When Bethesda Softworks
announced it had obtained the rights to develop the third game in
the revered Fallout series, gamers everywhere
quickly took sides. “Heresy!” some cried. “Awesome!”
cried others.

Why the polarization? It’s
not like Bethesda was a stranger to role-playing games. The various
volumes of their Elder Scrolls series had one rafts of awards, and
the most recent two – Morrowind and
Oblivion, were big sellers as well.

On
the other hand, there are significant core stylistic differences between
the games in the Elder Scrolls and Fallout
franchises. First-person versus third-person. Real-time
versus turn-based. Skill-usage-based character leveling versus more
traditional Experience Point leveling.

And yet, those of us who
were happy about Bethesda getting the gig recognized some key synergies
as well. Both series emphasized wide-open game worlds with enormous
freedom in movement, character development and role-playing.

And, of course, those of
us in the “Awesome!” camp turned out to be right. Actually,
we turned out to be really, REALLY right, because Fallout
3 has turned out to be a spectacular game.

The game is the happy offspring
of Bethesda’s RPGs and the earlier Fallout games, and manages
to shine with the virtues of both parents.

Character Flexibility.
The game maintains Fallout’s famed
S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system, whereby the player character is governed by
seven customizable statistics: Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma,
Intelligence, Agility and Luck. You get to distribute a certain number
of points among these stats, creating the type of character you’d
like to play. In addition, the player can build a variety of skills,
from combat-oriented disciplines such as Small Guns, Energy Weapons,
or Unarmed, to more technical abilities such as Science, Repair, Lock
pick and Sneak. Each skill is regulated by one of the primary S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
statistics, and in addition the player can tag three main skills which
level up faster than the others.

Also, each time you level
up you get to pick a Perk, which augments your abilities in some special
way.

Furthermore, the choices
you make on your adventure not only affect the game world in important
ways, but they affect your Karma level. Having a high, neutral, or
low Karma level can affect what quests are available to you and what
characters you meet will be friendly or hostile.

Thus, there are no set
“classes” – you are free to create any type of player
you like. You can create a fast-talking lady-killer with a fondness
for big guns. Or a sneaky thief who takes out his enemies with unarmed
skill.

Open
World. The game takes place in a post-nuclear area called
The Wasteland, which is actually a few square miles in and around
Washington, DC. And from the first time you step out of Vault 101,
you can choose to go anywhere. You might get your ass handed to you
if you trip over some nasty raiders or mutants, but there are no artificial
boundaries in your way. The feeling of immersion this gives you cannot
be overstated.

In addition, you’re
running around the remnants of a real place. If you have
any familiarity with the DC area, this will give the game an extremely
creepy, yet compelling verisimilitude. During my adventures I’ve
found myself in Metro stations and famous buildings that I have actually
visited in real life. It’s wild!

Visuals. There’s
a lot of things you can say about the original Fallout
games, but calling them pretty isn’t one of them. Bethesda knows
a thing or two about creating visually stunning and compelling game
worlds. (I still think the Island of Vvardenfell, the setting for
Morrowind, is perhaps the coolest game
environment ever.)

And, while the environments
depicted are grim indeed – a post-nuclear urban landscape littered
with ruined buildings, mutants, creepy subway tunnels and hardscrabble
survivor settlements – it all looks amazing. The draw distance
is enormous, so as you run around adventuring you can often see recognizable
monuments, such as the ruined Washington Monument or the Lincoln Memorial,
in the distance.

Questing.
Like both the Elder Scrolls and original
Fallout games, there is enormous freedom
in the quest structure as well. There’s a rich and varied main
quest that you can follow. Plus there’s lots of other optional
quest lines you can pick up. Or, if you feel like it, you can just
roam around the fascinating (but very dangerous) landscape of the
Wasteland, getting yourself in and out of trouble.

The optional quests are
not too numerous, but each is a complicated and multi-step affair,
creating real and satisfying storylines that are fun to get involved
with.

You’re free to choose
sides constantly. And the moral choices you make aren’t
always black and white, either.

The end result of this
is that Fallout 3 turns into an extremely
rich role-playing experience. No two people playing through this game
will have anything like the same experience. Obviously this lends
the game tremendous replay value as well.

