Game Reviews for Fallout 3 (PC)
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Awesome. Endless. Keeps you going in a end of the world RPG. Mad Max was my favorite movie and Fallout is my favorite game of this genre. I even made a Mad Max type character, all I needed was a car. LOL! Fallout 3 is the best in the series.· Like · Go to review -
To start off with I have to confess I have never played any other Fallout game, I think it was a bit before my time so my experience of Fallout 3 was very independent, I didn't have these apparently brilliant dark humoured games to compare to. Had I played the Fallout series it seems I may not have loved Fallout 3 anywhere near as much as I did.
Gameplay:
The game play is pretty much your tried and true RPG. You go up levels, you have inventory and health and equipment. As many people have already saidk, its very much like Oblivion with guns. I think what sets Fallout 3 apart from every other RPG is the incredibly amount of content and not just huge quantities either, lots of varied content as well. I initially borrowed this game from a friend, finished it, deleted it and thats it, then I saw it cheap somewhere decided to buy it and get achievements and all that jazz. The amazing thing was that apart from the main quest line 90% of the questing I did was completely different. There was enough content in the game to be played twice with the only real overlap being the main story. The even crazier thing is that there was still another one or two gameplays through worth of once I'd finished for the second time. The game has so much to do for a singleplayer RPG that it keeps you entertained for hours.
The brilliant thing is that most of this content is unique, you have to find cola bottles to complete a crazy ladies collection of Nuka-Cola, you have to deliver random sexy nightwear you find in a subway, you follow journal entries down an abandoned building to destroy a shrine that controlled super ghouls and so much more. The amazing thing with this game is I managed to get sick of the environment and atmosphere and graphics far before I ran out of content, and not because their bad but just because after 125 hours of postapocalyptic scenery it gets old.
As with any RPG the most important feature is the role playing element, the skills and the item selection. Fallout 3 comes through on both. Fallout 3's rpg system is a bit different in how it plays, you pick you base stat's initially and these are generally fixed, some skills up them but not much else. These base stats depict how much skill you have in the multitude of minor skills, like lockpicking, heavy armour use etc.. Then every level you get points to distribute over these minor skills and you also get to pick a 'perk' these perks range for basic things ilke upping medicine and science skills by 10, up to more unique ones that turn you into a vampire and many other things. This system is modeled of off oblivion and it works well.
Items are managed well in Fallout 3, they take damage and can be repaired at vendors or by yourself, the range of items in Fallout 3 is great, many varied weapons from tiny pistols to massive nuclear microwaves, and everything in between. There are a ton of unique items in Fallout 3, well hidden but numerous, and their all alot of fun, the experimental MIRV comes to mind lol. In short it provides a brilliant RPG experience, very copied from Oblivion but who could complain about that.
As for the FPS style of Fallout 3, there is some oddness. I mean you can get headshots and varying skill will help, which puts a spin on it that often RPGers don't like. That is where the VATS system comes in, removes the need to aim and turns it into a bit more of a strategical arrangment, i think this is brilliant for consoles as controllers are awful for FPS. Its decent for PC as well, its not forced at all, so if you prefer the twitch response gaming then you don't use it, I found that since its there its hard not to and it babify's the combat a bit. While the game is still awesome and blowing of zombies heads is rarely more fun, it would be nice if you felt you accomplished this rather then an aiming system, but once again the choice is there you just have to have teh willpower to stay true!
Controls:
The controls are decent, nothing really out of the ordinary that I can think of, number keys for guns ,wasd etc.. the mouse handles nicely with no lag or smoothing or acceleration so all is good control wise.
Graphics:
The graphics are nothing less then what we expect from Bethesda, just stunning all round. Once again faces seem a bit of, like oblivion, but beasts and monsters don't have faces so this doesn't come up when it matters most. The game conveys heavily the postapocalyptic ambience. The game runs nicely as well, compared with how oblivion ran (or didnt') on computers this is a major step up. I was able to run it all on high on my old 8800GTS without too much fuss.
Audio:
The sound in Fallout 3 seems ordinary, nothing really special that comes to mind, its just your normal sound, the music fits but isn't anything super special, jsut decent audio all round.
