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So I finished Fallout 3 today, and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised.
I have to admit that I was worried that I was not going to like this game. Fallout 1 and 2 are two of my favorite games of all freaking time, but I'd played Morrowind which I hated so much that I never got around to playing Oblivion, and I was afraid that Bethseda would screw up the Fallout franchise. Turns out that they fixed a lot of the issues that I had with Morrowind, and created out a pretty fun game.
What I loved:
The overall game atmosphere.
Fallout 3 manages to find it's own groove that's reminiscent of the old games, but still it's own creation. The game designers did a good job capturing the bleakness, brutality and crazyness of a post apocalyptic future coupled with the perky fifties vibe that was the signature of the first two games. While it's true that a lot of the humor of Fallout 1 and 2 is missing, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, just different. While I miss having some of the spectacularly hilarious dialogue options from the first two games (you know... the ones that you had to choose, but just knew that the whole town was going to end up attacking your ass for), I don't miss the tons and tons of pop culture references that were kind of annoying and jarring.
The atmosphere is so hardcore and bleak that I just couldn't bring myself to play a bad character. You see these people, who have just been totally shat on by life, which really made it difficult for me to do anything too bad. But even this bleakness can be a seriously cool thing. For me, some of the most sublime moments of this game came from just creeping around bombed out ruins at dawn with my Pip Boy radio playing music like "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" softly in the background.
The combat/character creation system.
Bethseda was smart and kept the fun parts of the combat and character creation system while also trimming a lot of the fat (useless perks, skills and turned based combat) from the first game. I also appreciate how easy the keyboard interface is to use. As a computer gamer, one of my pet peeves is playing a game that's clearly designed for a console controller and having the controls sloppily mapped onto the keyboard as an afterthought (Bioware - I'm looking at you.).
The DC ruins.
This is definitely one area that I thought was a vast improvement from the first game. It's so cool to walk around ruins that you can actually recognize. There would be times where I'd just stop and stare when I realized that holy shit, yes, I am actually looking at the Jefferson Memorial in the distance. Even better, you get to go into them. I also loved the use of the subway system as a means to get around downtown. While I'm sure that there was a lot of creative liberty taken with this area, I think that Bethseda deserves a ton of credit for designing a game with recognizable landmarks, while still allowing enough flexibility for them to be able to create their own areas and plotlines.
I hope this is a trend that continues in future fallout games. If I were queen of the universe, I'd demand that they set the next game in downtown Chicago or NYC because that would be seriously freaking cool. Sadly, Detroit would be kind of redundant, since much of the Motor City already looks like the ruins of a fallout game.
Game organization.
The balance between the hugeness of the world with the quest system and main plot was another thing Bethseda should be proud of. I really liked how the big side quests and main plotline were easy to keep track of. I could go off on my own for hours, but when I felt like following the main plot or doing a quest I didn't have any trouble finding the main plot again. This was a horrible problem in Morrowind (although I don't know if they fixed it for Oblivion or not).
Things that were not so great:
NPC companions.
I only played with two of them, and honestly, I thought they were kind of lame as well as being horribly overpowered. The ones that I met at least were bland and almost no personality especially in comparison to the NPCs you could have in the first two games (like Sulik or Marcus). They never seem to react to anything that goes on around you or even really interact in any meaningful way with the PC, and I never managed to get attached to them at all. They just seem like a waste of space.
Also, while I really hated not having NPC companions in Morrowind, for some reason being on your own in Fallout 3 just seems to fit the lonely atmosphere of this game better. I never managed to find dogmeat though, so I think if I play through again, I'll just pick up the dog and ignore everyone else.
Ridiculous bugs that should have been fixed during beta testing.
Oh man, there were some whoppers. For instance, in the first real town you come across many of the NPC's manage to either fall through a hole in the world and disappear or fall off the edges of the catwalks and die. This is definitely something that should have been caught during beta testing. It's kind of shameful that the game shipped without this getting a fix. Then again, Fallout 1 & 2 were awesomely buggy too (the magic car trunk, anyone?) so maybe they're just carrying on the tradition of being lazy and not fixing obvious stuff.
Small cities.
I really miss having the big giant sprawl of cities like the Hub, New Reno, etc... The settlements in this game are so freaking tiny, to the point where it makes no sense. Plus, it's a real pisser to struggle to find your way to a place to only discover four or five people living there. I mean, hell, I know the future is harsh, but as man is a social creature and division of labor is the most effective way to get things done, there'd have to be bigger settlements than what we see in this game.
The ending.
I won't spoil it, but I found it to be rather... anti-climatic. It lacks the punch in the gut from the first game (which had me screaming out loud "I hate you, fuckers!" the first time I played it), or the satisfaction that you get from the second game. It's not awful, just kind of meh, which is sad considering how much work was obviously put into this game.
Anyway, I thought this was definitely worth the 50 bucks, but then I'm biased because I love the Fallout franchise, so take this with the grain of salt. I definitely liked it better than Mass Effect, and I'll probably play through it at least partially again, and see if I can't be such a goody two shoes this time.
I have to admit that I was worried that I was not going to like this game. Fallout 1 and 2 are two of my favorite games of all freaking time, but I'd played Morrowind which I hated so much that I never got around to playing Oblivion, and I was afraid that Bethseda would screw up the Fallout franchise. Turns out that they fixed a lot of the issues that I had with Morrowind, and created out a pretty fun game.
What I loved:
The overall game atmosphere.
