Whats weird is I hated this game the first time I played it because it didn't have vehicles and it made you run round the underground system which felt like a grind and wasn't fun. I constantly got lost under there and didn't understand why I couldn't just open a door or climb through a window or over rubble to get to the other side, like you would in real life. I thought it was such a shame because the game opened so well and then I played the game again to give it one last chance and loved it!
See I worked out that once you get past the opening of the Vault the game goes down hill all because they force you to use the boring underground system. Now that all ends once you've gotten to Rivet City which is this amazing looking Aircraft Carrier that has been turned into a wasteland city. Thats when you get sent around the wonders of the open wasteland and into other vaults and the game takes a more high tech, sci-fi turn. The game suddenly clicked for me when I was in Vault 87? I thnik it was with all the mutants and I was just amazed down there, reminded me abit of Doom 3. Then you go and meet Liberty Prime which is this Optimus Prime rip off and thats one of the best moments I've had in gaming. Really funny and yet sooo kool because that robot sounds spot on and kicks some arse.
I went exploring around the wasteland and just had a blast visiting all the other vaults and doing funny side quests and finding hidden things like a talking tree and a pet dog. It's just really fun exploring the wasteland and the game used to crash non stop for me before. However what made be try it again was to see if Windows 7 fixed the issues and once I turned off UAC then I never had a crash issue again. Which somehow stopped VATS from being laggy and made the combat in the game fun again, not perfect, but fun.
Fallout 3 has a great story with amazing moments and it's just really fun exploring the wasteland. There are some problems for me still and those are...
- Combat System when in first person isn't fun.
- Animations are stiff and character models in third person look like they're sliding as the animations don't match up to the movement speed.
- Story is great but really short and your dad dies and you expect the story to follow up on that, however it just forgets.
- Once it has ended then it has ended which is weird for a open ended game. I tried to send in the mutant to type the codes in for me and he refused, even though he's protected against radiation.
- Side quests were better in Oblivion.
- No vehicles to get around
- Undergorund map could be clearer.
However that said there is DLC constantly coming out for the game, improving it and I think one DLC even lets you play on from the end. The game just has such fantastic moments too and some even remind you of the original game like convincing the computer to kill his own side. Just tough it out through the first part of the game until you get to Rivet city and I promise you that you'll love it!
