Fallout 3

By King_Of_The_Mountain
20:02 Dec 19, 2008

In depth customisation.
Easy to pick up.
Deep storyline.
Hours and hours of playing time.

Most of the time you have to watch trees grow as the pre-rendering is a bit sub-par.
Not moving during VATS and finding a super sledge lodged in your skull.
Consumes way too much time (albeit good time)

Right from the start, you literally are starting from the start. You get to watch (through your eyes) as you are born and raised, which surprisingly only takes about 30 minutes. As you time-warp into different era's of your life you get to create your character in the many ways available, also starting to associate with the good,evil and nuetral aspects of the game, as well as all the sub categories to both. After some humorous moments in the vault you get to view the outside world for the first time, and right after your eyes adjust to the horrible glare of the outside world, you rotate on the spot and survey the entire world in front of you, It stretches so far in all directions, most of it traversable, as you cry a tear of joy for the scope of the game you start to realise: Where the hell do I go now?

You can literally spend hours wandering the desolate wasteland uncovering goodies and things to kill/befriend, thats one of the good things about the game, you can do whatever you want to whoever you want.

The combat system makes good use of all your skills and traits, it doesn't care how many headshots you've gotten in Call Of Duty and how pro you've become, If you've only got 30% in a shooting skill, you are going to miss most of the time. This is where the VATS system comes into play, the system stops time for you so you can make precise attacks on different limbs of different enemies, the game also tells you the percentage rating of how likely you are to hit something, the system also gives you a huge bonus to your critical hit rating. The downside? while your using the VATS system you cannot move to avoid enemy fire, and you also still have a chance to miss, which means that the enemy can gain ground on you while you are standing still.

The variety of weapons in this game does fall short in some areas, the weapons you will be using for most of the game will be standard weapons like the hunting rifle and the 9mm pistol, as these weapons have the least expensive ammo and are as easy to come by as a mole rat in the wasteland. That being said, there is nothing quite like ripping a group of super mutants limb from limb with a minigun, or smashing someone in half with a powerfist. The weapons in the game can also match the skill set-up you've chosen, with Finnese adding to your critical hit ratio for one-handed weapons.

The dialogue in the game is interesting to say the least. When your conversing with someone, it can go either way, you can end up wanting to destroy them, or being their best friend. Some of the voice acting (especially by some of the raiders) is a little bit flat, but you get pass that.... by lodging some bulets in their head.

The length of the game can also vary, depending on what you want to do with the game, There is also no heavy incentive to following the main story line, you can whittle away the hours doing side quests alone, and some of these side quests qill be refered to by the ever evolving characters of the game. The main story line draws you in, but so do some of the side quests, in a way that you actaully care for some of the characters - A good thing for a game.

The controls are simplistic and easy to pick up and run with, with remapping of the controls as easy as pushing a few buttons, you'll find running through the wasteland a breeze as you pick off the enemies with some smooth actions.

All in all, this game is spectacular and well worth your many hours of free time, hey, the time doesn't even have to be free, you can make time for this game.
The story is deep and rich, the characters are deep and even a little too life like at points. You are free to do whatever you want from freeing the slaves to massacreing an entire town/city. It can be a game for both casual players (with its easy to learn controls and simplistic sidequests) to hardcore gamers (in depth customisation and personalisation, as well as the great story tale unfoling in front of you). I would recommend this game to anyone.

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Atomic Magazine

Issue: 133 | February, 2012

Atomic is a magazine aimed squarely at computer enthusiasts, gamers, and serious PC upgraders.

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