After more than 10 years gamers finally get another chance to emerge from their vaults into the desolate world of Fallout with the release of Fallout 3 from the makers of Oblivion, Bethesda. With Fallout 3 following hot on the heels of Fable 2 it will take a lot from Bethesda to convince gamers to try out their addition to the Fallout universe. Probably your first thought on hearing that Bethesda made Fallout is to ask whether its in any way similar to Oblivion. The answer is both yes and no. Yes, Fallout uses the same graphics engine and underlying gameplay as Oblivion. No, Fallout isn't merely Oblivion with guns but an evolution of Oblivion's core RPG system.
Fallout casts you as a vault dweller in the year 2277 in Washington DC who since birth has lived in one of many vaults due to a nuclear war between the US and China 200 years earlier. The game starts with a rather unique sequence of events in your life leading you through the various aspects of the game world and introducing you to the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system of Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. These 7 skills form the core of the character you create and can determine which paths you take through the game, your interactions with other characters and which skill perks are available to you. During your time in the vault you can also choose your character's appearance and tailor it to whatever you want. Towards the end of the tutorial sequence in the vault your father, voiced by Liam Neeson, mysteriously leaves the vault and you decide to head out into the Capital Wastelands to find him and so your journey into the world of Fallout begins.
Your first glimpse of the wastelands as you emerge from the vault is one of the most amazing sights you'll see in recent times. A panorama of utter desolation greets you with the vista stretching far into the distance. Like Oblivion you are free right from the outset to venture wherever you want with almost every single place being open to you from the get go. This is where Fallout excels as you make your way through the world with utter silence greeting you as you venture through destroyed cities with small details showing you how these were once places that were filled with happy families and the hustle and bustle of everyday life before it was all ended with the nuclear war. The atmosphere is remarkable with all the towns and characters you meet having far more back story than Oblivion's denizens. Conversations with other characters are okay - no where near to as well done as in Mass Effect - and serve merely to drive the story onwards. As you travel through these places you'll encounter mutated insects, animals and Super Mutants who are all intent on ending your life as its a case of kill or be killed in the wastelands. This is where the real star of Fallout 3 emerges, V.A.T.S (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System). VATS lets you pause the action and choose which enemies to target and which body parts to aim for. It also gives an indication of your chances of hitting the selected target. When you've chosen your targets the action restarts and you're treated to some gorgeous slow-mo action shots of your kills. VATS depends on ability points which slowly recharge over time, so you'll have to make good use of a combination of real time and VATS combat. Of course you could also choose to be more stealthy in your approach and hack into security systems where you have to choose the correct password. Each time you choose a word it will tell you how many letters were correct. Choose the incorrect passwords too many times and it will lock the system and prevent you from hacking into it.
You'll soon come to realise that you'll only survive by scavenging for anything and everything. Bottle caps and ammo will become your two most valuable commodities. A side effect of the food and drink you find is that they are all irradiated and eventually they will cause you to take damage from the radiation in your body. Luckily you can counter this with meds that you can find or buy. There are also additional drugs you can use to give yourself temporary boosts to your stats and skills. Each town or city you reach will give you more quests to do or complete. These are not forced on you and you can choose to take them or leave them and follow the main story missions at any time you want.
Of course this being an RPG, you'll soon level up and be presented with a vast array of choices on how to improve your character. Though your initial stats are set at the start of the game you are free to play around with your characters skills such as bartering or small arms, to repairing weaponry, stealth or hacking. An added choice is that every two levels you get to choose a perk for your character. These perks boost certain aspects of your character, such as gaining experience faster or doing more damage to certain enemies. There's also the infamous Bloody Mess perk that gives you masses of gore every time you kill an enemy as well as increased damage. Thankfully all these stats are cleverly presented to you through your Pip Boy 3000 computer which you wear on your arm. It gives you 3 screens covering your stats, data and items which you can use to equip items or weapons, to view maps of your surrounds or to see which quests you have at your disposal. In a nice nod to the previous Fallout games all the perks and stats screens feature Pip Boy in various poses using the skills or perks.
In the looks department Fallout 3 manages to make good use of Oblivions engine while sprucing it up a bit. There's also far more detail in Fallout than was to be found in Oblivion. Characters still look terribly unrealistic though, and when seen up close, they have a tendency to ice skate around the Capital Wastelands. Other than the characters, the graphics are amazing to behold with almost no load times other than those between areas. The day / night cycle is beautifully done with the sight of the rising sun as you travel through a destroyed and ravaged Washington DC being one of the outstanding moments in the game.
Sound-wise Fallout makes very good use of the absence of sound for the majority of the game. After all, you're walking across a wide, empty, ravaged country. There shouldn't be any noises other than the local wildlife and the sigh of the wind as it blows through the deserted ruins of Washington DC. Your only break from this is the radio stations that you can pick up on your Pip Boy that give you a selection of 1940s tunes that have been wonderfully chosen to accompany the game. Like Bioshock, the licensed tracks fit perfectly into the world and help you immerse yourself that bit more into your character and the universe. The other tracks composed by Inon Zur that play in the towns are elegantly composed and serve to set the mood rather than distracting you from the game at hand.
So all in all, is Fallout 3 worth getting in this time of great games? Without a doubt I'd have to say yes. Like Far Cry 2, it's a game that will need your full attention and will ask you to help create its story while giving you the ability to experience a world that is unique amongst RPGs. You'll sink up to 100 hours in the Wastelands and if you're willing to leave your vault you won't look back with any regrets about purchasing it. Bethesda have outdone themselves and added another unique chapter to one of the most endearing gaming franchises out there.
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