Stability/Bugs:
From memory the only problem I had with Fallout 3 was alt-tabbing, if you didn't alt tab the game never really had any problems.
The only bug I can think of was a weird crosshatching that would occur when an anti aliasing enhancement option was turned on, I can't quite remember exactly what it was but it made bushes look crosshatched and funny when AA was enabled. Apart from taht though, it was smooth.
Gameplay: 10/10 - The most in depth single player RPG since Oblivion, great skill/item systems, and a massive amount of content.
Controls: 8/10 - Completely bog standard, nothing special but nothing at all wrong.
Graphics: 8/10 - Stunning scenery as always, spot on when it comes to the environment, but could be alot better when it comes to motion and facials.
Audio: 8/10 - Nothing wrong with the audio but nothing overly special either, just your standard sound.
My Score: 90/100 - A perfect gameplay experience but the humanoid graphics could do with a little improving and a better sound track might have been nice but apart from that an incredibly enjoyable game.· Like · Go to review -
Another addition to the Fallout series, this time a FPS perspective. Was a bit disappoint when I first installed it as it installed the useless "games for windows" client, then I had to download an update just to get the game to pick up the fact that the disc was in the drive. Then had to download an update for "games for windows" client as it wouldn't run without that either (don't know why, I never use it anyway).
Once I got through all that though it's a good game, with a number of add-ons and mods already around.· Like · Go to review -
In my opinion this is one of the best games ever created. The endless amounts of explorability and post-apocalyptic joygasms make me wiggle with excitement. The PC version adds endless replayability simply because you can download tons of mods that change the gameplay and add new and interesting content to the game. I love this game, plain and simple.· Like · Go to review -
Think of Oblivion. Think of the color green. Think of a green-colored Oblivion. You get Fallout 3.
Really, changing the name of a game and throwing in guns instead of swords doesn't make it a new experience. I love the Elder Scrolls series, but what disappointed me with Fallout 3 was how I expected it to be an unique game. It's supposed to be a completely different kind of series, after all. I had fun with FO3 despite the laziness of Bethesda, the quests were mostly fun and gameplay worked like it should. Using VATS felt like cheating though, but I guess most people enjoyed that anyways...
What I'm saying here is, well, FO3 isn't a bad game. If you've never played Oblivion, chances are you'll love this one. Personally, I just can't bring myself to enjoy such a heavily recycled game like this. I tend to appreciate interesting design decisions and innovative gameplay too much for my own sake, I guess.· Like · Go to review -
This one of the most immersive games I've ever played. Although this game hasn't reinvented anything for those that've played Bathesda's Elder Scrolls games, it certainly deserves its place in the spotlight. Like many games, its even more incredible on PC once you've introduced some of the game-enhancing mods that are available which range from graphical upgrades to complete game overhauls.
This game may only be a quarter of the game Oblivion was but it's definitely pack with many hours of gameplay and replayability with so many choices to make that you won't be playing the same game twice.
For those that are planning on buying this game, consider waiting for the release of the Game of the Year Edition. It will come with all DLC($50 worth of content) for the price of the price of a regular game. This will be released some time in October of 2009.· Like · Go to review -
I didn't play the earlier games in this series because I took a look at the screenshots and they just didn't do anything for me. The concept always intrigued me but in order to sustain my interest in a mostly single player game, the graphics must be gorgeous. Well, I sat down last night and gave this one a try. Two hours later, I LOVED the storyline, enjoyed the immersion via the great sound and graphics, and liked the controls. Good game. I encourage you to play this one out.
The fact that it is definitely not a totally linear storyline really adds to it. You can make choices that affect your "karma." I like that the story doesn't require me to "be friends" or "be nice" or "kill someone" at any given point. I am in control of my choices and then the outcome. Very cool, especially in a world of RPGs that touts their idea of player-control when in reality there is no more player control then choosing a certain build. FO3 really took a unique take on this. I enjoyed every second of it and will be playing more.
I can imagine one would be able to play this game multiple times just to see how your decisions affect the storyline.
I am playing it on Ultra High mode at 1900x1200 resolution. No problems, hangs, glitches, or lag. Load time between maps or preloads is ~3 seconds or so. I have a pretty beasty rig, but nothing unattainable for anyone.· Like · Go to review
