When I had first heard they were making Fallout 3 I became overjoyed! Then I learned Bethesda was creating it and become concerned that Fallout 3 would be more like Morrowind and Oblivion than Fallout 1 or 2. With a very tiny bit more research I learned that Fallout 3 was part turn-based and part-real time, and that’s when I really became distressed. I feared the worst, and I expecting Fallout 3 to have terrible game play. After all, how could anyone combine real-time and turned based?
Bethesda pulled it off! I can actually say I really enjoyed Fallout 3 and, I am now looking forward to Fallout: New Vegas.
Alright, so here’s my break down:
PROS:
- Well written story.
- Beautiful Graphics & Well Designed Scenery
- A very decent A.I. (with NPC that actually run for their lives when you blow one of their friends in half right before their eyes).
- “Neat” sub-games (Hacking System and Locking Picking).
- I especially like Fallout 3s Lock Picking system.
- Plenty of “Side-Quests” (I haven’t even ‘done’ them all yet).
- A Turn-Based combat system that actually works (In my opinion. – I have seen others who’ve said they didn’t like it.)
CONS
- Few weapons
- The main story can be played through very quickly, and players can be finished with the main plot before they even realize it.
Personal Complaints:
- I couldn’t put together an old vehicle (like in the other fallout games) to help my character carry more junk/loot back to my base of operations.
- Weapons, Loot, and other Supplies are so plentiful it doesn’t really feel like a “Wasteland” and there is no point in pack-ratting. (As Dale Gribble [from King of the Hill] put it:” … he who hoards will have unreasonable power“… Sadly not true in Fallout 3.)
- I didn’t get to spend as much time as I would have liked running around in power armor. (By the time you learn how to use it, the main quest is almost finished.)
- Some NPCs that I feel should have been really tough were too easy to kill (like Brotherhood and/or Outcasts).
- The music is great at first but becomes annoying after a while. I would have liked to have had the ability to play music of my X-Box or PC’s hard drive.
- The DJ (Three Dog) keep repeating himself over-and-over and it gets annoying. – It’s very neat at first when he talks about you, but it becomes really annoying when you hear the same news story for the third time in a single hour.
All and all I like Fallout 3 and recommend it to anyone who like C-RPGs.
If you prefer first-person shooters you might want to stay away from this one. Fallout 3 is more about character skill than player skill (although I did snipe a few bad guys with my scope and no “VATS” [Vault-Tech Assisted Targeting System: The "Turned Based Made"]).
I’m looking forward to playing the expansions.