Fallout 3 - a review

Fallout 3 is da best! Enuf said. The end.



Ok, seriously, as I've told a few of my friends, this is one heck of a game. Pure awesomeness. Just how good is it? Well, lets just say that I just completed the game yesterday, and until now there is a feeling of emptiness inside me. Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 were awesome games. But the crap piece known as 'Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel' undoubtedly left a sour taste in everyone's mouth. Then came Fallout 3 to save its legacy.

Like its predecessors, the game is based on the post-apocalypse world, in which nuclear wars have destroyed almost everything in the world. The story begins with the main character, who has lived in vault 101 most of his life, left the vault in search of his father. For those not familiar with the Fallout series, a vault refers to an underground colony built to protect its inhabitants from the nuclear war, and its aftermath. From thereon, he was exposed to the harsh reality of life in the post-apocalypse world. In his quest to find his father, he will encounter various communities of people, striving just to survive in the harsh wasteland the world has become. But he soon discovered this wasn't a stroll in the park. Mercenaries want him dead. Raiders want his money...and his head. Ghouls want to eat him. Super mutants want to tear him apart. And of course, you have the Enclaves, the slavers, giant ants, yao guai, and many other assortment of creatures that will stop at nothing until he is dead.

The best thing I like about Fallout 3 is its playability. The world map is so big, it is virtually impossible to complete every single quest, explore every single area or even talk to every single NPC in the game. Even for each quests, there are always more than one way to complete them. To achieve his goals, the main character has to pick locks, hack computers, pick pockets, sweet talk his way through adversaries, or simply just blast his way through hoards of enemies. At his disposal are all kind of cool weapons, from the conventional weapons like pistol, combat shotgun and minigun to the devastating Fat man, to the weird but powerful alien blaster. The skills and perks that can be learned also provide lots of interesting choices, because, unlike many other games, all the skills are equally useful(except maybe unarmed combat), allowing players to choose a skillset that suits his style of play.

The game is played on a first person perspective, but I wouldn't call it a first person shooter. In fact, you'd find yourself getting killed pretty fast if you just go in there with your guns blazing. A super mutant aiming a rocket launcher at you? Shoot its weapon out of its hand. A giant radscorpion charging at you? Drop a landmine and retreat. Spot a grenade tucked on a raider's belt? Shoot at it and watch the raider's pants explode. See a raider daydreaming in the distance? Snipe at him from a distance. To win the many battles, besides having good strategies and selection of weapons, it is also important to make good use of the VATS system. The VATS system allows you to freeze time temporary in the midst of combat, allowing you to aim at specific parts of your enemy's body. Cool, eh?

For those whose concern is on the high requirement to play the game, worry not! With a 1G RAM memory, and a very low end GeForce 6600 graphic card, I was able to play the game without any major issue. Even with the lowest quality settings, the graphic is still pretty impressive. You can see dusts blowing into your face, and the explosions look very realistic to me. Come to think of it, Fallout 3 looks like the futuristic version of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.

If there is a shortcoming to the game, it is the silly bugs here and there. NPCs which 'disappear' for no reason, a wedding ceremony that never starts...... And I'd like the main quest to be a little bit longer. And....take away the 20 level limit, and the game would be perfect.

In a nutshell:
Pros: Awesome graphic, awesome gameplay, awesome VATS system, awesome everything...
Cons: Storyline too short and not spectacular, bugs here and there.