It's time for another issue of Beyond Co-Op Reviews, the monthly feature where we look at some of the great single player experiences that you may be missing in the video game world.  On tap this month is Persona 4, Fallout 3, Prince of Persia, Skate It, Metal Slug 7 and Aquaria.

Read The Full Article: Beyond Co-Op Reviews: January 09 - Fallout 3, Persona 4, Prince of Persia and More!

Story? What story? Go here...do that. Is that story?

I am just shocked that this got a silver statue.

While yes, seeing things explode is fun, but good gosh after the 2nd time does anyone else find it getting old?

Not to mention, I cannot see how Elder Scrolls and this game are called RPGs.

None of these games created characters with more depth than a block of soap.

While yes I do own this game. I haven't touched it since Left 4 Dead came out.

They have improved on some elements, but the core concept of any RPG is story and presentation. Sun glaring at you and bodies exploding are not examples of good presentation.

By presentation, I mean character. People you meet who seem like people. Games like Gears 2 and Halo have better characterization than any Bethesda game I've seen.

The only reason, why I brought the game was the fact that I realized I spent 40-odd hours walking around. Which is fun.

Forget the horribly, disfigured thing in the corner crying while rocking back and forth. That's what call a "story".

Grab your trusted rifle, pick a direction and go explore!

I am a explorer and this game, though indirectly, really lets me explore.

I gotta disagree with you JG. The story in F3 which I believe you are referring to is something just just handed to you from the start, the story is actually the world you explore, for example finding bits of information about how the world was, or what happened right after the bombs drop.

Its really freaky to explore more of the information stored in the computer terminals that survived such as what was going down at Vault 87 and such.

It may not compare to the great old school rpgs (Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 2 and 3 US numbers) but it still is a quality that is all its own.

While I understand what JG is getting at, I think Bio's point is more accurate. Sure there's not a super deep story, but is it about as deep as Fable 2's? I think so.

I agree with Bio -- the story such as it is can't be considered a *narrative*, it's comprised of the whole game world. Think of BioShock: the whole game is pretty linear; at any given time there's at most one or two places you can go, as the rest of the game is gradually opened up to you. But you'd have to be huffing paint thinner to think BioShock didn't have a good story. You get as much or as little of it as you want, revealed gradually through overheard conversations and found notes.

Likewise, if you powered through FO3 in 20 hours and stuck to the main line quest, you wouldn't learn much about the story, but Bethesda made a world that's *alive* -- every town has a back story that's unique. Individual characters don't get hours and hours of development, but there's little details you pick up in conversation.

In short, it's not the same "class" of game as a classic JRPG. They didn't take a little novel and wrap a game around it, letting you play out the fighty bits (not that there's anything wrong with that!); they fleshed out a world, and the world *is* the story.

Good to see someone got was I was pointing at through my rambling hehe.

With all that said, I can't believe you rated Prince of Persia higher than Fallout 3. You guys must be the only media I've seen anywhere that did that.

I haven't played PoP yet, but everybody's been saying it's way too short and way too easy. I still plan to buy it eventually (maybe after the effects of the Great Holiday Flood have worn off a bit) but it's certainly no Fallout.

It's not too short, but it is easy because you can't die. That being said it's also a lot more epic feeling to me, and I felt more attached to the story.

Fallout 3 just lacked a certain something. It was good, but it was far from being a must buy. As seen here, people got bored with it fairly easily.

This is just one of those different strokes kind of things everyone has their opinion, and Fallout3 I can agree is not for everyone.

I have put it down but only because alot of great coop/multiplayer games have come out and I generally would rather play coop with my wife then here her complain when I play F3 solo lol.

Well here's the thing, different people reviewed each game in the list. Personally, I would have given F3 the same score I gave PoP, but Nick didn't dig it as much as I did.