Fallout 3 game review
Canwest News Service · Friday, Nov. 14, 2008
FALLOUT 3
Platforms: Xbox 360 (reviewed), PlayStation 3
Rated: Mature
Rating: 5 out of 5
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It is the year 2227, and following a nuclear explosion and its radioactive fallout, most of mankind has been driven underground, to live in sealed caves known as 'vaults.' You are born in Vault 101 underneath Washington, D.C., and as your mother dies in childbirth, it is your father, James, (voiced by Liam Neeson) who becomes your primary caregiver.
No one gets into this vault, and no one gets out, and considering it is 200 years old, it is all you know of the world around you.
One day, around age 19, you wake up to find out your father has somehow left the vault and ventured into the wasteland for unknown reasons. He hasn't told you why, and now the Vault Overseer suspects you have something to do with it. And so with help from his daughter, you escape and find your way to the wasteland, in search of your father and a means to clear your name.
Tracking him down first to a radio station, then to a derelict aircraft carrier now serving as a settlement, you soon begin to learn more about why the world is the way it is, and what you can do to help it. Radiation has created a number of giant roaches and Super Mutants, most of whom you'll kill on the way. You meet a Dr. Li who tells you about Project Purity, a plan to remove radiation from the water to restore the environment. The plan has an additional benefit -- it will also wipe out the Super Mutants, who thrive on the radiation. But it may also wipe out a significant number of humans who have been living overground for some time now.
The game lets you play whichever way you want. For instance, if I need a certain item from someone, I can acquire it a number of different ways. I can try to smooth-talk them, I can try to barter for it, I can try to pick their locks and just steal it, or I can shoot them in the head and just take it.
Each one of these decisions plays a part in determining your karma -- do mostly good deeds, and you become a good guy, bad deeds, and you become evil. And there's a lot you can do to become evil here, from killing innocents point-blank to blowing up an entire town, and chances are, most of these decision won't sit well with you.
There is a fair bit of action in Fallout 3, and your shooting abilities depend a lot on which character traits you've decided to upgrade. There's a cool VAT system that comes up with the RT button. This automatically targets your enemy and breaks down his body parts into different targets you can aim at. This is great for when you see a Super Mutant 100 yards away and want to peg off his head.
This really isn't a game for kids, and I don't just mean because of the violence, but because of the mature content. Would you want your 10-year-old deciding whether to steal from a kindly shopkeeper or simply blow her head off? I don't think so.
That said, Fallout 3 really is a title worth picking up and playing. The cool 1950s vibe through the whole title is charming, the attention to detail in both the cinema screens and the gameplay is fantastic, and the audio -- a great mix of an ominous score and sentimental Americana such as the Ink Spots' I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire -- sets up a great mood.
