Fallout 3 is on my list as one my favourite games of all time. That may sound like a biased review is on its way (and indeed, I may ‘fall out’ with some readers because of it) but there are many flaws that I’ll happily discuss in detail.
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Fallout 3 was developed by Bethesda Game Studios, best known for creating games within The Elder Scrolls series starting with The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (review coming soon) and all the way up to the recent entry, Skyrim. The studio went on to develop an additional five pieces of downloadable content (DLC) that were initially released for the Xbox 360 and Windows versions of the game in 2009, followed by the PS3 later that year. The studio then handed over development of the next instalment, Fallout: New Vegas, to Obsidian Entertainment.
I’m one of many gamers out there who had their first experience of the Fallout universe with Fallout 3. I also managed to avoid the title for some time before coming across a YouTube video featuring VATS (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) being used with hilarious results. Once I got my hands on the game after purchasing it online with the fastest delivery possible, I was hooked.
Fallout 3 continues in the setting of previous Fallout games, 200 years after the end of a war that devastated the planet in a nuclear apocalypse. The year is 2277 and in the wastelands of America you begin life as a new-born dweller of Vault 101, one of many underground bunkers built by Vault-Tec to withstand such a catastrophe. The heavy construction company researched and developed secret advanced technologies for the Pentagon and the US government but as time went on, the projects became more sinister in their nature: the true purpose of the Vaults were to run secret studies of preselected segments of the US population. The Vault 101 testw as that of a self-sustaining enclosure which would never be opened, to study the impact of a small group of individuals who live and die within the vault and the results of eventual inbreeding.
You play as the Lone Wanderer, beginning the game locked into Vault 101 in your mother’s womb before being delivered by your father James, the resident doctor voiced by Liam Neeson. Unfortunately your Mum doesn’t survive giving birth leaving you to be looked after by Dad, and players are given an opportunity to create their character before the game begins.
Time fast forwards to your toddler years where you are asked to set your SPECIAL attributes (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck) from a kids’ book titled ‘You’re SPECIAL!’. Players are given five points to distribute as they wish, including reducing the level in one areas to further increase another. For example, you can make your character very strong with ten points in Strength but you would need to sacrifice points in other attributes such as Intelligence. Individually, these attributes have an impact on the thirteen skills available in the game, such as Big Guns and Science; and at an early point in the game you’re able to choose three ‘tag skills’ which are immediately boosted to fifteen points.
The RPG elements of the Fallout series really do scratch an itch for those gamers looking for deep character progression; so much is geared around these attributes, skills, levels and perks that there is a great feeling of character growth as you level-up. In the standard version of Fallout 3, there is a level cap of twenty (raised to thirty by the Broken Steel add-on DLC) and each level-up gives you a number of skill points (governed by how many points you have in the Intelligence attribute), along with the ability to select a perk. As with most RPGs, levelling is achieved through earning experience points (XP) by killing enemies and completing quests.
Once the player has selected their attributes and their tag skills, the game moves on in time to the character’s tenth birthday. This is the age at which all Vault dwellers receive their Pip-Boy, an electronic device worn on the arm like a wrist watch. It’s through this hardware that all the game’s menus are kept including a map, inventory, player health and a radio. This is one of the iconic features of Fallout 3, its design matching that of the retro-futuristic 1950s culture styling of the title.
From this point, time jumps forward once more to late teen years when, after becoming so accustomed to Vault life, you must escape into the wastelands to follow your Dad who left the enclosure to lead a scientific project that will produce fresh water, clean of radiation. This goes against the purpose of Vault 101 and of the Overseer’s duty, which requires the player to take certain moral decisions during the escape that can have consequences later on.
Fallout 3 features a karma system, where most actions have either a positive or negative karma effect that changes how non-player characters interact with you; for example, killing bandits will give positive karma while stealing gives a negative. As interesting as this functionality is on paper, it has only a small effect on the storyline except potentially blocking or opening access to particular quests. The end game cinematic also changes based on the player’s moral actions throughout the game.
