Around 200 years after the world was nearly completely destroyed by nuclear war the player character and their father are living in the shelter of Vault 101; one of several underground complexes where human civilization continues safe from the dangers of the outside world. Bad things happen in the idyllic haven when the player's father leaves the vault and he or she resolves to venture out to search for him. What begins as a search and find task builds and develops into a full blown political struggle over a project that could change the face of the wastes forever. Several key factions, people and themes that have populated the Fallout universe for years remain prevalent here and the large array of questions to ask of NPCs, books to read and overall visual style work together to thoroughly inform and explain to players both old and new of how and why the world is the way it is and the method it was shaped by mankind over two centuries. Not only does the main storyline have a profound effect on the player but also the side quests which take them to several varied settlements. Both of these can be affected by the player's choices which in some cases can reflect outwards upon later missions based on either good or bad karma. The destruction that pervades the world is reflected in the serious and grim tones the game often takes on with the suffering and death of innocents and the cruelty of the wasteland on all who find themselves caught up in it. All be told, Fallout 3 boasts a solid story that players will want to stick with until the end, laced into a highly detailed and realised game world.
After an extended tutorial within Vault 101 in which the player creates their character and chooses their major skills and stats the Capital Wasteland is fully open for exploration; it's not as big an environment as Skyrim or Tamriel from the Elder Scrolls but this is excusable as the player travels through the world entirely on foot, there are no vehicles in a world ravaged by nuclear weapons after all. Despite the freedom of exploration an air of danger is present at all times while playing Fallout 3 for it is unknown what ferocious creatures the next cave will house, whether the next sub-station will be rigged with a number of deadly traps or whether that one point of interest will contain valuable loot and supplies. Exploration is not without reward though as the bunkers and depots of the wasteland can house several rare weapons and upgrades to the player character. Fallout 3 differs from The Elder Scrolls series in that everything the player does yields experience points from killing enemies to completing quests all going towards level ups in which skill points are distributed and perks are chosen. While the player initially chooses three tag skills to focus on through the game there's a great degree of flexibility as any skill can have points applied to it every level whilst perks are often attached to stat and skill attributes. The SPECIAL system is another great facet of Fallout 3's roleplaying system; each aspect governs different skills and can offer other benefits such as increased carry weight with more strength or better chances of scoring critical hits with luck. It's yet another flexible system that allows players to create a character for almost any situation or focus. Fallout 3 is an enormous game packed with detail from top to bottom; it'll take ages to fully explore the wasteland and with all the DLC added it only grows longer. Some DLC is better than others; Broken Steel and Point Lookout are by far the best whereas Operation Anchorage and Mothership Zeta may be too combat focused for some. Factor in the differences between playthroughs and this is another RPG that players will be enjoying for months on end.
Fallout 3 is NOT a first person shooter, that's the number one rule to remember when playing through the game; it may look like a shooter and firing from the hip is an option but it's far stiffer and finicky than the real star of combat, VATS. The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (available from the get-go) allows players to pause the action and target specific body parts using action points aiming to cripple and score critical hits on foes. This makes Fallout 3 a far more thoughtful shooting game than any other on this generation; shooting an hostile animal in the leg such as a Yao Guai or Mole Rat that needs to get close to attack will stagger it and make it run slower whereas targeting the arm or weapon on a human or super mutant enemy can render them unarmed, making them easy pickings. This is augmented by the fact that all weaponry which includes small guns, big guns, energy weapons and explosives gradually degrades and becomes less effective. Players need to be constantly mindful of many things including weapon condition, ammo count and their own character's body status (which includes radiation levels and crippled limbs) to get through fights effectively. Even as the level cap of 30 (With the Broken Steel DLC) draws near, combat remains challenging and all the more tense as the enemies scale in both toughness and type; a small radscopion that will give lower levelled players trouble may balloon up to a gargantuan Albino radscorpion later on, again adding to the element of danger that permeates the experience of Fallout 3. Gunplay makes up the bulk of Fallout 3's combat but there are several other options too; levelling up sneak results in instant critical hits or combat can sometimes be avoided altogether with the speech skill. The latter can have a significant effect on quests as they can take new, often non-lethal turns which can be helpful in playing as a good natured character. On the other hand lockpicking and science are useful in accessing places and security systems be it forbidden or otherwise and both skills are challenging and rewarding to play with. The latest in the Fallout series maintains the series focus towards choice and is another deep game on Bethesda's part.
The Capital Wasteland of Washington featured in Fallout 3 is easily the most atmospheric and sombre game world Bethesda has ever created; everything from the scraps of civilization to the gargantuan ruins reeks and oozes the destruction and devastation players have come to expect from the series. The colour pallet is limited on the wasteland reflecting the destruction that took place and both the enemies and weapon effects can look suitably grotesque and sinister. The shots of exploding limbs or heads in VATS are always consistently bloody and chaotic adding increased impact to combat. Character models also look fine, falling in line between Oblivion and Skyrim in terms of believability. The original release of Fallout 3 was plagued by numerous bugs like many Bethesda games but for the game of the year edition most of these have been ironed out, resulting in an experience that runs well with less crashes or game breaking glitches.
Fallout 3 GOTY Edition is a fantastic game in every way; it packs a huge wealth of content, challenging gameplay of both the roleplaying and combat kinds and mixes in a rich story set in a tarnished world ripe for exploration.
Rating: 9.5/10
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