GameGirl

33 Hours. That's how long it took to beat the game. Even now, siting here, having watched the final cut scene which reviewed all of my hopes, trimuphs, downfalls, and sins, having watched as my character died in a wave of radiation, sacrificing myself so humanity could live on, I am still in awe. 33 hours of surprises, twists, movie references, book references, and the great morality debate and here I still sit, shaken from what has quite possibly been my greatest gaming experience ever. Here I sit, and I am about to tell you why. I've decided to call this my "final thoughts" instead of "review" because, to be completely honest, I could not write this piece without my sheer enjoyment for what I just experienced shining through.

Fallout 3 starts off as a quest for dear old dad, and ends with you deciding whether or not humanity should continue. You start off the game listening to President Eden on your radio, listening to others slag him off as part of a government in hiding while the nation suffers, and you end with the knowledge Eden is a computer, who propositions you to add a chemical to the water purification system, to wipe out all those beings of the Capital Wastes effected by radiation. Given you are the only one who grew up in a vault, this means everyone but you... and the Enclave of course. The computer Eden is very well scripted, charismatic enough to have myself thinking about my decisions ahead. But, in the end, I chose to save humanity, for all its flaws, than destroy it/

This game incoorperates some of the best debates, the best books, the best movies ever witnessed. It's very Ayn Rand, even moreso than Bioshock. But what got me, what still has me, is the final decision to be made. Do you save humanity, thereby accepting the bad with the good? The flawed with the well intentioned? Or do you side with Eden, whose very name implies what he suggests, to wipe out and start anew, pure, and patriotic?

The decision comes from how you chose to view those people you met along your journies in the game world. Did you remember only the raiders, super mutants, and slavers? Or did you choose to remember the Sheriff of Megaton, the children of Little Lamplight, or even the crazy yet harmless Children of Atom? The narator at the end states "the struggle for human existence is an ongoing war.... and war never changes." So are we left to give humanity the benefit of the doubt?

I did. In the end, I chose to go into the radiation chamber, to sacrifice myself to give humanity the fighting chance. As the ending scene rolled, I felt like giving a standing ovation, as I have never played a game as amazing as this.

So, let's break it down:

As many have heard and repeated, Fallout 3 has been titled "Oblivion with guns," but is it? Having now completed both games I can see there are striking similarities: moral decisions, similar dungeon set up (albeit cleverly disguised) and of course, the same character models... and all the flaws that come with that. But Fallout 3 is very much it's own game and, unlike Oblivion, has a very "original" plot (Original in a game sense, but it incoorperated many wonderful ideas, concepts, and settings from various books and movies). While Oblivion, to me, was pretty predictable and straight forward, Fallout 3 kept me guessing, right up until the end.

Besthesda also improved upon a number of things between games. Humans are actually weak to weapons now, as mortals should be. The dialog has been fantastically upgraded, resulting in evoking any number of feelings for these fictional characters (a sign of good writing). The ambience and immersion quality was vastly improved, as I felt more apart of the Capital Wasteland than I ever did Cyrrodil.

But also with it comes the flaws: insane bloom effects, characters whose animations move like robots (and yet the VATS one hit KO slow motion kill is surprisingly well engineered), and side quests coming out the ass. Not that side quests are bad, but I must admit my first 10 hours of gameplay left me overwhelmed with what I should do next.

To compare the two games is not a bad thing, as Oblivion WAS, after all, game of the year.

As I stated in my first impressions, I find the graphics to be outstanding. They're just enough realism to immerse you into the gritty, harsh Wasteland... but not too much realism as to not make out enemy from wall from shadow. Fast travel is not a recommended tool of this game, because there is an insane amount of detail to the world, it would be a crime to pass it up. Stop while playing to really thinking about that dirty teddybear in that shell of a house, or the bodies hanging from spikes. It's the small details that are really well done.

The game pulls you in and keeps you in, right until the very end.

Although I admitted to liking the radio stations in my First Impressions, I must say I found myself tiring over the same five songs played ad nauseam. Bethesda would've done well to add a few more in!

Also in the category is voice acting, and is to say I was much more impressed this time around than I was with Oblivion. Besthesda has hired more than two voice actors for Fallout 3, and the quality in which they read the lines is much higher. Really adds to the immersion when you feel like the character you are talking with has true conviction behind what they have to say.

Amazing. Besthesda takes you on a ride from one twist to the next. Be sure to pay attention to the story when going through the main quest, and you won't be disappointed. Every step along the way is just as amazing a story to be told as the last. Some of my favorite points were: The illusionary world created by the mad german scientist of vault 118. The Little Lamplight Children and their small town. The reveal of the real Eden. And of course, the final decision to be made. Playing the game was comparable to reading a good book. I could not put it down!

Not mandatory, but good none the less, and with quite a few pop culture references to be thoroughly enjoyed! (That is, if you're like me, and like pop culture references). For instance, a quest called Those! that calls for you to deal with some large ants... clearly a spin on Them! And not just that, but hundreds of little gems lie in waiting all around the Capital Wasteland. It's well worth deviating from the main quest now and again to enjoy these.