Once outside and into the wasteland, the Vault is closed behind the Lone Wanderer never to open again. Here the game changes from a clean, sheltered and safe environment to the vast, open, hostile wasteland of Washington DC. This is where the VATS combat system comes into play: while you can run and gun like in any other first person shooter, Fallout 3 allows you to freeze the game and select not only which opponent to attack but also the specific body part to target. The Agility attribute dictates a number of Action Points that limit how many shots or attacks can be made using the VATS before the player is forced to fight in real-time points regenerate. It’s this feature that attracted me to the title initially due to the impressive and sometimes funny moments it can produce while it carries out your instructions, including decapitation, rag-doll like physics and slow-motion effects. Accuracy is also an important factor, governed by your skill level in that weapon type such as Small Guns or Energy Weapons, and the chance to hit is indicated by a percentage when selecting a target.
Similar to the Elder Scrolls series, quests lead the player through the storyline with side-quests adding length to the game an encouragement to explore the wasteland. Conversations with non-player characters often provide different ways of completing missions, leading to a change in karma or varying awards of weapons, armour and experience points. When not in combat, a lot of time will be spent in conversation with NPCs in relation to quests or trading and to progress the main plot.
A party system allows you to take on a maximum of two followers, one human / mutant and a dog, which is both useful and a hindrance during combat as they take down enemies or blow your cover.
The graphics of Fallout 3 were on par with other games at the time but they’ve quickly become out-dated and weren’t improved for the sequel although, considering the size of the title and its open world nature, there’s enough detail to satisfy. One problem exists which is to do with the Gamebryo engine that it runs on: not only did the game have a shaky release because of bugs, there are still performance issues that exist to this day. These problems only begin to appear after many hours of gameplay but gradually get worse as you continue playing with a particular character. Typically you experience freezing, mostly when using VATS, and the frame rate dips to unplayable levels requiring you to restart to clear it. Once you’re at this point there’s no going back, but it’s felt less on the PC version probably due to the fact there are more resources available on a computer than there is a games console.
Unfortunately these issues continue into Fallout: New Vegas, but luckily not Skyrim which used a completely new game engine. Problems aside, the level and character design is extremely varied with weapons and clothing looking unique and also realistic for those that have real-life counterparts. The more unique enemies such as super-mutants and ghouls have an interesting look matching their appearance in the original Fallout games, and their animation is on par with other blockbuster titles. Overall, once you’ve seen one of each enemy type, you’ve seen them all so you can be forgiven for wanting more variety after thirty hours of gameplay. This goes for the landscape as well, but they can only go so far in creating a scene without having to repeat the same old rubble mound.
All characters are voiced but this has a limit where you’ll get used to hearing the same actor again and again; this could annoy some players but I understand it could be difficult to provide enough voices for all in a game of this size. Most of the voice work is of a decent standard and there are some unique characters that must be experienced such as Moira Brown, an eccentric owner of a supply shop in Megaton. The ambient soundtrack in Fallout 3 is composed by industry veteran Inon Zur and is very memorable, easily setting the mood for most scenes or simply when travelling across the wasteland. The in-game radio, enabled via the Pip-Boy, features music from the 1940s and 1950s which players won’t know but soon learn off by heart and will always be associate with the game if heard separately. Weapons sound realistic as does melee combat, and the noise that enemies make is easily distinguishable and makes it easier to know what lies ahead; ghouls give off spine-tingling screams while super mutants grunt and complain about their hunger for human flesh.
Fallout 3 is a massive game with plenty to do outside of the storyline quests. There are many side-missions to get into that introduce you to odd characters and strange settlements each with their own secrets and sadistic leaders. Before installing the downloadable add-on content, there are almost 100 hours of gameplay for those that want to do everything, and each DLC pack adds many hours more with unique stories that don’t interrupt the the main game. As there are often multiple endings for most quests, there is some replayability if you wish to find out what happens when taking another direction through the title. Personally, I’ve easily started again with a new character as, even though the story stays the same, there are many different types of character you can create with particular specialisms.
For those that have never played Fallout 3, it’s not too late yet: the game is still available through the current generation of consoles and of course PC. A Game of the Year edition is available for all platforms that includes all the DLC packs as standard and I highly recommend buying that version. This is one of few titles that must be experienced, much like The Elder Scrolls series, as it oozes quality and provides great storytelling with a long and detailed backstory.
I look forward to see the next game in the series, now that Skyrim has ceased content development. If the rumour is true that the developer is working on the next Fallout title then there are definitely good, and radioactive, times ahead.
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