Fallout 3

Fallout 3 is an action role-playing game released by Bethesda Game Studios. It is the third major game in the Fallout series, which has also spawned the spin-offs Fallout Tactics and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. The game was released in North America on October 28, 2008, in Europe and Australia on October 30, 2008, and in the United Kingdom and Ireland on October 31, 2008. It is available on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 video game consoles as well as the Windows operating system.

Fallout 3 takes place in the year 2277, 36 years after the setting of Fallout 2 and 200 years after the nuclear war that devastated the game’s world. The game places the player in the role of an inhabitant of Vault 101, a survival shelter designed to protect a small number of humans from the nuclear fallout. When the player’s father disappears in mysterious circumstances, the player is forced to escape from the Vault and journey into the ruins of Washington D.C. to track him down. Along the way the player is assisted by a number of other human survivors and must battle a myriad of enemies that now inhabit the wasteland. The game has an attribute and combat system typical of an action role-playing game but also incorporates elements of first-person shooter and survival horror games.

Following its release, Fallout 3 received a positive response from critics who praised in particular the game’s open-ended gameplay and flexible character-levelling system. It has been compared to the 2007 video game BioShock for its setting and use of elements from mid-twentieth century American culture. Critics have also noted several flaws in the game, such as the lack of precision in real-time combat and numerous glitches and crashes that can affect the player’s progression through the game. Public reception was overwhelmingly positive on release according to the game’s high sales figures, particularly when compared to previous titles in the Fallout series.

Gameplay

The game features an ability to toggle from first-person to third-person perspectives. Main character creation occurs as the player experiences the character’s childhood. As a child in the Vault, the character reads a book titled “You’re SPECIAL”, where upon reading the player can set the character’s seven primary attributes or “Special Stats,” (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck). The character receives weapons training and a PIP-Boy 3000 later on during childhood, and the player’s performance in various tests suggests a set of skills for the character. Additionally, several quests inside the Vault influence the player character’s relationship with his or her acquaintances. Skills and Perks are similar to those in previous games: the player chooses three “Tag” Skills out of a total of 13 to be the character’s specialties. The maximum level the player can achieve is level 20; every level up, a new perk can be selected, each offering advantages of varying quality and form. The Traits from the previous Fallout installments, slightly modified, were combined with Perks in Fallout 3, and the player can choose a new Perk each time after gaining a level.

The game world itself is similar in size to that of Oblivion, which has a 16-square-mile (41 km2) game world. It also makes notable reference to other works of science fiction like Dune and Mad Max. The game features a new health and radiation system as well. The player can measure an object’s radioactivity and gauge the effect it will have on the character.

V.A.T.S.

The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S., plays an important part in the fighting phases of the game. While using VATS, real-time combat is paused, and action is played out from varying camera angles in a computer graphics version of ‘bullet time’, creating a combat system that the Bethesda developers have described as a hybrid between turn-based and real-time combat. Various actions cost action points, limiting the actions of each combatant during a turn, and both the player and enemies can target specific body areas for attacks to inflict specific injuries.

Item decay and custom-made weapons

Another game mechanic is item degradation. The more weapons and armor are used and damaged in combat, the more they lose their effectiveness. Firearms slow their rate of fire and do less damage, and apparel becomes gradually less protective. Items can be repaired for a price from special vendors, or if the player has two of the same item, one of the two can be salvaged to repair the other. The Repair skill must be at a certain level to repair an item beyond a certain level of degradation.

Players also have the option to create their own weaponry using various scavenged items found in the wasteland. These items can only be created at workbenches, if the player also possesses the necessary schematics. These weapons include melee, a variety of ranged and several extremely explosive devices. There are 3 versions for each Schematic, making the related weapon stronger and more durable. These Schematics are only found in certain locations, either on the ground, sold by some vendors or offered as quest rewards.

Team members

The player can have a maximum party of three, consisting of himself or herself, a dog named Dogmeat, and a single non-player character or NPC. Dogmeat can be killed during the game if the player misuses him or places him in a severely dangerous situation and he cannot be replaced; it is possible to not encounter Dogmeat at all depending on how the game is played. One other NPC can travel with the player at any time, and in order to get another NPC to travel, the first one must be dismissed by the player.

Karma system

The karma system is an important feature in the gameplay. The player’s actions, including conversation and combat choices, affect the player’s status in the game world. A player who makes morally good choices will be received more positively by “good” NPCs, and more negatively by “evil” NPCs; however, the reverse is also true: a player that makes morally bad choices will be received more positively by “evil” NPCs and more negatively by “good” NPCs. Quest choices can also have more extreme repercussions on karma; for instance, the player is given the choice of destroying an entire city for a quest, and this single action gives a great deal of negative karma. Extremes of karma have certain effects: a high karma leads to the player being attacked by bounty hunters, and for random NPCs to give the player gifts in thanks of their service. Crimes can also be committed by a player, and whichever faction or group that is harmed by a crime will be fully aware of the player’s action. Other factions that were not affected by the crime will not be aware of it, and since a town is usually its own faction, news of a crime committed in one town will not spread to another. Factions can range in size and boundaries, however, and may not be restricted to a single area.

More Information

• Developer(s)  Bethesda Game Studios, 2K Games
• Publisher(s)  Bethesda Softworks, ZeniMax Media
• Designer(s)  Emil Pagliarulo (Lead Designer), Todd Howard (Exec. Producer)
• Composer(s)  Inon Zur
• Series  Fallout
• Engine  Gamebryo engine
• Version  1.0.0.15(as of November 6, 2008)
• Platform(s)  Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
• Release date(s)  NA October 28, 2008
• Genre(s)  Action role-playing game
• Mode(s)  Single-player

Links

• Fallout 3 Official Website
• Fallout 3