Publisher: Bethesda
Developer: Bethesda
Release Date: Oct. 28, 2008
Genre: Action RPG
Rating: M (who would have thought a Fallout game would have an M rating?)

Fallout 3 has been in production over the last 4 years was it truly worth the wait? Well while playing I personally think there should have been alot more bug testing before release. Within 2 hours I had already encountered a graphics bug, and over the course of my past 20 hours of play I’ve come across around a dozen or so other bugs, some minor, others completely froze the game. At least none have the bugs have corrupted my save.

Now that my rant about the bugs with Fallout 3 is over with lets get to the amazing rest that makes me forget about those…things I was talking about. First off Fallout 3 is GORGEOUS! From beginning to end post-apocolyptia is just beautiful. All the dead trees, radiation, and ruins of Washington D.C. all just come together perfectly. The interior cells range from radiated caves to museums.
That’s just the atmosphere, the character models look highly realistic even the ghouls (never call them zombies) with their skin deterioating. The creatures are morbid and in cases like that of the terrifying deathclaws quite scary.
Now I move onto the equipment and items. You’ve all seen the assault rifles and sniper rifles from the hundreds of WWII shooters, but these guns have a nice somewhat futuristic kick to them. The energy weapons with both laser and plasma variants. The guns themselves are beautiful, but nothing to their discharge. Laser weapons fire a super-hot red light that if does enough damage during the kill shot will completely fry the victim into a pile of ashes. The plasma weapons on the other hand fire a green pulse like blob that turns the opponent into a pile of radiated goo rather than ashes.

I gotta pull away from the graphics to be sucked into the immense amount of gameplay. If you’ve played some of Bethesda’s other games you’d know that they like creating large open worlds with a myriad of things to do. Fallout 3 is no exception. In 20 hours I only explored a very small portion of the former metropolis.
If you are familiar with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion you are sure to feel comfortable with Fallout 3 as they run essentially the same. The biggest difference between them (other than fantasy and apocalyptic worlds) is the way you level. Rather than needing to rest in Oblivion you level up as soon as the area is clear of foes. In Oblivion you upgrade your main attributes up to 100 in Fallout 3 you upgrade your skills with points that vary on your intelligence and 1 perk per level. Rather than general attributes Fallout 3 calls them S.P.E.C.I.A.L; Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. They can only be raised to a maximum of 10 and can only be upgraded in a few ways throughout the entire game.
Fallout 3 also includes a Karma system for rewarding your deeds. Karma can effect a few things, like your ending and the kinds of people you can hire.
There are hundreds of locations to visit, which could be a real pain in the butt if you are on one end of the city and need to get to the other side, yet Fallout 3 also includes the Fast Travel system from Oblivion. Back in Oblivion it felt too much like cheating, it doesn’t feel quite so much that way in Fallout.

I’ll only elaborate on a small portion of the story as I’m sure many of you will eventually end up playing Fallout 3 and would like to find out on your own. “You are born in Vault 101, You will die in Vault 101.” The words of the Overseer. Well guess what, You won’t die in Vault 101 your father ends up leaving the Vault for some unknown reason, and you follow him. Though you don’t need to follow him that is the main quest line.