Fallout3

-Review By Thomas O’Hara | 26th October 2011

Concept Art Image taken from http://www.videogamesblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/fallout-wallpaper-8-1680x1050.jpg

Publisher

Developer

Platform

Released

Bethesda Softworks

Bethesda Games Studios

PC, XBOX360, PlayStation 3 30th October 2008

This concept art image portrays the ruins of

one of the still surviving cities called ‘Rivet

City’ that is set in side of the air craft carrier

stranded in the Washington River that are

around in the wastelands of Fallout 3’s world

allout 3 an Open World Action

RPG released on 30th October

2008 developed by Bethesda

Game Studios, set in Washington D.C. in

the year 2277 where the world has been

destroyed by a nuclear apocalypse. In

the Fallout series Fallout 3 is set 36

years after Fallout 2 and 200 years after

the world fell to the nuclear fallout that

shaped the world that the player

ventures around with different enemies

to face and different allies to side with.

The world in Fallout 3 is a huge

landscape; from the massive city of

nuclear radiated Washington D.C. and its

many land marks, to the surrounding

country side area. It is certainly a game

where the player could lose themselves

with the amount of main missions, side

quests and relations, not to mention its

replay-ability and many DLC’s.

The story starts as the character the

player play as throughout the story of

the game is born; the character is a

resident of Vault 101 the place where

the beginning of the story plays out until

one day your farther runs away from the

Vault to the outside wastelands of

Washington D.C. The story’s character

follows the farther out into the

wasteland to search for him and to know

why he abandoned the character in Vault

101. Through doing this the character

meets different people and quickly has

to adapt to the new environment around

him which is all pretty much dangerous

and hazardous to humans. The main

story continues with the player of the

character deciding different things along

the path they have chosen which gives

Fallout 3 a new way to interact to the

player giving them choices. Those

different choices can affect the

interactivity the character receives in

different parts of the wasteland and they

could have a certain reputation that

could help or hinder them as the story

progresses. Generally the story of

Fallout 3 is a very immersive for the

player and grabs them into it try to

make sense of everything while

surviving the harshness of the

apocalyptic nuclear wasteland. The

different aspects give the player

emotion, which in turn dives the player

into the game itself making the story

that much in depth.

F

This concept art image shows the Capitol

Building destroyed by the nuclear warheads

that hit America, and one of the many land

marks found around the wastelands of

Fallout 3’s world

This screen shot shows

one of the factions

infantry guarding the

Washington Monument

Concept Art Image taken from http://i.neoseeker.com/ca/fallout_3_conceptart_rx8Eq.jpg

Screen Shot taken from

http://simplegfx.net/cache/BestofWallpapers08_63C6/wallpape

r_fallout_3_07_1280.jpg

The overall presentation the game

gives off is the environment, buildings,

creatures, human survivors, land marks,

monsters and feel to everything the

player might encounter is a part of this

new world ravaged by nuclear war. The

environment itself is a marvel; the detail

in how the world would look and feel if it

had been destroyed by a nuclear

apocalypse is incredible although the

textures could be a little more

believable. The problem with the

environment was that you could only see

so far due to the game loading textures,

that meant that the enemy could be in

front but you would not know so carry

on into an ambush. This made the game

less realistic and enjoyable as enemies

would fade in, in front or behind and

attack you making this annoying for the

player at times when around the games

massive playable map.

The inner city and other building

landscapes where themselves as good as

the environment and very well put

across and believable which brought the

player into the story and setting much

better. The monuments of Washington

D.C. made to look battered and

destroyed by the nuclear warheads

made the setting more investing

because the player themselves could

have been there or seen them which in

turn will make the player feel interested

in the story.

Although yet again the textures could

be better and the fade aspect could have

been improved the accuracy with the

detail of the buildings is nothing short of

impeccable. The whole massive map of

Washington D.C. was made with detail

and believability in mind and Bethesda

Games Studios did indeed create an

immersive world where the player could

put themselves into because of the

attention to detail throughout. Saying

this through my own experience through

playing this game some appearances in

both the environment and buildings

happened. Sometimes the colour of the

sky and water could become multi

coloured or creatures would morph into

the ground, the main problem being the

spawning rates of the creatures and the

amount of them was too much. But

overall the playability of Fallout 3 and

the detail out shines the problems it has.

This concept art image shows the

wastelands that is seen throughout the

Fallout 3 game and what the apocalyptic

world would probably look like.

