Beyond Co-Op Reviews: January 09 - Fallout 3, Persona 4, Prince of Persia and More!
Review System(s): XBox 360, Playstation 3, Wii, PC, Nintendo DS
360, PC, PS3
Bethesda is a company that seems to specialize in the open world RPG genre. With Morrowind and Oblivion under their belt they moved on to a franchise they recently acquired in Fallout 3. While fans of the series hoped for a more tried and true sequel with an isometric view game, instead they got something that Bethesda already does well; which holds true for Fallout 3.
Starting the game as a survivor of the nuclear war in a vault, you make your way to a the giant outside world in the area around and in Washington D.C. While the game is loaded with grays and browns, everything shows a lot of style as humans attempt to make due in theradioactive wasteland. Shacks built from scrap metal, forts built in radio stations, and towns built on highway overpasses all add to the game's personality.
The battle system in Fallout 3 is a hybrid of real time and/or V.A.T.S. The latter allows players to pause the action and focus on specific enemies and specific parts of enemies to do some truly massive damage. Fallout 3 isbrutal with blood and gore exploding just about everywhere, combined with the physics systems make for some truly sickly hilarious moments. My personal favorite is seeing how far I can make certain body parts fly.
There are flaws to be had, namely the story is fairly short without any particularly high or low points. There's plenty of side quests to complete thankfully. The other problem is the game is a bit of an exercise in inventory management, with constant healing of your character as well asmanaging your weapon states and weight.
With the freedom to play the game however you want, and four different endings there's a ton of meat here for your sixty dollars. Bethesda once again proves they are the masters of the open world RPG.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
Total Comments: 9
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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.