Among the most famous RPG franchises in gaming history, there is one that just stands out for its unique and cool feel that was never reproduced by any other game: Fallout. Not only did Fallout 1 and its successful sequel Fallout 2 manage to create one of the most believable post-apocalyptic, nuclear futures, but in doing so it managed to draw attention and capture the imagination of millions of fans worldwide, and the computer games industry will be forever influenced by this franchise.

Several years have passed after Interplay's demise, and the rumors that Bethesda was working on the third installment of Fallout caught everyone's attention, even if the opinions were spread between the two camps: pro and anti Bethesda.

Now if we remember properly, up until now Bethesda was famous for Morrowind and Oblivion, two really popular RPGs that brought a lot of innovative aspects to the gaming industry and were famous for offering many possibilities of character development and multiple choices. Still, there were plenty of voices that didn't like some aspects of those two games, things like the sometimes meaningless and too serious, long conversations, or the monsters level scaling to match the main character just to mention a few.

Nay-sayers were afraid that Bethesda will make the same "mistakes" to the "perfect" Fallout universe. But even if everyone had their doubts about the third game of the series, I'm 100% sure that fan or foe alike will try this game, because it's just too big of a deal to ignore.

The results and feelings about this game are just as mixed as before, some liking it quite a bit, some finding it a decent RPG, and some hardcore fans taking it off cannon and swearing they'll never play again... just one more hour... and one more... and one more...

Without any doubt I can say that this is Bethesda's greatest game yet, and that can't be contested by anyone (*I think* - fingers crossed). They've done a remarkable job with the graphics and environment, and the moment you get out of that Vault 101 and look at all the world around you, your jaw will drop because of the size alone if not for something else.

Familiar enemies make a comeback and they look bigger and cooler than ever, thanks to the new perspective of the game: meanwhile, the camera angle has changed from a top-down, isometric look, to a first/third person shooter perspective (you can change it how you like at any time). But this change brings an interesting problem: the strategic, turn based combat that you knew from previous Fallouts is no more.

You can instead use the new "VATS" (or Vault Assisted Targeting System) to aid you in a more strategic combat, or just point and shoot a target in the purest FPS way. I think this fresh new approach is the most criticized part of the new game, just because the old ones were so strategic and all about thinking, and this one isn't. The game pauses when you activate this new system, and lets you pick where to shoot, or perform any other action such as heal yourself, use the inventory, throw explosives and so on. The number of actions that you can perform per VATS instance are measured by the AP stats, or action points. Usually you get 3 or 4 shots at the beginning, and you may get more AP as you level up. The points regenerate then in real time. Of course, the game takes into consideration the part of the body you shoot at, your skill with different weapons, your strength and perception skill, and so on and so forth, but is it really that hard to point at one enemy's head and click?

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Rad Scorpions, Super Mutants, or the infamous Death Claws are just a few of the old enemies (and sometimes friends) that make a comeback here, but it was shocking a bit for me when I could kill them almost as easily as any other low level thug, even without the use of the almighty VATS. This is why I recommend veteran Fallout players to start the game on the Hard difficulty, and every other gamer at least on Normal.

Everything in the atomic wasteland still contains a large dose of radiation, even 30 years after the events that took place in Fallout 2 and 200 years after the nuclear disaster. Yes, even in 2277, drinking any kind of water or eating anything will get you exposed to radiation that will not go away until you rest in a proper bed or take your Rad-Away pills. You may also consult your favorite physician to ameliorate your symptoms.

The thin, mutated population around Washington, D.C., and presumably everyone else in the world, is tempted by the harsh living condition to use a lot of drugs, firearms, and less rock'n'roll than expected. Using Jet, Mentats, Psycho, or even Stimpack to heal your wounds on a regular basis will result in severe addiction. You will lose stats or health, or both over time you don't get another dose of what makes you happy.

The smart game intro/tutorial idea is a bit shadowed by the NPCs and character appearance. Human faces have the same problem as in Oblivion, even if it's not as bad: no matter how hard you try to create a good looking character with all the millionty custom sliders and combinations, you will only end up a guy who has girlish features or a girl who looks like a guy; or, even worse, anything else in-between. The same goes for NPCs, but as later on those in power armor, mutants or other sorts of monsters will make you almost forget this aspect, because they are well modeled.

