Fallout 3 was released to Europe in October 2008. It is an open world RPG created by Bethesda Game Studios for PS3, Xbox and PC. The game is set in the year 2277, 200 years after the nuclear apocalypse that devastated the environment you explore in game. The game follows on from the previous two Fallout games made for PC, It took Bethesda 6 years to make this game, which is understandable as it is a major leap forward in terms of the open world aesthetics and in game features from it's younger brother Fallout 2 in 1998.
The background story prior to the story seen in Fallout 3 I find is rather interesting as it begins in a few years from now and focuses on a plausible issue, resources running out. The story begins in 2052 as The Resource Wars take place, the bigger countries fight for the last remaining resources and at the same time build massive vaults for people to take refuge in as the war gets out of hand and turns nuclear. The first Fallout game was set in 2161 after the Great War, followed by Fallout 2 set in 2241 and Fallout 3 in 2277. There is also Fallout: New Vegas set in 2281 which i have yet to play.
A majority of the gameplay in Fallout 3 revolves around international conflicts between the USA and China, along with the main task of finding your dad and aiding him in purifying the lands water sources, as the water is undrinkable subsequent to the radiation caused by the nuclear war all those years ago. Radiation is a key aspect within the game and funds many of the features seen in gameplay such as fighting radiated mutants and creatures, avoiding radiated areas of the wasteland and trying to find other means of healing yourself than drinking the radiated water.
The character you play is an inhabitant of Vault 101, one of the previously build survival shelters designed to protect up to 1,000 humans from the nuclear fallout. The main story line in the game starts from When the character's father disappears under mysterious circumstances and the player is forced to escape from the Vault and journey into the ruins of Washington, D.C. (Reffered to in game as the capital wastelands) to track him down. Along the way the player is assisted by a number of human survivors, battles various kinds of enemies that inhabit the barron environment and has the option to accept or turn down side quests. Which is one of my favourite attributes within the game, the ability to apply your own decisions that in some way change the storyline .Due to this option of having multiple outcomes in the story line, for example the choice of whether to kill someone or spare them, makes the gaming experience seem more personal as your not just following the same path everyone else is.
There are i feel a few downsides to the game, such as the fast travel feature. Sure its useful, but to me it comprimises the survival aspect the game has. One of the big aspects of the game to me, is to survive, so if you can just travel the length of the map in a matter of seconds without getting a scratch on you dampens the survival feel of the game. Also despite the fact it took them 6 years to make there are still some remaining glitches that werent sorted out. Characters within the game to me feel a bit clunky and and robotic, its hard to grasp their personality some times or attach yourself to someone, and finally the textures. The textures in the game are understanbly dull and gritty to play a part of creating the depressing post apocolyptic enviroment, however it seems to me that everywhere looks the same because due to the amount of repeated greyscale rubble and debris textures that also make the game seem flat and too gritty.
Overall if you get past the sometimes depressing aesthetics of the game, it is a really enjoyable and atmospheric RPG, and it is definately a worthy play for its time.
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