In 1997, Interplay published Fallout, a post-apocalyptic role-playing game noted for
funny, challenging open-ended gameplay. A year earlier, Bethesda Softworks
released The Elder Scrolls II, a
fantasy RPG also praised for allowing players great freedom. Interplay is long
gone, but in 2006, Bethesda released Oblivion, an Elder Scrolls entry with cutting-edge visuals. Great acclaim
followed (for open-ended gameplay, natch) and Bethesda promptly purchased the Fallout franchise for an Oblivion-style makeover.
The result is a clever blend of
role-playing and first-person action. Sadly missing is much of Fallout's pervasive humor; better omissions are Oblivion's silly adaptive difficulty (your enemies were
always as powerful as you were) and too-generous character progression.
You'll begin Fallout 3 in Vault 101, a corporate bomb shelter sealed since
the Big One. Ejected into a post-nuke wasteland after your father escapes the
Vault, you might immediately follow in his footsteps or choose to explore an
irradiated landscape littered with needy victims and ruthless raiders. Moral
choices are reflected in how characters approach you down the road; embody
virtue or vice, and story options will invisibly disappear while others unfold.
Scripted characters provide quests and
storylines of impressive variety. You might recover a Stradivarius for an old
woman (and subsequently be able to tune a radio to hear her music) or track
down an android straight out of Blade Runner. Combat can be played in loose first-person style or using a targeting
system that displays successful hits in gory slow motion. And whether you're delving
into abandoned Vaults or invading the gorgeously crumbling Washington Monument,
the loving sense of design adds grimy appeal to the apocalypse.
Beyond the game: Your
paternal quest is the core story; once that's concluded, the game ends, full
stop. But that represents perhaps a quarter of the content. Play for 30 hours,
and you still might not find the downed UFO or explore the settlement dominated
by warring would-be superheroes.
Worth playing for: The
sense of possibility that pervades even when you know how the story "ends."
Frustration sets in when:
The in-game map is often useless due to unclear detail. The problem is
pronounced in downtown D.C., where you'll navigate countless dead ends,
invisible barriers, and shattered metro tunnels while attempting to recover the
Declaration Of Independence from robots dressed as the founding fathers.
Final judgment: A
massive, enthralling achievement.