Published on August 26, 2010, by Mark ten Buuren - Posted in REVIEWS, Xbox 360
Gripping story with hours of exciting gameplay that never gets boring
If you dont like long games then you will not enjoy this
Fallout 3 is brought to us by Bethesda Game Studios and is the latest instalment of the Fallout series. It takes place in the year 2277, 36 years after the events of Fallout 2 and 200 years after the nuclear apocalypse. Released about two years ago, it’s still widely considered a must-play.
The games starts off as your mum is giving birth to you. At this stage you get to do a bit of character creation to see what you are going to look like in the years to come. After you have done this a few years pass and you are a toddler, and this is where you learn the basic movement controls in the game, as well as setting your attributes (S.P.E.C.I.A.L.). After going through this process, more time passes and it is your 10th birthday – it is here that you get your Pip-Boy and continue learning how to play the game. Your Dad fixes up an old BB gun and gives it to you to have a play around with, which once you get it goes about teaching you how to aiming and using the VATS system. Also you can chose to play as a first person shooter view or third person, which is a pretty nice feature to be able to toggle between.
The game really takes off once the player is 19 years old and your father (James) breaks out of the Vault, tearing down everything you believed. You set out to find him, and the truth. Travelling through the Wastelands you may stumble across many nasty mutated folk, as well as the odd “normal” survivor of the ‘big bang’. The world itself is massive, walking around could end dangerously by being attacked by a bunch of Ghouls, Slavers or wild dogs. Karma determines a lot of the player’s interactions with the other people in the Wasteland, as well as the attributes you gain. Doing a good deed, for example saving a survivor from some wild dogs will earn you good karma, which will make other people look at you in a good way. Or doing an evil deed such as helping someone kill someone else or just going on a killing spree yourself and people will start to not like you as much. Depending on which way your karma is heading certain characters might offer you there services.
Although this game boasts massive amounts of hours that you can play it for, somewhere between 10 – 200 hours, ten hours would be if you only wanted to complete the main story quests. But with this impressive and rich in story who would!! It is a game that you most likely would only play once (if you complete all that is available), only because once you have done all of the stuff it is repetitive. But even then the game length in itself is longer than replaying your ‘average’ game several times anyway.
Over a hundred weapons are available for you to wreak havoc upon the Wasteland (if you’re that way inclined). From baseball bats, to Gatling lasers and mini-nuke launcher all of which are there to help you survivor the radiated lands of the Wasteland. They all look pretty neat, especially the alien weapons and plasma rifles. The NPC are all different, they look and sound unlike any other of the characters in the game. And most of them are willing to stop and have a chat with you, whether it is just to share a bit of their life story with you or give you some information relating your latest quest. You may recognise a few of the voices in the game, this is because some of the voice actors are famous actors like Liam Neeson, Odette Yustman and Wes Johnson. This helps it feel as if some of these characters are familiar to you. The music throughout the Wasteland is made up by your normal post nuclear apocalypse tracks as well as a decent about of 1940’s to 1950’s titles. The only thing that I found annoying about the music in the game was how often the songs got repeated, but that’s to expect if you are playing over 60 hours of the game. The music really does help you feel as if it is you walking down the half-empty street with burnt out cars all around you being shot at by a bunch of slavers.
He just wants a hug right…
Fallout 3 is a strictly one player game. There is no co-op available which is a bit of a downer, because imagine how good would it be to be able to walk around with your mate through the Wasteland killing some Ghouls whilst sitting at home. But with that aside, the game does offer some extra downloadable content to lengthen the amount of time you are glued to your seat. Each of the five DLC stories cost 800 Microsoft Points, but are each well worth it. Here is a rundown of what each of the DLC are about:
Broken Steel – Broken Steel takes place after the events of the main story quests of the original game, you continue to work with the Brotherhood of Steel to get rid of the Enclave from the Wasteland. This expansion also has new weapons and armour, new locations to explore, and new creatures to test the new weapons out on.
The Pitt – Travel to Pittsburgh, now controlled by slavers. Do you choose to side with the slaves or the slavers – it’s all up to you. This expansion comes with new weapons such as the deadly AutoAxe and silenced assault rifles as well as new creatures such as the mutated Trogs. This add-on is playable anytime throughout the game.
Operation: Anchorage – Help the Outcasts get access to powerful new weapons and armour by entering the simulation pod and liberate Anchorage from its Chinese Communist invaders. The best part is you get to keep the new weapons and armour. This add-on is playable anytime throughout the game.
Point Lookout – You get the boat ride from the Capital Wasteland to the seas side town of Point Lookout and it has a whole different feel about the place. There are trees everywhere, a rarity in the Wasteland. What else is there at this strange new location? One of the biggest DLC for this game, you will spend hours at this location. This add-on is playable anytime throughout the game.
Mothership Zeta – Abducted by aliens, you have to try and find your way off the ship. Meet up with others who have been taken by the aliens including a samurai and a gun slinging cowboy. Use the powerful alien technology to help escape from the ship, and then use it back in the Wasteland to deliver powerful attacks to those who mess with you. This add-on is playable anytime throughout the game.
You can get all of these expansions individually off the XBL market place, or you can buy the Game of the Year version of the game which has the DLC included.
A good thing about this game is that you don’t need to have played first and second games to fully appreciate the third installment. I hadn’t and still haven’t played them. If you haven’t played this game I highly recommend you go out right now and buy it, because this game is great – it never gets dull and is always exciting. Also this game is one of the most addictive that I have played. But the good kind of addiction, so just make sure you have a chunk of time spare to play this game fully. This is really one of the main reasons why I loved this game so much and still do, that and the amount of story that gets revealed as you play through the hours. So after that if you’re not convinced about this game. Go out and buy this game now any ways, because it is amazing, but do it before Fallout New Vegas is released because you will want to get that one as well.