Combat.
It’s a rough world out there, and you’re going to meet
a lot of disagreeable characters and creatures. And while it’s
theoretically possible to play the game as something other than a
fighter, it wouldn’t be easy. But there are lots of options
in the combat arena. You can develop expertise in lots of weapon types,
including small guns, big guns, energy weapons, explosives, melee,
and even unarmed combat.

It’s in combat the
Fallout 3’s tribute to the turn-based
nature of the original games shows its face. It’s called V.A.T.S.,
which stands for Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System. It allows you
to accumulate “action points” that you can use to freeze
time and carefully target a particular part of your foe’s anatomy.
Want to slow down that big mutant brute? Shoot him in the leg. Want
to make that giant ant go berserk and attack his fellow ants? Shoot
off its antennae. The system is easy to use and lots of fun.

Story.
I’m not going to spoil much here. You’re raised underground
in Vault 101. When you’re 19, your father mysteriously leaves
the Vault. You follow him to find out what’s up.

That’s all I’m
telling you about that.

Other Cool Stuff.
Have I even mentioned that you can create your own weapons? Or that
the game begins with your BIRTH, and you get tons of choices about
your character’s looks . . . and then the game extrapolates
your choices and makes your father look like you? And have I mentioned
that you can have a dog who adventures with you and follows your orders?

Downloadable Content.
Since the game’s release, Bethesda has already created three
patches of downloadable content, which add new adventures, quests,
areas, weapons and leveling opportunities. And there’s more
content on the way, evidently.

One Tiny Word of
Warning. The PS3 version of the game is inferior to the PC
and XBox 360 versions. I’m just sayin’. It’s not
as sweet graphically and it’s a bit more glitchy.

Insanity.
Other than its rich legacy and setting, the greatest thing Fallout
3 has going for it is the simple fact that the game-building team
at Bethesda are a bunch of maniacs. And I mean that in the most positive
possible way. It’s one of the highest compliments I can give
in the business of electronic entertainment. Along with their counterparts
at companies like Insomniac Games (Ratchet & Clank,
Resistance: Fall of Man), Blizzard (Diablo,
Starcraft, Warcraft,
World of Warcraft), the freaks at Bethesda
are simply fanatical about creating a great product. And this passion
oozes from every pore of the game. Game Director Todd Howard deserves
a lot of credit for the way he guided this ambitious project.

The deranged fiends at
Bethesda have built a landmark game, and I think you’d be crazy
not to play the damned thing.

System Requirements:
An XBox 360, a PS3, or a *pretty sweet, powerful PC

*Minimum System Requirements
(PC/Windows):

• Windows XP/Vista
• 1GB System RAM (XP)
  / 2GB System RAM (Vista)
• 2.4 Ghz Intel Pentium
  4 or equivalent processor
• Direct X 9.0c compliant
  videocard with 256MB RAM (NVIDIA 6800 or better / ATI X850 or better)

*Recommended System
Requirements (PC/Windows):

• Windows XP/Vista
• 1GB System RAM (XP)
  / 2GB System RAM (Vista)
• Intel Core 2 Duo processor
• 2 GB System RAM
• Direct X 9.0c compliant
  videocard with 512MB RAM (NVIDIA 8800 series, ATI 3800 series)

Supported Video
Chipsets:

• NVIDIA GeForce 200 series
• NVIDIA GeForce 9800
  series
• NVIDIA GeForce 9600
  series
• NVIDIA GeForce 8600
  series
• NVIDIA GeForce 8500
  series
• NVIDIA GeForce 8400
  series
• NVIDIA GeForce 7900
  series
• NVIDIA GeForce 7800
  series
• NVIDIA GeForce 7600
  series
• NVIDIA GeForce 7300
  series
• NVIDIA GeForce 6800
  series
• ATI HD 4800 series
• ATI HD 4600 series
• ATI HD 3800 series
• ATI HD 3600 series
• ATI HD 3400 series
• ATI HD 2900 series
• ATI HD 2600 series
• ATI HD 2400 series
• ATI X1900 series
• ATI X1800 series
• ATI X1600 series
• ATI X1300 series
• ATI X850 series

This
review is copyright Ray Ivey and Just Adventure and
may not be republished elsewhere without the express written consent
of the author. Republication of said review must also contain a link
back to Just Adventure.