So, I've been playing Fallout 3 the last few days, I've got to say although I HATE it when people over hype a game cause there is no way it lives up to expectations, when it comes to Fallout 3, seriously, I'm not saying it's perfection, but it's the best game of it's kind. So, instead of reviewing the game seeing as every site on the net already has or will have a review up soon, I thought I'd just list a few things I've noticed which I think combined warrant anyone taking a look at the game.
NOTE: I played the game on Xbox 360, I've heard nothing but bad mumbles about the PS3 version so nothing I say below should be applied if you only own a PS3, although the PC version apparently runs just as well as the 360 one.
1. Battle System
I'm the kind of person who doesn't like change in my games. I mean I like new game mechanics but I like them in new games, I don't like it when an old series tries something too new (Final Fantasy XII). Due to this personal stance on change I was a bit nervous of Fallout 3 because the original 2 were VERY different (top down 2D rogue-like games with turn based action) from the new one which uses a real time first person shooter system with your character stats effecting your hit/miss ratio as well as effecting the V.A.T.S (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System), but oddly it works and as you level up as your hits are more well aimed you feel you've truly improved which is quite hard for a first-person shooter to pull off. The battle engine comes into it's own though with the V.A.T.S, I can't really explain it very well, so I'll just say, LOOK!:
2. Visuals
Know when you play a game that's really going for beauty you can see amazing views in the distance and you think 'wow' but really you know their just impressive textures you'll never get to actually explore? In Fallout 3 there are endless times when you'll see something miles away and think 'wow' and then get to run up to it and explore it and find awesome stuff! And some of the structures in the game are beautiful, I mean even factories look amazing standing on top of a hill in the dark only lit by the moon. It truly is a beautiful game but in a grim way because it truly gets across the feeling of a depressing world after a nuclear Armageddon.
3. Humour
As you no doubt know by now the game is set in a future where the a-bombs were dropped, almost everyone is dead, and anyone out side of vaults lives in shit holes and there is no sign of humanity repairing what's happened ever 200 years after the war. Oddly though the game still manages to be funny in such a grim world, but at the same time they've used the right amount of humour so that it doesn't take away from the feel of the game, but also not so little that the game depresses you.
4. Play it YOUR way!
With so many titles out these days that offer open ended worlds with a story you can take or leave and make your own adventure this sounds like a run of the mill thing to point out as a plus, but name me one game that did it well? Oblivion kinda, but a lot of the quests felt a bit boring and with little reward, and they just felt like quests disconnected from the game world, when you finished one people wouldn't talk about you and what you'd done or anything. Fallout 3 changes that. I mean I've been playing for 3 days and done hardly ANY of the games main story, but though sub-quests and so on I've done some world changing things, and not only do I see the effect in the form of peoples reactions to me (do evil things and people fear you or treat you like crap) but also though the radio stations where news stories follow my every move telling people what I've done, encouraging people to treat me good or bad based on my actions. Also though sub-quests I've changed the face of the game. Any fan of the game will have heard the example where you get to pick weather to blow up a town or keep it, well this isn't a main plot device, no, this is a sub-quest that actually effects the face of the game world, which makes quests feel so much better than other games.
5. Messy Fun
About an hour before writing this I went into Rivet City, bought 30 hand grenades and went hunting in the city for super mutants. Trust me there is nothing quite as beautiful as using the V.A.T.S with grenades and perk which causes every death to be messy...true art if ever I saw it.
So, there you go :-D now I'm back off to play my game one last time before I start a Job Centre course tomorrow...joy...pure...fucking...joy.
No comments:
Post a Comment