I submitted this to a site my friend was trying to start up but since that idea seems to have fizzled out of existence I thought I'd post it here. It's only my thoughts on the game judging by what I played at the time of writing, so I didn't think it was fair to submit it as a user review.
 
 Fallout 3 was one of the more interesting releases of 2008, though you can see the influence and engine of oblivion through the game it takes players away from the magical elder scrolls universe to something a lot more unpleasant. Its focus on realism and unusual gameplay mechanics caused a lot of dispute about the quality of the game, heightened by the question of it’s faithfulness to the Fallout series and numerous bug issues. Though I haven’t finished the game yet (and I’m not sure I will judging by its length and depth) I thought I would give you my impressions of the wasteland so far.

The most attractive feature of Fallout 3 is it’s world, if nothing else has been accomplished by this game they manage to create a painstakingly detailed and genuinely believable world of the future. It plays on the fears and problems of our society while still keeping most of the Fallout conventions present. I had a great time just wandering from place to place, stumbling into fierce gun fights and giant fire breathing ant hives, you’ll always find something new and interesting around the next corner. Unfortunately that isn’t to say the world is without its flaws, venturing too far into the wastelands will eventually lead to invisible walls where the game simply informs you that this is the end of the line. I didn’t expect them to create a world that goes on forever but I just wish Bethesda would have placed some actual walls keeping you from moving any further. It’s a small complaint compared to the positives of the fully fleshed out post-apocalyptic environment they have presented you with but it seems such a simple one to fix.

Though there is a lot of detail in the Fallout world and a lot of time and effort has obviously been spent on it there are a few problems with the way it looks, mostly left over from oblivion. Such as the way you are forced to stare directly at the character while you speak to them, they don’t tend to express themselves apart from through the voicing acting so they can appear a little robotic. It seems odd that the company forces this view when interacting with others especially since it highlights a flaw of an otherwise carefully crafted experience. Another peeve of mine is the violence in the combat scenes can look a little bizarre, more specifically if you attack a humanoid enemy’s head and land a direct blow you’ll sometime witness it flying off it’s shoulders without the head being damaged itself. These are minor gripes when looking at the presentation as a whole which does an amazing job of immersing you into the Fallout universe.
 
Without an interesting story I think many players would be turned off from getting too far into the game, even after playing for a good number of hours I sometimes felt daunted by the never-ending army of mutated monstrosities and dark dirty tone that Bethesda have surrounded the player in. The central narrative focuses on one of the vault 101 dwellers who’s father has mysteriously left the safety of the vault and ventured into the radiation ridden world above, your goal is to find him and find out why he left. So far my progress on the main quest has been quite small, mostly due to how compelling the side-quests have proven to be, I’ve searched the ruins of an old flooded cola factory, taken on former Chinese soldiers who have been transformed into ghouls, navigated a mine field as old man attempted to snipe my head off and faced determined robots who refuse to give up their past duties. The number of different character models, items and locations in staggering, each new area has a story to tell, whether it is told through simply speaking to an NPC, accessing a computer terminal or simply looking at the signs in the environment itself. RPGs are usually judged on how well they can tell a story and this is one area in which Fallout will not disappoint.

