My social life came to an abrupt standstill the day I was saturated by the Oblivion universe and then came Fallout 3 and wrecked my social universe into oblivion. A rather oxymoronically start to one of the greatest journeys that has taken players through a multitude of choices in 2008.
Fallout 3 developed by Bethesda comes with their trademark lineup of role playing games. Set in the year 2277, the game places players in the capital of a post apocalyptic version of United States, which translates into thirty six years after the events of Fallout 2 and 200 years, post the entire nuclear catastrophe.
The game starts off at Vault 101, which was one of the secluded areas that was sealed off during the nuclear strike. Since Fallout 3 is based on the mechanics of heavy customization, the game allows players to even choose the visual appearance of their own father by coding the facial appearance of the player right at the time of birth. Throughout the journey of the narrative the players will find that his father will resemble him. The core story revolves around the mysterious escape of the player’s father into the nuclear wasteland and the subsequent journey that the player must undertake to find him.
During the player’s infant years, he comes across a book titled “You are S.P.E.C.I.A.L.” which expands into Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. These vital stats can be improved each time the player levels up, which is either through combat or completing quests spread all across the desolated town of Washington D.C. The player also gets the services of the PIP-Boy 3000 strapped to his hand on his teen birthday, which serves to provide almost all the information the player requires to survive in the wasteland.
Once the player escapes the vault with the assistance of the Overseer’s daughter, he encounters upon his first town called “Megaton”, essentially named after an undetonated nuclear bomb. This is where the Karma system comes into flow, the player throughout out the game can alter his choices to choose the path that he feels is virtuous and right including turning pure evil. Fallout 3 plays according to these choices and will alter the player’s interactions and trust with all the NPC’s scattered all across the desolated city.
In addition to the S.P.E.C.I.A.L attributes the players can also customize the wide variety of skills that he may be interested in. These range from turning into a gun nut, disarming explosives, handling energy weapons to speech abilities which can be used to influence the NPCs.
Fallout 3 also introduces a system titled V.A.T.S. standing for vault assisted targeting system. This method can be used to turn the game into a pseudo turned-based RPG, where the player has the ability to target the enemy’s specific body parts and use the right kind of equipment during confrontation. This system can also be worked upon to identify enemies around the area where the player is placed.
Combat is thus either real-time or V.A.T.S. assisted, but the system of V.A.T.S. is dependent of the AP points on the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Critical hits to enemies are the most effective function of this system and enables combat to be methodologically executed rather than a mere trigger pushing experience.
Items can also be created by the player on work scattered all across the 41 km. sq. radius. This again is dependent on the player and his choice to upgrade to a particular skill and his discovery of the schematics either sold by vendors or rewarded on the completion of quests. The durability of items is subject to their use, since the get worn out with regular use they need to be repaired and maintained consistently. This factor of repairing and rebuilding is not only restricted to the weapons and armor, but also the player himself.
In a land filled with radiation the player needs to constantly monitor his levels of radiation which is practically present in every item of consumption or certain environments that are scattered throughout the universe. In addition to this, he also finds a significant amount of psychotropic drugs which enhance his abilities for a small amount of time. Constant use however leads to addiction and has negative effects on the players control within Fallout 3. The player also has a limit in carrying items, which can be enhanced using the S.P.E.C.I.A.L abilities, additional items can be stored in lockers, cupboards and safes present at every few steps in the game’s universe.
The entire world of Washington D.C has been remarkably recreated with the utilization of Gamebryo technology. Although the desolation and destruction has been aptly recreated for the player, the character models fall weak and the game in general suffers form numerous technical glitches, which include impossible to kill enemies or a rather obtrusive V.A.T.S. system during combat.
Certain segments of Fallout 3 also feel horribly repeated, which might be a little annoying for the player. These include recurring train stations and certain Vaults that the player comes across through the game. The player might also feel tired with the map of the game, and since it’s vast a module of transportation would have been a welcome addition to Fallout 3.
The Final Word: Fallout 3 will perhaps not be quite different to players of Oblivion with a similarity in the entire structure that has been carried forward throughout in games by Bethesda. However its setting and structure is marvelously addicting and seemingly vast enough for any individual to get engrossed in the universe for a huge chunk of time.
Graphics: 7/10.
Gameplay: 9.5/10.
Sound: 10/10.
Budget pocket: 10/10.
Overall (not on an average): 10/10.
- By Neelesh Mukherjee