Let's Talk Fallout 3

Yes, this will probably become a recurring segment, just a heads up.
This isn't so much a review, but just my experience with the game, but it will contain some review elements for a better understanding.

I'm a gamer, so I'm always eager to play something new and invariably awesome. I didn't really get in on looking for what was upcoming, nor did I even own my third generation console (PS3, yes I know) until like two or trhee years ago, so Elder Scrolls Oblivion slid past my radar completley, and I had no interest in it because by what I could tell it was just another RPG thing. I finally picked it up at the Video Store and was delighted to find that I was completley wrong. It was actually an extremley well done RPG that even I could enjoy. It had plenty for me to enjoy, even if I did get curb stomped at every encounter. Admittedly I was quite bad at it and could barely figure out where I was going, and I usually ran away when ever confronted by something that shoots magics at me. I did once take down a band of bandits though, so that was pretty cool. I stole their stuff and my mum told me I was a terrible person. I was horribly frustrated so I took my anger out on more bandits.

So anyway, I eventually discovered Resistance: Fall of Man. This game has arguably gotten me into FPS games, so I was in the mood for them. I mistakenly picked up Fallout 3, believing it to be one of these. I was quite shocked to discover that the game could be summed up as 'Oblivion with Guns,' and let me tell you, if Oblivion did have guns I wouldn't have died as much.

The game is set after the Nuclear Apocolypse of this alternate Earth. As Hellboy explains it, the world built these special shelters known as 'Vaults' where people could live out the life threatening radiation. Once the radiation wore down, everyone was on their merry way rebuilding society. However, that wasn't the case for Vault 101, which stayed locked. That's where our story begins. Your mother dies just after childbirth leaving your father to take care of you. I should mention here that your father is also King of Olympus and God of Lighting:


After learning the basics, you advance in time until your about 19, and your father takes his hoard of Lightning Bolts and hauls ass into the Wasteland for some reason. You run after him and end up in the emersive world of Fallout 3.

First of all I 'd like to point out the Karma System. In order to help yourself on your way towards being a mass murdering monster in the Wasteland you can gain Bad Karma in the tutorial. Unfortunatley your choices include telling your friends that the birthday party that they arranged for you sucks, suggesting ways to bullies as to how they can be mean to your friend, and basically being an ungrateful bastard. Now I may have massacred people by the truckload in Grand Theft Auto 4, but I feel that's just a bit harsh. I nfact I wanted to take the part of an Evil Overlord, minus the army, but I found it much too hard to slaughter anyone who didn't start the fight in the first place. I don't know whether to be irritated or happy that the designers put that much work into everything.

This game is also somewhat depressing for me. Whenever I play it I feel somewhat upset for reasons I don't understand. I don't start sobbing, I just feel like something is wrong with my soul. This is probably because while Oblivion had a lush landscape full of friendly faces and whimsical wonders, Fallout 3 gives us horrible mutations and is generally not set in a very nice place. For example, one mission I keep accidentally entering has a young boy tell me that his settlememt has been attacked by giant fire breathing ants. I decided to help him, but found myself dying a fair few times by the ants jaws and eventually I realised I had no idea what to do after killing half of them. When I finally did, I had run out of ammunition. I decided I wanted to do something else with my time, but leaving the kid after telling him made me feel like a Grade-A douchebag, so I continued to die a lot trying to help.

