Fallout 3

Fallout 3
I have returned! Nothing can stop my bloody warpath across space and time, destroying everything that I see! Kneel before my glory! Anyway, this week I am going to be taking a good long look at the rather magnificent game that is Fallout 3. Okay, maybe magnificent isn't the correct word for an rpg that takes place in a nuked out district of colombia. Don't get me wrong though, the game is absolutely fantastic.
Lets take a gander as to why that is.
The story in it's very basic sense is quite good, even though if you don't pay strict attention to what's going on the entire purpose of your quest goes out the window with hygiene and clean water. Which brings us to the obvious point that most of the quests and goals involve finding sustainable food and water of the kind that will not kill you. That, and the rest of the time your duties as the champion of the wasteland fall under slaying monsters and thwarting the efforts of the villainous enclave or as I call them, “fallout nazis”. The miscellaneous quests that you run into while traversing the obliterated country-side are extremely fun as well. The ideas are usually fairly original for the most part, and like Bethesda's other masterful rpg Oblivion, some quests and goals are initiated without notice.
The combat system is also a very original and tasteful take on the usual fps action that makes up the genre of post apocalypse. The V.A.T.S. system is extremely smooth working, easy to use, and yields some spectacular results when couple with the perks that you gain. Speaking of which, the perks that you can select when you increase your experience level, range from extremely, to questionably useful. I found that many of the perks just seemed to be there for the sake of being there, they didn't actually bring anything to the gameplay that changed it dramatically. That being said, the ones that are really useful, really shine when you put them to use. The only real complaint I have of the system, is that other from using cheat codes (lets be honest, if you're considering using them on a first play through, I want you to unplug your keyboard, and use the little edge of plastic beneath the space bar to cut off your hands. I don't care how, I just want results. Serves you right.) there is no way of getting them all, whereas in Oblivion it just took a lot of time and dedication to max out every stat to get each perk, you can only max out the stats in Fallout 3. The leveling system runs the same course that it did in Oblivion, being a good idea on paper, but not all that practical when implemented into the gameplay. Now, as far as gear load outs go, I was impressed. There are large amounts of weapons and armor for the player to choose from, each with varying effects on play style and performance. I will say this though, imagine my opposing rpg characters from Oblivion and Fallout, (I keep on referencing the two together because their play style is almost identical.) the first being a towering vampire in black and red plate armor swinging an enormous soul stealing sword and bearing a shield with a screaming demonic face on it, surrounded by his elite bodyguard of skeletal warriors. Then picture a man in a huge suit of futuristic powered armor with electric arcs shooting all over his body, hefting an enormous laser cannon in one hand, and in the other a rocket launcher that shoots nuclear warheads. Ask yourself who would win if either of these mighty heroes went head to head with each other. If your answer is the hero from Fallout 3, then you can stop reading right now, not ten minutes from now, not when you decide to get up and visit your friend John Crapper, but NOW. The reason I say this is because my Oblivion character enchanted his own armor to do exactly what he wanted them to. Same with his arsenal of destructive and necromantive spells. My fallout character cannot do any of that. I really detested how they took the customizing of blank slate equipment out of the game. I can sort of understand that we're talking about physical technology and not the forces of magic here, but still, it's such a crucial thing in any rpg to be able to customize your equipment. As long as we're on this sort of note, let's talk about post-game awards. Fallout 3 has a bunch of perks, weapons, and housing options to choose from as far as ways to spend your cash. Yet, I do not really see these minor things as being awards. Aside from the destruction of the Enclave (or the Brotherhood of Steel, whichever you prefer, that is if you're a fallout nazi) there are no large benefits, you do not become a demon prince (Oblivion), nor do you become essentially immortal. All in all, I believe that Fallout 3 is a fantastic game with a great aura of desperate futility about it. Yet, when I load up the save, and look at all that my character has done, and the aftereffects of his actions, I can't help but wonder, have I really saved anybody? That's the thing, nothing really seems to get any better. Sure there's clean water for everyone at the end of it all, and the Enclave is no longer a huge threat, but what difference does it make? The world is still in shambles and the people are all clawing at each others throats like dogs fighting over a scrap of rotten meat. I had you going there didn't I? That's the entire point of the game I believe. That despite all of the good that you try to do, in the scale of things it hardly matters, the world is tearing itself apart from it's use of nuclear energy, combined with good old human nature. A more destructive pair there never has been. That's what makes Fallout 3 a great game in my opinion, that sense of hopelessness that sets in every now and then as you stare across the blackened fields and the charred forests. More than anything, the sense of atmosphere, that of fear, doubt, and sickness, contributes the most to what makes Fallout 3 so great.