War never changes.
This is a message "Fallout 3" hammers into you at the start of the game. War, a blight of humanity, led to a nuclear apocalypse.
But even after that apocalypse in the remaining nuclear fallout (hence the name of the series), there was war. Apparently, said war never changed.
Factions still battle for over control of the wastelands surrounding what was once Washington, D.C.
Bethesda Game Studios developed "Fallout 3," the same people responsible for the highly acclaimed "Elder Scrolls" fantasy role-playing series - the most recent title being "Oblivion."
"Fallout 3" shares a lot in common with "Oblivion." Some go as far to say "Fallout 3" is merely "Oblivion" in the post-apocalyptic future. To be honest, this isn't entirely inaccurate.
The two games have a lot in common mechanically, and if you're familiar with the way "Oblivion" or "Morrowind" worked, you can drop right into "Fallout" and know exactly what's going on.
Just replace swords and sorcery with guns and technology.
The game - the first true sequel since "Fallout 2" was released a decade ago - begins near what is now called "The Capital Wasteland," underground in Vault 101.
Like previous games in the series, the story is based on the idea that American families took cover in a large number of underground vaults in order to survive the impending doom of nukes raining from the sky.
Your character's vault, 101, was intended originally to be sealed forever. But your father has recently escaped the vault, and it's your turn to follow in his footsteps.
As the game opens, you are born into a world of options - literally. Your character is born, you choose your gender and determine your appearance.
This is the start to a relatively short prologue that spans several years. The choices you make "growing up" help determine what kind of person you will be, and what kind of skills you will excel at.
Will you be skillful at sneaking around and lock-picking? Are you going to be strong and dexterous in combat? Are you going to be charismatic and solve all situations through speech rather than steel?
The choice is entirely up to you.
Throughout the game, these sorts of choices determine whether you are good or evil. Whichever path you take can lead to dire consequences.
For example, early in the game you are given a rather simple though extremely devastating choice: Save an entire town or blow it up with a nuclear weapon, reaping the money and penthouse rewards such a choice could bring while, of course, losing that town forever.
This is the best element of "Fallout 3." The total freedom of choice and exploration is reason alone to play the game. To sweeten the deal, the massive world is filled to the brim with interesting characters and interesting conversations to be had with them.
Unfortunately, the combat isn't always as satisfying. At its core, "Fallout 3" is an RPG like previous games in the series. However, it also tries to be an action game.
The action portion, real-time combat element of the gameplay disappoints somewhat in that it's still an RPG - just an RPG in disguise. This means you can point a gun at an enemy's head but still miss because a series of hidden "dice rolls" behind the scenes didn't go your way.
Thankfully, there's a much more clever and satisfying system in place: VATS.
The "Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System," or VATS, allows you to pause the action and spend a number of "action points" to carry out combat. This ends up being a much better blend of the action and turn-based RPG elements the game tries to capture.
It means you can solve enemy encounters by running up to them, going into the VATS system and shooting them in the head until their done and dead, which of course is extremely satisfying.
This brings up the issue of the game's style: a delightful blend of dark, dirty and oh-so-bloody war and violence as well as lighthearted, campy and genuinely humorous elements. You can literally walk into a town after blowing the heads off of enemy raiders only to laugh out loud with another character in a bar.
The good things I could say about "Fallout 3" are too many to be mentioned in this space, but it's not at all a perfect game, either.
On top of the aforementioned problems with the combat, you may find much of your exploration around the wasteland boring. This is because the wasteland is like Lubbock: flat.
There are some awesome locations and cities, and it's extremely cool to see a torn-up Washington, D.C., but your long walks from place to place may leave a lot to be desired.
All in all, "Fallout 3" is a fantastic game and a worthy successor to the "Fallout" name. Fans of RPGs and post-apocalyptic settings should definitely do themselves a favor and check it out, available now for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
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