Even if your trusty car doesn't make a comeback (yet, maybe an addon?), your trusty dog Dogmeat can be the best partner a man can have. Along with maybe your other partner, because you can have one more AI friend ally with you, plus the dog. I just miss that large, roomy trunk, that's all... sigh...

Everyone knows by now that your father, played by Liam Neeson, leaves from the relative safety of Vault 101 one day without anyone knowing why, and you choose to follow him to see what happened. This is your main quest, but you can, just as in the old Fallout, to play the game in every way you like, even if that means ignoring your quests and adventuring into the unknown.

The nice voice cast is completed by fantastic discrete background music, and furthermore by the few radio stations that are still live. By far the Enclave propaganda Radio is the most addictive in real life, because after just a couple of hours of playing, everyone in the office was whistling American patriotic songs.

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Part 2, The Second Opinion

Since I`ve been a die-hard Fallout fan ever since I was a little gamer, I asked my colleague Ema to allow me to share some of my thought on the latest addition to the Fallout series, from Bethesda. He mentioned earlier that opinions vary from "best game ever, worth 100/100" to "what a disappointment!" and I must admit that this probably is one of the most difficult games to review this year.

I had my share of doubts ever since I heard a Fallout 3 was going to be completely different and my doubts only accentuated when I heard "Oblivion" being mentioned in the same phrase. Fortunately, the most annoying feature in Oblivion (level scaling) didn`t make it to Fallout 3, but other features certainly did, and I can`t say I`m glad.

First of all, one of the things that I appreciated the most in Fallout 1 in 2 was the fact that it had humor, from the perk descriptions and drawings to the dialogues. Fallout 3 tries to be funny, but fails miserably and everything looks like it was written by a 5 year old with the sense of humor of a dying tree, and the dialogues are equally poor.

Admittedly, Oblivion also had a poor dialogue system, but at least Oblivion had something going in favor of it, and that was books! Yes, books and other kinds of written material, that added substance to the universe and proved that work was being done to create a believable universe with a well known history. This was also the case with Morrowind, which had a very large collection of books and scrolls that could be read throughout the game and allowed the player to understand more about the world around him. Fallout 3 replaced all these books with... burnt books! They are all over the place and serve as nothing more than a reminder that someone didn`t have enough time to fill them out with information...

Second of all, the combat is just as shown in the videos and just as I feared. Chaotic is the word that describes it best. Action Points have little meaning now since they regenerate very fast when you`re not in VATS, and the combat goes something like this: see an enemy, go into VATS, shoot the head and watch it die, take cover until you have full AP, rinse and repeat. Doesn`t that sound like fun?

The game is too easy, whether played on easy or hard, thanks to the VATS system. Increasing the difficulty just seems to add more health to the enemies, but also gives you more XP per kill. I was very surprised to see that I could clear an entire "super mutant" base at my measly level 2, just after I left the vault, with my Chinese Officers Sword! In fact, some of the best weapons in the game seem to be melee ones, since you can "dance" around enemies and avoid their fire while constantly hitting them.

Accuracy with melee weapons doesn`t seem to be a factor unless you`re in VATS, so you have two options: either play a small/big/energy weapon specialist and kill everything in sight in the VATS, or play a melee oriented fighter with stealth for nice criticals.

For ranged weapons, when you`re in VATS, accuracy seems to be determined more by luck than skill or anything else, since you can miss from 2 paces while having a 95 small guns skill or you can score a lucky head shot from 10 yards away. When using the VATS system, I`ve often seen a 95% chance to hit even with my laser rifle (and I had a 20 energy weapon skill), from quite a long distance, so I have my doubts as to how accurate the system really is. I was surprised to see that on more than one occasion I had a higher chance to hit the head than the torso, when standing face to face. What`s up with that?