But the game isn't bad by any stretch of the word. In fact, it'ss probably not because the game is hard, but because I'm not very good. This just sweetens all your victories. For example, just yesturday I was playing it and was ridding a the Super-Duper Mart of Raiders. I was a bit worried at first but then I introduced them to by Sawn-Off Shotgun and I was home free. Then I sold all the crap I stole from them and went along with the storyline.
On the way I encountered some more Raiders, but once they realised I had a gun, they ran screaming. I took their stuff too. Then I was confronted by this walking crab-beast called a Mirelurk. I decided that if a small army with guns didn't take me down, I wasn't going to let ONE crab thing do it either, so I emptied a few round from my Hunting Rifle into it's face, and just because I could, ate some of it's flesh. I tell you, once you've killed anything remotley dangerous in this game, you'll feel like you can take on anything. Unfortunatley, Anything usually shows up a few minutes later and makes you it's digital bitch.
I of course refer to a moment shortly after the Mirelurk encounter inwhich I met two more Raiders. They had much bigger guns than me, so I hid behind a car while they wasted their ammo, but they eventually wised up and ran over to me. I then made use of the games targetting system (VATS) and began making it a fair fight. This wouldn've gone better, but another one decided to show up, and they killed me as I was loading.

It's also wise to be careful what you wish for. I wanted to encounter a bigger monster so that I could feel awesome for emptying my gun into it. I got my wish in the form of a Super Mutant. That was all well and good, but what I didn't realise is that it's friend was with him. Not only that but someone had built armour in his size, and even more bizare, someone had given him a very large gun. I was surprised to find that if not for the gun, I may have actually stood a chance as my bullets were affecting them much more than I'd have expected, but they were still owning me, so I ran off a bridge. They found me, so I realised I was going to die. Well you know what they say, "Some may never live, but the crazy never die." I then proceeded to pull out my baseball bat and pound him on the face wit hit. Needless to say this turned out to be surprisingly effective, and the Super Mutant seemed very confused by my change of tactic. Unfortunatley it wasn't long before my organs were replaced with hundreds of lead pellets and I was missing an arm. But I bet they'll be talking about this at the water cooler.

That also reminds me of an event inwhich I was being attacked by a pair of Raiders. This was probably my second time playing the game, so I wasn't really used to it. Forunatley I was saved by the intervention of a hungry Mole Rat (which is roughly the size of a large dog). The Mole rat began combating the Raider and with my half of the battle already done, won, leaving me to just put a few bullets in the mangy creature. I really liked the idea of seeing these fights, so when I saw a 'Centaur' and a Mirelurk in the same area, I deliberatley got their attention. Unfortunatley the situation ended with me running from both of them Scooby-Doo style, and then a Super Mutant showed up.

Also it might be good to mention something else that makes the game somewhat emotionally difficult. I came across some people standing around a fridge. My scanners revealed they were escaped slaves. That sounded good, someone for me to talk to, because being in a Desert Wasteland full of things that want me dead can be rather stressfull. They then tell me that they found the purified water, and are not planning on sharing it. I had the option to try and haggle for it, but I wasn't really interested so I told them I'd leave. Instantly upon doing so, they opened fire on each other. I was a bit shocked, having them picked as a team. Confused, I eventually joined the fray and came out victorious. I decided to go about my usual business, looking them, take the water, but then I noticed someone else was there, someone I didn't recognise. If I had to guess, this was someone else who also wanted the water, and tried to take it during the fight, and ended up dead instead. In an act of grief I spared her from my looting, but I took the water. This was done mainly because it restores a buttload of health, but also because I previously met a man who was dying of dehydration. I gave him a bottle and recieved some delicious good karma, so at least things went well in the end.

I also feel that part of the reason for my feelings is that I may be killing things and getting Good Karma, but since I'm so bad at this, I have and probably never will really become the hardened badass the game can mold you into. Perhaps its my inability to enter buildings due to being somewhat of a coward and havinh a slight aversion to dying. I also briefly felt like going on a rampage in Megaton. I could bring myself to it, really. I have a particuler fondness for Gob the Ghoul. I think one of my goals if I ever do get 'good' at this game will be to go back and shoot Moriarty.

Above all, while the game is somewhat more emmersive than Oblivion, you'll find Oblivion to be the one you'd much rather live in. I know that's obvious, but even with overlapping awesome, this game is not for the faint of heart. I haven't even got to the High Octane Nightmare Fuel.