Yeap. I got caught in Fallout 3. Being a fan of the series, I jumped on the third game. As said by many, it is Oblivion With Guns. Like Oblivion, you have a main quest and a bucketload of sidequests, you are free to progress in the main quest at the rythm you wish. Having heard of the impossibility to continue after the ending of the main quest, I decided to take on the sidequests, to savor the game and appreciate the whole game setting. Like Morrowind, you sooner or later have a bunch of assholes out to get your head for some reasons. In Fallout 3, those are the Talon Company mercenaries, apparently the fact that my character did some good deeds did not sit well with them.

Of Fallout, Fallout 3 have the game setting, its famous post-nuclear holocaust (Mad Max: the Road Warrior, AND Hokuto no Ken comes in mind) with a twist of 1950s flair in term of imagery, music and design (this decade having the sweet scent of terror by uranium, plutonium and hydrogen). From the two first games, it also have the S.P.E.C.I.A.L attribute system and the VATS.

From the Elder Scrolls games, especially Oblivion, Fallout 3 have firstly the playable character creation that involves you in building up your character, being a pen and paper RPG veteran I do care more for a video game character when I build it myself and not getting spoonfed a background story, especially in a genre pretending to emulate the likes of Dungeons & Dragons or Shadowrun. Secondly, like in Oblivion, you have the mini-games, when you try to lockpick or hack. Then you have the crafting, I am enjoying making bottlecap mines; sadly, unlike Oblivion and Morrowind, you are limited to crafting weapons, whereas in Morrowind and Oblivion, you craft potions, or magical items. Finally, you have the degradation of weapons and armors, picking up weapons off dead raiders for the spare parts, so you can repair them IS crucial if you fight a lot.

This game had gotten a lot of complains from fans, like the weakness of the main quest (that’s why I am taking my sweet time to do sidequests). However, it is not a game without its own merits. If I can credit Beteshda’s work for one thing, here it is: Fallout 3 is the most immersive game ever, a dozen of Squarenix wankfest cutscenes cannot go up against the way the Wastelands suck you in and grab you in its deadly beauty. Personally, I am enjoying my time scavenging loot and roaming the ruins to kill random raiders, or supermutants like a Serbian sniper.

Is Fallout 3 a good game compared to the two first? It is in no way worse than Fallout 1 & 2 as fans made it to be. True, some elements ought to be improved; however, parts of this game makes it a bit more enjoyable than the two first games. Weren’t you annoyed to not being able to run the fuck away from Deathclaws when the fight turned against you because you had no more action points? In Fallout 3, due to its FPS-like nature, you can hope to escape from them or walk back while raining bullets from your chinese assault rifle or gatling. Let’s not forget the editors and mods that are bound to be released by Beteshda and fans.

There are one thing I regret about Beteshda’s take on Fallout universe: if only there was a MMORPG set in this universe. Maybe it will provide an excellent alternative to Azeroth I never found compelling to begin with. And let’s say it frankly, I am sick and tired of seeing WoW everywhere. I am sick and tired of seeing MMO publishers not being daring enough to explore other genres; and when they does, it is overshadowed by WoW anyway. We can argue that the console RPG scene is also dominated by the Squarenix hegemony, and ought to have a bit of fresh air.

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