The sheer number of different characters you can create is staggering, you could go through the game completely unarmed if you wish, or you could charge your way through using only the biggest and most explosive weapons available, like Rambo. Whatever you choose, levelling up and then spending more skill points provides a great sense of satisfaction as your character progresses, you feel as though you are learning the ways of the waste land where you struggled at first.
Kind of like a futuristic Aragorn. The levelling up takes a more traditional role in earning experience, rather than practicing skills and then sleeping as in Oblivion, I prefer the Fallout 3 method, it is less broken and exploitable in my opinion.
In addition to merely improving skills, you can assign Perks to your character. Like "Gun Nut" where you gain a boost to your Small Guns and Repair skills, or "Gunslinger" where you become more accurate with pistols and there are some that are unrelated to stats, such as "Mysterious Stranger" where occasionally a sharpshooter will arrive to assist you in combat, and "Here and Now" which grants you an immediate extra level to learn another perk and increase stats further. There are many perks in the game and they have a big effect on your character and his passage through the game. The character development system is very in-depth, allows for numerous different classes or builds, and is exceptionally satisfying and well done.
But the real delicious, main course of Fallout 3 is the exploration of the atmospheric game world. The wasteland is BIG, there are a ton of locations to find and many of them lead to underground, dark and dangerous caves full of mutants and other nasty creatures with a penchant for ripping your face off. Many of these underground sections are a combination of Metroid Prime, Resident Evil and Bioshock. The atmosphere and tension is palpable, and you will be kept on the edge of your seat for much of these subterranean excursions. I was exploring a place called Vault 87, it had been overrun by Super Mutants and was dark and derelict, I crept around with my torch on carefully looking around each dark corner for the next enemy. I then read some information about a sinister experiment that had been carried out the residents of the vault and my heart was in my mouth! Particularly when I encountered the result of said experiment.
The game also employs a retro feel, with many references to 1940s and 50s American culture, such as old songs that play on Galaxy News Radio station. This adds a unique atmosphere to the game and there is some genuine poignancy when you come across some intact remnants of the pre-war world, it makes you wonder who lived there and what they did. Bethesda should be commdended for their effort and attention to detail, there are so many pieces of information written about, or by the pre-war residents of each area, it helps build up a vivid picture about what the world was like and what exactly happened. The sheer amount to do is fantastic. If you rigidly follow the main story, you will miss so many areas, some of them don't even appear to have quests. I found a huge foundry that was just full of Raiders for me to kill with no other apparent purpose other than some tasty loot. Exploration is essential if you want to get the most from the game, it is full of optional areas and quests for you to undertake and there is A LOT to be missed out on.
The world design isn't completely flawless, there are numerous invisible walls and often large piles of rubble are dumped in places the game doesn't want you to go through. Also, many of the underground metro stations have a similar design, as if there was a basic template for each one that they changed slightly, like mass production. However, they are metro stations so they are obviously bound to be similar and it doesn't detract from the variety of the games locations.
Some of the sidequests are incredibly well fleshed out and turn into veritable novels of their own with multiple solutions. A settlement is beleagured by a mysterious gang known as the Family, do you find them and kill them, or negotiate peace between them or even join them? Another sidequest has you either track down a renegade Android and return him to his employer or protect his identity and stop him returning to what he regards as slavery on behalf of an organisation known as the Rail Road. There is a huge number of choices to undertake and they all have a big effect on the world.
There is a lot to think about and often these choices have an effect on your Karma. Obviously there is good and bad karma and whichever you acquire will alter the available quests and rewards and the general opinion of you. You can choose to disarm a bomb or blow it up and an entire town with it, straight off the map. While the Karma and morality system isn't quite as in-depth and integral to the game as in the Fable series, for example, it is still in-depth enough to warrant playthroughs as both a Good and Evil character as well as Neutral. There are exclusive achievements for the two alignments or for being neutral, and if you suffer from gaming OCD like I do, then you are going to go through Fallout 3 at least twice, like it or not.
Similarly to the sidequests, there are multiple ways to tackle some of the main storyline quests. Early on you can follow your father to Galaxy News Radio headquarters, carry out a quest there and gain more information as to his whereabouts. I, however, undertook a sidequest that inadvertently led me to Rivet City, where I encountered a scientist whom my father worked with and gave me information of his whereabouts that way. The variety in this game ensures that no game is entirely the same. You can also play for hours and hours and still find something new or a new place that you've never been to before. This is about the most open ended RPG that you will find.
One disappointing thing about Fallout 3 is that there is an "end." Once you finish the last storyline quest, you must revert to an earlier save because you cannot continue onwards after the ending credits. I do not really understand the reasoning for this, they should have changed it. Also, the ending itself and the final quest feels incredibly rushed and is if they didn't really think it through or couldn't be bothered in wrapping up the story in a satisfactory way. There is no big boss battle and no real challenge. But nevertheless, it is a harsh complaint to make when there is so much to see and do in the world and so many places to go and quests to undertake, the main storyline is a remarkably small part of the game indeed.
Fallout 3 has a relatively steep learning curve, and in the beginning of the game you can find yourself struggling. This is due to the daunting nature of the game, it is so open-ended that it is difficult to know exactly where to start and establishing a firm grip on the game can take some time and perserverance. I found myself frequently having my arse handed to me on a plate by Super Mutants on multiple occasions during the start of my adventure and my Fallout experience was one of frustration. However, once you persevere and begin levelling and improving stats the game really becomes notably easily to the extent where I would deem it necessary to play on the "Hard" difficulty setting towards the end of the game, just because there is no challenge at all and you're essentially a one man army. Ammo becomes far less scarce in general, and even less so with one or two perks gained through levelling, and this is a shame as it eliminates some of the survival horror feel of the game. Being on edge and feeling tense is difficult when you're carrying a fully charged Plasma Rifle and fifteen Frag Grenades.
The above mentioned ability to change the difficulty setting at any point in game is a strange decision from Bethesda. Whenever the game gets difficult it is very tempting to switch the difficulty down to Very Easy and then blast the enemies to pieces before returning to the default difficulty setting. I think it would be better if you chose the difficulty setting you wished to play on before beginning your game and then not let you switch between settings as it suits you. There is a penalty however, as playing on an easier setting nets you less experience, but when the enemies are so simple to defeat it isn't much of a loss really as improving your character is of far less importance.
Fallout 3 is simply a game that you must own. It really is exceptional value for money. A huge open world that encourages and rewards exploration, numerous sidequests that net you achievements and then many smaller quests will keep you engrossed on a single playthrough for weeks and possibly even months. Add to this many different decisions and solutions to playing through the game and you are definitely going to return to this game time and time again. This is without a doubt one of the very best Xbox 360 games, this is a unique blend of FPS, RPG, survival horror and adventure game and one of the finest video game experiences I have had for years. Many Fallout fans will be slightly disappointed with the direction the series of taken, but I for one am glad I was introduced to this series and it will undoubtedly attract more fans to the original games. Fallout 3 is an excellent, innovative game with a high amount of polish and effort, its flaws are extremely minimal. Purchase it now and you will not be disappointed.
Review by Osafune2
Buy this game=KENG Ps3 Games Shop Online
No comments:
Post a Comment