The Great War destroyed the world 200 years ago. Civilization tries to survive but it’s almost impossible. Americans from Vaults created before the Great War are the main hope for entire humanity. One of the dwellers from Vault 101 has to leave his home and enter the abandoned post-nuclear world. Only you can choose his destiny… Even more, the fate of the Capital Wasteland is in your hands. That’s Fallout 3. That’s the new era of Fallout.
Basics
Fallout 3 was released in 2008 after several years of problematic developing. The previous part called Fallout 2 was designed 10 years ago and players required the brand new game. The team from Bethesda Softworks accepted this challenge and created the really iconic project. A lot of fans were truly unhappy because of new features, completely another visual system, and unusual gameplay.
However, there were thousands and thousands of happy players. We agree with them. Fallout 3 is probably the best RPG released in 2008. Fallout 3 opens the new page of series and attracts the attention of new players who don’t remember original games. Yes, Fallout 3 has minor and major problems but they can be completely ignored. This game offers the story. Trust us and try to dive into this story.
Long story short, you act as the Lone Wanderer who has to escape from his native Vault 101. The main line of quests requires from you to find your father and help to save the Wasteland. The very same spirit of old Fallout games is much weaker here but the world around is still dangerous and atmospheric. Explore it by following the main quest or break free to travel through the Wasteland on your own. It’s only up to you… And it’s wonderful.
Advantages
Let’s continue. Imagine the abandoned world with wastelands and oases, ruined settlements and fortified modern castles, labs and beasts’ lairs, arsenals with powerful weapons and graveyards of planes. Imagine that you can go where you want in this world. That’s Fallout 3. The game has the real open-world system which means not only the freedom of traveling. It also means that you can ignore the main story taking side quests instead. Sure, to beat the game you should complete the last main quest. But it’s possible anytime!
Fallout 3 is pretty ambiguous when it comes to the gameplay, although. The open-world strategy is cool and you even will not be bored of it as side quests are different. Did you ever dream of destroying the whole city with a nuclear bomb? Or maybe you thought about cooperating with slavers to capture little innocent kids and make them serve you? Did you image vampire gangs that terrorize peaceful citizens? Or probably you wanted to steal the Declaration of Independence? Well, everything and even more is possible in game’s missions.
Another feature of the gameplay is a large variety of possible solutions. Every task and minor objective, as well as every major quest, can be solved in different ways. Peaceful characters can beat the game without a single shot completing quests with the power of diplomacy. Invisible thieves can eliminate their enemies from the distance and infiltrate even the most guarded locations easily. Plain fighters may choose any weapon they want including strange ones from billiard cues to nuclear catapults. The most straightforward solutions grant the fewer rewards, however. Try to beat quests in unusual ways, that’s more interesting!
What’s even more important about Fallout 3 is its atmosphere. Despite the graphics, system was not ideal even in 2008; the game catches you with other pros. First of all, it offers the well-designed surrounding. Every village and camp is detailed and filled with noticeable features. Big cities are even more interesting as they consist of small locations each with unique characters who can give you another task. It doesn’t matter where you are as every place in Fallout 3 is atmospheric: large ruins of D.C., government bunkers, metro occupied by ghouls, First hours of the game we just walked around and enjoyed the world, really.
You will discover another cool feature of the game’s atmosphere somewhere in the Wasteland. We are talking about music. The Pip-Boy interface can catch signals of radio stations, so your journey will never be boring. Choose the desired signal and start crushing super mutants with the classic of rock’n’roll in your headphones or explore underground vaults with Bach’s masterpieces.
Furthermore, other sounds are nice too. Powerful acoustic effects create the atmosphere of Fallout 3. It’s highly recommendable playing the game with qualitative loudspeakers to enjoy sounds fully. With good equipment, the game becomes easier as you can spot enemies or interesting events by their sounds. We claim that Fallout 3 with fine audio items and Fallout 3 without them are two completely different games!
As a conclusion for this paragraph, let’s recall cool things:
- The well-designed open world full of interesting encounters.
- Various side quests with unique decorations and different solutions.
- Outstanding music with several available radio stations.
- Good sound effects that can help during the game.
Disadvantages
Any game has cons, you know. Fallout 3 is not an exception. The first and the most discussing disadvantage is related to developers from Bethesda Softworks. As you may know, these folks created The Elder Scrolls series including Oblivion right before Fallout 3. That fact explains why the game was released with the same engine as Oblivion. It’s not an ideal engine. It was such in 2008 and it’s really bad now. Other weak sides of the game are related to this one.
Graphics effects are poor and you will notice it for sure. The world is still beautiful but details have low quality. Faces of NPCs are terrible same as the movement of characters. They look like dolls, not real humans or beasts. That’s why you don’t want to enable 3td-person view… Just believe us and enjoy the game playing with the 1st-person view. We really love options of murder kills with blowing up heads as it can stop their awful facial expressions.
Well, you realize that Fallout 3 is a bit old-fashioned when it comes to graphics. However, real fans of original series claim that the game is too modern! Sure, they mean other sides, for example, battle system. It’s too easy for experienced players who were used to the old gameplay of Fallout 1 and Fallout 2. Hope, you understand that developers wanted not only to please fans but also to attract new players who want plain action and RPG systems.
Yeah, we don’t like talking about disadvantages as we really love this game. So, let’s summarize bad sides and proceed to the conclusion:
- Really outdated engine with a lot of problems.
- Terrible face expressions and animations of movement.
- New features for the battle system and role-playing which is unusual for fans.
Summary
Finally, we are ready to evaluate Fallout 3. Here are ratings for main sides of the game:
- Story – 9/10. The recognizable world, intriguing main story, and various side quests.
- Gameplay – 8/10. A strong mix of RPG and action for everyone.
- Graphics – 5/10. A weak engine doesn’t meet modern requirements.
- Sound – 10/10. Ideal music and sound effects with no doubts.
Hands down Fallout 3 deserves your attention. It doesn’t matter whether you played old series or not as this game offers a new experience. Fans of previous games will like the opportunity to return to the atmospheric post-apocalyptic world when newcomers can explore it without prejudices. Fallout 3 even can be the best game to start from. Then try Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 to compare them with modern series. And then proceed to Fallout: New Vegas with Fallout 4 to continue your journey.
And remember that war never changes.