I remember reading in another review that you could kill anyone you wanted, and this added extra realism to the game. I only want to mention that in fact you are not allowed to kill certain people (those required for the main plot) as they`ll only be knocked unconscious for a short time. I had lots of fun killing everyone in the vault, before escaping, only leaving the overseer`s daughter alive for the aforementioned reason. I guess she can`t stay mad at me after I knocked her out with a baseball bat for 5 times.

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Let`s move on to other things, like character development. The character creation process is one of the most interesting I`ve seen recently, taking you from birth to 19 years old, the age you leave the vault at. The main plot starts when your father decides to leave the vault and leave you behind. The overseer of the vault goes nuts when he discovers this, and starts quite the killing spree trying to keep others from escaping as well. Of course you manage to escape, and only then does the real game start. As far as I`m concerned, the main quest is nowhere near as good as the previous Fallout games and I`d even go as far as to call it weak.

Your character can reach the maximum level of 20, which you`ll attain far before reaching the end of the game, especially if you`ve taken a few of the "Swift Learner" perks. Unlike previous parts, you`ll be offered a perk at each level and there`s plenty of them to choose from. The skill points received at each level up should be distributed at one or maybe two weapon skills and all other should be divided between the other non-combat, but equally important, skills.

The cities available in the game offer the same "intelligent" AI behavior that Oblivion touted, which in fact is nothing more than characters walking around aimlessly and when night comes, they simply go inside and go to bed. Wow! Secondary quests are equally non impressive, but offer a welcome variety and the option of lying to complete them.

Graphically speaking, I`ve often had problems deciphering if the person I was talking to was actually male or female. At least the voices fit their gender! On the other hand, the landscapes are truly impressive especially when played at max details on a high end system.

Another thing I`ve noticed is that even without the "Bloody Mess" perk everything seems to die in the most gruesome way, when killed in the VATS, and while fun for a while, it can get tiring to see the same "fatality" over and over again, in slow motion.

As a conclusion, I can only say that Fallout 3 won`t go by unnoticed. Most probably hated by Fallout veterans and adored by newcomers, Fallout 3 is indeed Bethesda`s best work, but definitely not suited to the Fallout universe. For me, I`m sorry to say, Fallout 3 just doesn`t cut it.

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Conclusion

Even with a lot of negative reactions from the old school, hardcore Fallout fans, even with some aspects that lack the depth we were used to from the old games, and even with the dramatic change of the combat mechanics and camera system, Fallout 3 is still Bethesda's crown jewel and one of the best games this year. I advise everyone, friend or foe to give it a shot.

Gameplay: 89

To re-iterate the idea, even if the game "doesn't cut it" for you, it's a strange new experience and you must test it for yourself. The fact is not if the game has a bit of that old Fallout feel, because it actually does, quite a bit. The problem is if it has enough for you, and if you are willing to give it a shot. But that is a judgment you will have to make it for yourself. If you haven't played any of the previous Fallout games, or you've never been to keen on them when they were launched, maybe this is your lucky break with enough twist to get the sparks going.

Graphics: 94

Comparing it to other games that have launched this year, Fallout 3 looks better than everything. The landscapes are really remarkable and the water looks excellent. And the graphic engine doesn't seem to do much compromise when it comes to landscapes or monsters. Human models... that's another story.

Sound: 91

You must at least try to listen to Enclave Radio for a bit! Radio stations and the subtle but deep background music really help set the mood and stage for everything Fallout 3 and you shouldn't miss them. Voice acting, especially for the main quest is very good and done by some famous names. There are the occasional annoying voices that just don't seem to fit to the whole picture, but hopefully you'll be able to get over those fast.

Multiplayer: N/A

Hardware: 88

With a number of bugs and crashes to desktop, I think that a couple of patches are in order. Performance is good if you have a high end computer, and the game is very scalable. I've noticed some sound choppiness issues when some radio stations are playing on various computers, depending on the installed sound card, that can be annoying sometimes. Maybe we'll see a fix for that as well.

*Note* I just remembered we have under our downloads section the Pre-Alpha version of old Fallout 3, codename "Van Buren". It's the old, never released game from Black Isle/Interplay. Feel free to give it a try!