Reviewed by:

Christopher Kulczyk

CIS 487 - 9/28/09

Fallout 3

About the Game Developed by Bethesda Live-action RPG Post-Apocolyptic theme 1st or 3rd person view Linear and non-linear story Good or Evil Does not support Multiplayer Won many awards including Game of the

Year for 2008 (IGN)

Hardware Requirements Multi-platform

Xbox 360 ($59.99) PS3 ($59.99) PC ($49.99)

PC Requirements DVD-ROM Windows XP/Vista 1GB System RAM (XP)/ 2GB System RAM (Vista) 2.4 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 256MB RAM

(NVIDIA 6800 or better/ATI X850 or better) Comes with Manual

Gives a lot of information for a person unfamiliar to the series

Overview

Game immerses player into a very large world

Follows players life from birth Gives player tons of freedom Different levels of difficulty that can be

switched on-the-fly Save anywhere (with minor restrictions) Can be very forgiving for new players

CapitalWasteland

Story (Main) The world was destroyed by Atomic War

between USA and China Game takes place in 2277, 200 years after the

war Main character leaves Vault 101 in search of

run away father Hunts down his dad across Capital Wasteland Finds out dad was working on a project to

purify water Helps complete project Resistant forces trying to take over the project,

The Enclave

Player’s Role

Some video sequencesVideo and Game Play are rendered the

same

Player controls the Son/Daughter of James

Fight/Talk your way through a Hostile Environment

User Interface

User Interface (Pip-Boy)

Game Play Health Based Live-Action with V.A.T.S.(Vault-Tec

Assisted Targeting System) Action Points S.P.E.C.I.A.L., Skills, Perks Fast Travel Stealth Fight and/or Talk scenarios Follow Main and/or Side Story

Ambience Setting

Washington D.C.Partly Destroyed BuildingsDust Storms/Radiation PocketsDay/Night

RadioDynamic Radio DJOptional Channels (Some story line specific)Each channel has its own themeMostly 50’s or Patriotic Themed Music

Sound FXMixes well with game play

Washington Monument

What Makes It Good? Customization of Character Dynamic Story (Radio) Good or Evil High Quality Graphics Very little loading times Short term and long term goals V.A.T.S. Choices have their own ups and downs Ammo/Money is not easy to obtain Forgiving on bad choices

What Makes It Bad?

Can be overwhelming The original ending was abrupt Addons can make gameplay unfair 3rd person seemed to be an afterthought AI not very challenging

How Does It Compare

The Elder Scrolls IV: OblivionClose to being the same game with a

different setting

Fallout 1/2/TacticsSimilar setting but totally different gameplayLive Action/Turn Based

Fallout 3 Fallout 2

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Last Words This game has many strengths and few

weaknesses Greatest Strength

Choices given to the player, and how they effect the outcome

Greatest WeaknessOverwhelming to some

Game is rated M, and designed for a mature audience

So much to do in game makes it worth buying