the fact they had zero involvement during development, meaning the game practically had to be built from the ground up. Instead of focusing on what this game is lacking and what it could have been, we should look at the bright side. With this game's astounding success at retail and with the critics, we can be assured that Fallout will always have a future and that it can only get better from here.

Highs:	Large open ended world, genuine Fallout charm, immersive atmosphere
Lows:	Frustrating performance issues, game balance needs work, ending feels tacked-on
Bottom Line:	Despite the obvious "growing pains", Bethesda has produced a most spectacular rendition of the wasteland.