Fallout 3 manages to find it's own groove that's reminiscent of the old games, but still it's own creation. The game designers did a good job capturing the bleakness, brutality and crazyness of a post apocalyptic future coupled with the perky fifties vibe that was the signature of the first two games. While it's true that a lot of the humor of Fallout 1 and 2 is missing, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, just different. While I miss having some of the spectacularly hilarious dialogue options from the first two games (you know... the ones that you had to choose, but just knew that the whole town was going to end up attacking your ass for), I don't miss the tons and tons of pop culture references that were kind of annoying and jarring.
The atmosphere is so hardcore and bleak that I just couldn't bring myself to play a bad character. You see these people, who have just been totally shat on by life, which really made it difficult for me to do anything too bad. But even this bleakness can be a seriously cool thing. For me, some of the most sublime moments of this game came from just creeping around bombed out ruins at dawn with my Pip Boy radio playing music like "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" softly in the background.
The combat/character creation system.
Bethseda was smart and kept the fun parts of the combat and character creation system while also trimming a lot of the fat (useless perks, skills and turned based combat) from the first game. I also appreciate how easy the keyboard interface is to use. As a computer gamer, one of my pet peeves is playing a game that's clearly designed for a console controller and having the controls sloppily mapped onto the keyboard as an afterthought (Bioware - I'm looking at you.).
The DC ruins.
This is definitely one area that I thought was a vast improvement from the first game. It's so cool to walk around ruins that you can actually recognize. There would be times where I'd just stop and stare when I realized that holy shit, yes, I am actually looking at the Jefferson Memorial in the distance. Even better, you get to go into them. I also loved the use of the subway system as a means to get around downtown. While I'm sure that there was a lot of creative liberty taken with this area, I think that Bethseda deserves a ton of credit for designing a game with recognizable landmarks, while still allowing enough flexibility for them to be able to create their own areas and plotlines.
I hope this is a trend that continues in future fallout games. If I were queen of the universe, I'd demand that they set the next game in downtown Chicago or NYC because that would be seriously freaking cool. Sadly, Detroit would be kind of redundant, since much of the Motor City already looks like the ruins of a fallout game.
Game organization.
The balance between the hugeness of the world with the quest system and main plot was another thing Bethseda should be proud of. I really liked how the big side quests and main plotline were easy to keep track of. I could go off on my own for hours, but when I felt like following the main plot or doing a quest I didn't have any trouble finding the main plot again. This was a horrible problem in Morrowind (although I don't know if they fixed it for Oblivion or not).
Things that were not so great:
NPC companions.
I only played with two of them, and honestly, I thought they were kind of lame as well as being horribly overpowered. The ones that I met at least were bland and almost no personality especially in comparison to the NPCs you could have in the first two games (like Sulik or Marcus). They never seem to react to anything that goes on around you or even really interact in any meaningful way with the PC, and I never managed to get attached to them at all. They just seem like a waste of space.
Also, while I really hated not having NPC companions in Morrowind, for some reason being on your own in Fallout 3 just seems to fit the lonely atmosphere of this game better. I never managed to find dogmeat though, so I think if I play through again, I'll just pick up the dog and ignore everyone else.
Ridiculous bugs that should have been fixed during beta testing.
Oh man, there were some whoppers. For instance, in the first real town you come across many of the NPC's manage to either fall through a hole in the world and disappear or fall off the edges of the catwalks and die. This is definitely something that should have been caught during beta testing. It's kind of shameful that the game shipped without this getting a fix. Then again, Fallout 1 & 2 were awesomely buggy too (the magic car trunk, anyone?) so maybe they're just carrying on the tradition of being lazy and not fixing obvious stuff.
Small cities.
I really miss having the big giant sprawl of cities like the Hub, New Reno, etc... The settlements in this game are so freaking tiny, to the point where it makes no sense. Plus, it's a real pisser to struggle to find your way to a place to only discover four or five people living there. I mean, hell, I know the future is harsh, but as man is a social creature and division of labor is the most effective way to get things done, there'd have to be bigger settlements than what we see in this game.
The ending.
I won't spoil it, but I found it to be rather... anti-climatic. It lacks the punch in the gut from the first game (which had me screaming out loud "I hate you, fuckers!" the first time I played it), or the satisfaction that you get from the second game. It's not awful, just kind of meh, which is sad considering how much work was obviously put into this game.
Anyway, I thought this was definitely worth the 50 bucks, but then I'm biased because I love the Fallout franchise, so take this with the grain of salt. I definitely liked it better than Mass Effect, and I'll probably play through it at least partially again, and see if I can't be such a goody two shoes this time.
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From:
Interesting review
However, I thought Oblivion was merely a good game, rather than the great one many espoused, and I missed the personal touches that most other RPGs I'd played seemed to have. Interestingly, Fallout 3 has that touch - as well as a much more interesting setting in my opinion (Tamriel never seemed... real, I suppose, to me). Not only that, but as you mention, the combat is awesome fun - better than both Oblivion and Mass Effect in that respect.
I agree that the towns could probably be larger, though Megaton is decently sized. Also, keep in mind that though the first two games had bigger cities (or at least so I've heard) they also took place over a much larger area of land. This game takes place only within the DC area - so the lack of major cities isn't entirely surprising from a lore perspective anyhow. Likely there would be just one city with a bunch of scattered settlements surrounding it.
Anyhow, when I get around to finishing the game's story (which probably won't be at least for another month at the rate I'm going), I'll post my review and see how it compares with yours.
Thanks for posting.
From:
Re: Interesting review
They're like the assholes that keep appearing on Bethseda's forum whining about how their freedom of speech and expression has somehow been oppressed because Fallout 3 won't let you kill children.
Don't get me wrong. Fallout 3 is far from perfect. But these people make me shake my head and wonder what the hell is wrong with humanity.