Fallout 3

Fallout 3 is one of those games that will find its way into your life and will actually take it over. While I'm playing it I'm enthralled with it. When I'm not playing, I can't stop thinking about it. It demands all of your attention and will not settle for anything less. I know this because I recently set up the TV from my bedroom on my coffee table in the living room so that I could spend the weekend with my girlfriend. She watched some crappy TV shows while I played Fallout 3. We shared the couch so that counts as 'spending time together' in my opinion. It was a thing of beauty.

If you are new to the franchise or are unfamiliar with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, than the learning curve may be a bit steep at first. This may cause some people that are new to feel intimidated or reluctant to continue on but you can trust me when I say this; any effort put forth on your behalf to discover what this game is all about will pay off tenfold as you progress through this game. Once you get the hang of things, you will quickly realize how detailed and extensive this game truly is and how much of a satisfying experience it is to play.

So where's the nearest strip club?

The year is 2277 and the world we know is now a desolate waste land and radiation is in abundance. Special vaults were designed in order to survive the nuclear fallout after the human race decided to fix its problems by using a nuclear means of persuasion on each other. Your character was born in vault 101 and your father is the head of the medical department in this vault. It is unclear as to what he is working on throughout the introduction to the game but hints will be dropped as you make progress. After all is said and done, you are told that your father has escaped the vault and you must follow him and leave the vault as the authorities are looking for you. You're never quite clear as to what went down, you just know it's nothing good and that it's time to say good bye to good old vault 101. The first portion of the game is intended to get you familiarized with the different controls that are available. You are also introduced to some key players and the plot is essentially laid out for you right off the bat.

Alright, so you just busted out of a vault you were born in and you don`t have the slightest clue about what goes on in the outside world. What now? The sense of awe kicks in as soon as your eyes adjust to seeing actual sunlight for the first time in your life. Before you is an entirely new world to explore. The draw distance is incredible and there's nothing but charred remains of a world that has been torn to shreds from devastating nuclear explosions.

Attempting to describe the entire scene in a paragraph or two is not even worth the time or effort. It is honestly something that needs to been seen with one’s own eyes. This is also where the intimidation factor sets in. You can tell immediately that this game is not going to be a cake walk by any means so strap yourself in for the long haul. Where do I go from here? What am I supposed to be doing? What is this place? Where's my daddy?!? These are all valid questions that need answers to and it's up to you to start exploring. Going about finding those answers is where this game presents its greatest attribute. It's immense size.

Guns come in handy once in a while

All you have to start off with is whatever items you happened to have brought with you from the vault along with your trusty Pip Boy 3000. This device acts as your HUD and you control practically everything from it. You can check your health status, radiation levels, items, weapons, map and anything else you will need in your quest to find yo crazy ass daddy. You have to scavenge the land picking up anything you can get your hands on. You can grab just about anything from forks and knives to tin cans or even plungers. Everything has a value associated with it and can be sold for caps. The monetary system that is in place in the post apocalyptic world is bottle caps. How quaint. You`ll find yourself turning into quite the pack rat from the start in order to gain enough funds for Stempaks (for healing) and other necessities.

You will gain experience points for accomplishing portions of the main quest along with the other side quests that are available to choose from. You will then gain levels as you accumulate experience points. With every level gained you are able to allocate a certain amount of points to certain skills such as barter, science, small guns among many others. You are also given a bonus of sorts by allowing you to select a perk. There are tons of these ranging from less radiation intake to 10% more pistol damage. The micro managing in this game is never tedious and will have you experimenting with all kinds of combinations to improve your characters attributes.

You look different....have you lost weight?

As you begin to discover your new world, you will encounter several enemies and creatures along the way. When traveling for long distances, you are bound to encounter wild dogs, mole rats, raiders and other things that have it out for you for whatever reason. You can fight them in a free hand style by aiming your cursor at them and whacking away.....or you can use the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.). Pressing the L2 trigger enables a precise targeting mode that relies on agility points. The camera zooms into your enemy and all of his/her limbs are presented with a percentage of how successful your attack will be on that particular limb. This is a super bad ass way of taking down an enemy mainly because you switch into a slow motion type cinematic view as you execute your assigned move. Groans are slowed down to a deep pitch and blood sprays in all direction in slow-mo glory. It is a very awesome way to take someone out.

Speaking of blood, this game is not for the kiddies. Who am I kidding, sure it is! They'll love all the explicit language and gore along with the decomposed bodies that are lying all over the place.
Depending on their age group, this game is more than likely a sure fire way of inducing nightmares. The gore does not hold back one bit. Super mutants, Feral Ghouls and other mutated enemies are terrifying to look at and it doesn't help when they're screaming and running at you full tilt in the dark. Every room or area looks just like it should, destroyed and normally accompanied by blood stains either on the walls or floors. There's no doubt in my mind that this game was in production for 4 years. Every single thing you can possibly look at is pimped out in detail to the max. Chips out of walls, rubble everywhere, paint peeling from the ceiling, random items are strewn about and there is never a moment where you’re not busy checking everything out. Who would have thought such destruction could be so beautiful.

The attention to detail is incredible

Another pain staking labour of love went into the dialogue and voice acting. You are given a Karma rating on practically every single decision you make. You can cause physical harm or lay it down verbally. You can choose to do good things for people or treat them like trash. It's essentially like Newton's Third law of motion; to ever action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Practically every character you interact with will have several different responses for any questions or responses you dish out their way. You may end up pissing them off or making them happy. It's all up to you. You can play this game as major league A-hole or as Ned Flanders*, the choice is yours. This simply means that if you really wanted to, you could play this game several times over and you will be treated to a different aspect of the story every time.

Fallout 3 is the type of game that reminds you of why you are such a video game fanatic. The presentation and polish is top notch and there really is nothing I can think of that I didn't like about this game. I must warn you though; this game requires a lot of elbow room so make sure you have at least 100 hours of personal time set aside before tackling this amazing game.

* Ned Flanders is not a playable character