My reaction to how the game plays has been mixed, it’s a combination of FPS and RPG elements, though the FPS nature of the game seems rather unimportant in a lot of ways. Every time you fire a gun or throw a punch the probability of you hitting that character is being worked out depending on you and your weapon’s stats and being compared against whatever you are currently fighting. This means playing Fallout 3 like it’s Halo or Call of Duty would be practically impossible is you wish to progress far, even if your aiming is impeccable there is still a chance you’ll miss your target. This style of play isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s just misleading if you are expecting something more conventional judging by the viewpoint of the character. The RPG nature of attacking does often lead me to depend on the V.A.T. system and wait for it to recharge, rather than using the FPS, head on style of fighting method unless forced to. V.A.T.S. presents things from a much more traditional RPG viewpoint, the enemy you are fighting is broken down into various parts (arms, legs etc.) with each part displaying a percentage determining your chance of hitting that section. Most people familiar with shooters will aim for the head, but to play successfully you need to consider the likely hood of achieving a hit on your enemy and what can you use to your advantage. Consider that the enemy is holding a missile launcher and a successful head shot seems unlikely at your current position, aiming for the weapon itself or the arms of your enemy may give you a few extra seconds to run into the correct position to raise the likelihood of a hit. The use of V.A.T.S. at all must also be carefully planned by the player, since once you are out of action points you must wait for them to recharge. I have found myself often depending on the V.A.T. system rather than taking chances with real time gunplay, mostly due to the advantages it brings with it and also because not using V.A.T.S. feels rather less satisfying. One problem I have found is determining whether you have actually hit your opponent without the use of V.A.T.S can often be difficult to see until they drop dead or a limb flies off.

Karma features in video games have been appearing all over the board, from Spiderman’s latest adventure to Fable, though rarely is it done as well as it is managed in Fallout 3. The main reason for this is due to the freedom the gave gives you, you can kill almost any NPC in the game, though doing this cuts off entire storylines and missions to you the fact you can perform the task is what matters. You can perform a mission for one guy then turned around and use the trust you have gained to betray him with ease, making planning your actions carefully an important thing to consider. Character’s reactions to you change subtly over time, law enforcement may treat someone with negative karma with more suspicion. What you have done in the past effects your future and not always in the most obvious ways. The only problem I have with the Karma system is that it informs you when you do something good or evil, unless you are some sort of deranged madman then I’m sure you can understand if your actions are positive or negative.
 
As well as combat there are many other gameplay mechanics to consider, you’ll be constantly searching for ways to regain health while completing various quests and sometimes it can be quite rare to come across anything of use. There is also the threat of radiation poisoning, all food and drink usually ups your rad count by a small number, even just standing in some areas can have an effect on how irradiated you are. Also the deterioration of your weapons and clothes must be considered and repaired if you plan to keep using them, every time one of these items is used it’s damaged increases until it breaks. These features do add to the overall tone of the game but sometimes can feel a bit of a nuisance, not allowing you to repair your items after a certain amount of damaged has been taken out on them is a particularly annoying feature. It means when playing through the longer missions you’ll have to concentrate on not overusing some weapons while trying to find one suitable for the enemy, an unnecessary complexity which doesn’t make the experience anymore enjoyable. Sometimes I feel as if Bethesda have sacrificed some of the fun of their creation in order to keep the feel authentic.

The biggest downfall of the game is sadly probably due to how much attention Bethesda spent on the world and it’s characters, you’ve no doubt read of the problems Fallout players have been experiencing due to the glitches (with the recently released DLC experiencing similar trouble) With a sandbox world such as the one in Fallout with such a engrossing atmosphere and design that extends to the smallest character being given at least a couple lines of dialogue these problems can really pull you out of the world and remind you it is a game you’re playing. For example when I was confronted with the fire ant queen I was hiding behind a wall reloading my gun when the beast suddenly lunged through the wall. Sadly instead of being a neat combat surprise the boss had manage to jam itself in cave walls ruining an otherwise fun and interesting side quest. Though this is the most major glitch I have come across there have been many times where enemies have appeared suddenly from nowhere or characters who I am meant to follow have become stuck on a rock. Bethesda have done a great job of patching the game since it’s release so hopefully these little flaws will be ironed out before they move onto their next big release, but doubt people would mind waiting a few months more if they could be sure most of the bugs are ironed out instead of having to let the players encounter them after release.

Overall I’ve enjoyed my experience with Fallout, though it isn’t as user friendly as I’d like and the difficultly curve can be quite steep I can’t help but be drawn back to the beautifully, destroyed, mutated and twisted world of Fallout Bethesda have lovingly crafted. Hopefully I’ll get back to you with a more final score one day but before then I’d recommend you start building your own pitboy and reserving a seat in the vault, just in case.