I would be lying to you if I told you I wasn't amped up about this game. Having played the first two RPGs featured exclusively on the PC, the Brotherhood of Steel third-person adventure on the original Xbox AND the game Wasteland on the Commodore 64 like, 20 years ago (if you know your games, you'll know this was actually the first in the series). Regardless, the game series is actually very, very good due to its original story lines, innovative combat and leveling systems and some really cool humor. Well, the third in the Fallout RPG series isn't so much an RPG anymore, more of a hybrid RPG/first-person shooter, and the result is nothing short of gaming magic.Wow, its hard for me to get started as I have been waiting so long for this title. So I'll start at the beginning: the Fallout games are all based on the concept that before the third world war, which basically launched the nukes, there was a series of Vaults built around the USA where "supposedly" the human race would continue. Well, unfortunately many of the vaults were stocked with people of "ahem" questionable moral fiber and in some cases, faulty equipment. So while the first two games involve peoples from vaults further West, Fallout 3's vaults, and surrounding cities/locations take place in the area formerly known as Washington DC.
And it seems all is not well in the land of our former leaders. Raiders, slavers, super mutants, ghouls, mutated creatures, robots, a really big bomb and all sorts of other nasties await you as you attempt to save the people of the DC wasteland from a really, really bad fate. And only by following in the footsteps of your father will you be able to discover the mysteries and complete the missions the game throws at you. And, let me tell you, the game has a very distinct open-endedness to it that makes playing the game such a treat.
In fact, the game is set up so you can pick your characters look, abilities and attributes. You make the game your own by answering questions and having conversations with the different NPCs you run into. If you answer certain ways, new options to deal with problems and even new missions will appear. The point is the game has a certain charm to it where you think you are speaking with a homeless vagrant of the wasteland and it turns out that he needs you to help him out. Regardless, the game is gonzo-crazy and there is all sorts of crazy things happening. It turns out, that in an apocalyptic wasteland, people don't really treat one another well - go figure.The game can be viewed in either the first- or third-person perspective, and it all looks fantastic. If there was ever an apocalyptic game that convinced people how awful (in a good way) things were, well the bar has now been reset. This is the greatest-looking nuclear, blown-out world ... ever. The whole world is one giant outdoor environment, where you can walk across it and run into all sorts of interesting things. Old trailer parks, the Library of Congress, a whole series of subway tunnels, destroyed freeways, rocky areas and about a gazillion other things and places. Heck, there is supposedly an crashed alien ship somewhere out there. But the game just looks fantastic, beautiful character sprites, smooth textures, brilliant lighting as the game's real time reflects the daylight or night light. You can see things in the dark that you can't see in the day and even missions are time specific. The in-game targeting system called VATS, is a clever way to target specific body parts on enemies and, in some cases, is the only way to hit monsters that have only one weak area. In-game menus are clean and appropriately rusty and dirty looking. The various armor and clothing you find and wear reflects on your character's appearance, the blood flows deep red and flows often as the game and the franchise is known for the over-the-top violence; if that isn't enough, there is an actual character perk that increases the chances of very bloody, gruesome deaths.
To go with all the great-looking graphics, the audio is really cool as well. Using your PIP boy (a computer on your arm that assists you in your adventures) you can access all sorts of information including recordings you find around the wasteland that you can play like a CD and various radio frequencies that are playing songs or propaganda or even requests for help. There is a ton of familiar voices in the game including Ron Perlman, Liam Neeson and Malcolm McDowell as the president of the U.S. All of the voices are done with great care to the material and quite frankly, it helps move the creative storyline forward. The music, too, is cool in a retro sort of way since the music featured is a lot of big band-era style music. This, too, is a trait that has followed the game's progression through three iterations. Very slick, very cool
The gameplay of the game can be pretty exciting too. Fortunately walking across giant landscapes in real time can be daunting and painful if you are low on health and stimpacks (like a health pack) are no where to be found or bought. Thankfully the game has a really neat way of helping avoid that particular nuisance. Once an area has been discovered, and the GS location locked into your PIP boy, you can instantly travel there rather than walk the sometimes very-long distance. So oftentimes I would battle my way to a new location and then instead of trying to complete the mission, I would teleport back to my own home (you'll need to discover this) and heal up by spending the night in my bed. Then I can sell some of the things I have scavenged off my enemies or found in one of the bazillion places I have discovered and then buy more health and ammo from any one of the shop keepers or roaming traders that you can have business with. One quick teleport back and now I'm fully healed, fully armed and ready to tackle the mission. The game is awesome.
There is much to see and do in the wastelands of DC, so don't let the pesky main mission stop you from having fun. With all of the additional perks and skills you can level up, you can play the game several times answering some things as radically or as safely as you want. But inevitably you will have to deal with the game's main problem, good or bad. The Fable games owe a lot to the Fallout series since you have been able to play like this since day one. Perks that increase your attractiveness to the ladies, perks that make you a kill machine when your health falls so low and tons of other crazy and really cool perks that make the game so much fun to play. I suspect that Fallout 3 will win some awards this year and is a strong runner for game of the year on at least a couple different platforms.
No comments:
Post a Comment