This screen shot shows the VATS

system that can be used in the

game

Screen Shot taken from

http://images.wikia.com/fallout/images/b/b7/VA

TS.jpg

Concept Art Image taken from http://i.neoseeker.com/ca/fallout_3_conceptart_eW5OI.jpg

The gameplay of Fallout 3 differs to

that of its predecessors in the Fallout

series, instead of having a top down

view format that Fallout 1 & 2 used;

Fallout 3 used a First Person or Third

Person view format depending on the

player’s preference. This brought a

whole new interaction to the player and

the way they brought themselves to play

the game by being told by the game that

they are the character within the game

and it is their choice. This in turn made

the Fallout game a massive

improvement and creating a new

experience for the followers of the

series, not to mention the amount of

people who though this game was the

future for Action RPG’s. The way the

story is told to the player is probably

more of a non-linear narrative story,

meaning there are many ways the

character can come to the end. This

creating a much more in depth and

innovative direction the game can be

played, because the player could choose

multiple ways of concluding to the same

ending making the re-playability much

more assessable. The way that the flow

of the gameplay feels would be very

fluid to the player playing as the

character and going around the

wastelands of Washington D.C. Although

at some points in the missions the

directed way could be wrong, making

the player turn back because you took a

wrong turn, this could affect that fluid

flow of the gameplay.

The controls of the game also add to

the experience of this unique concept for

an Action RPG, having to choose from

First Person or Third Person is a player

preference, and could add to the way

the player will ultimately play the game.

The in game ‘Pit-Boy 3000’ is probably

the best tool to use and utilise the way

the game is played, as all weapons,

armour, health kits, ammo and more is

stored and the ‘Pit-Boy’ is used to access

it all on the characters wrist. The main

flaw with using the ‘Pit-Boy’ within the

game is that it will disrupt game flow

making it much easier to assess the

situation at hand. With that said the

‘VATS’ controls also do the same but are

meant to make accuracy and detection

easier in the vast world map of Fallout 3.

The rest of the controls all work like they

should and makes the controlling of the

character for the player very easy and

for a more enjoyable game.

This screen shot shows

one of the factions

vehicles called the ‘Verta

Bird’ seen in the game

This concept art image shows a

place in Fallout 3 called ‘Paradise

Falls’ where the player can

venture to

Concept Art Image taken from http://i.neoseeker.com/ca/fallout_3_conceptart_rFL4H.jpg

Screen Shot taken from

http://images.fragland.net/screenshots/2139/639775517.jpg

The overall graphics of the game are

very spectacular to look at throughout

the roaming around the massive

playable map Fallout 3 involves. From

the sky to the ground and surrounding

environment of the tress and rocks, not

to mention the buildings and other

structures around the map; everything

is tailored to look and feel like it is a

nuclear ravaged world. The creatures,

monsters and enemies around the area

of the playable map are also tailored to

look as if it would after 200 years of

radiation and destruction due to the

nuclear warheads.

The graphics themselves go hand in

hand with the sound, as the player

would be walking through the wasteland

of Fallout 3, the wind of the sand

storms, music of the radio’s that play

old-timey music from the 1940’s. It is

brought together giving the player an

enhanced experience of playing the

game, getting hooked onto the story and

just playing through it the game itself.

Compared to the sequel or some have

said spin off to Fallout 3, ‘Fallout: New

Vegas’ it is much better in the sense

that in Fallout 3 everything was done

right and to the right effect to keep the

player enjoyed and immersed in its

game. Whereas Fallout: New Vegas did

not give off the same effect that the

tailored design of Fallout 3 did, which

made the experience of Fallout: New

Vegas lacking where Fallout 3 succeeded

against it making it overall the better

game for the player and enjoyment.

The appeal for the game will

probably last for a while since 2008

when the game was released it kept its

place until this year within the RPG

genre just for all the reasons that made

this a great experience for the player.

Overall this game created an unique

stamp on the games industry and

created many enjoyable, immersive and

innovative experiences for all who

played through the game and it

deserves its place on the shelf.

This concept art image shows

another of the land marks in

Fallout 3 that plays a vital role in

the campaign’s story

Concept Art Image taken from http://www.arts-wallpapers.com/desktop_wallpapers/games/fallout3/images/fallout-wp3-1600x1200.jpg

Concept Art Image taken from http://www.360style.net/wallpapers/232/232_1600x1200_1.jpg

This concept art image portrays

the destruction of the nuclear

apocalypse that fell upon the

world 8 / 10