"It will be an Oblivion with guns." That is, without any doubt, the phrase that we have read and heard from Bethesda announced that the development of Fallout 3. A fear shared by the followers of the saga, watching a classic RPG cutting isometric perspective and became a hybrid of FPS and RPG with fighting in real time. Partly not lacked reason, because there is much in Fallout 3 that drink directly from Oblivion. But with shades, because there are enough elements that differentiate it from Bethesda's previous title, and making it a richer and more complex game.
As expected, the cornerstone on which Fallout 3 is a sustained incredibly realistic and comprehensive representation of a city reduced to rubble in Washington after a nuclear war. It is a post-apocalyptic world created with a sublime art, full of secrets and details that make continually discover new sub-arguments, quirky characters and information to illustrate the history of Capital Wasteland (the name given to the Washington DC area and the Potomac in the universe of Fallout Dystopian). It is not ridiculous to say that we are faced with one of the virtual worlds worked and more complete than have been created so far.
A representation which is quite curious, I might add. Fallout shows us an America steeped in the aesthetic and social standards from the'50s (including fear of communism), but in the middle 2077, with everything that that entails: domestic robots in homes, cars that run on fusion energy and laser weapons. Ironically computers are more kind 70s, with its green phosphorus monitors and their interfaces text.
The disaster starts forged 180 years before your birth, after a nuclear war caused by the Chinese invasion of Alaska and has reduced the world to rubble. Fallout 3 starts under the security of a bunker called Vault 101, of which nobody enters or leaves it in order to protect the wild outside. The opening bars of the game guide us through 19 years of your life, from your first birthday until adolescence, going through your first skirmishes with other kids who inhabit the refuge nuclear. However, do not spend a lot of time until, suddenly, everything takes a turn when your father escapes from the Vault 101 and you look forced to abandon it to go in their quest.
Once abroad discover a world in ruins in the premium that the sense of survival, a world without compassion, in which the weak have no place. While the start saves some similarities with the escape of Picard in the dungeons of Oblivion, once outside the safety of the bunker can not find beautiful green grass as in the previous game from Bethesda, but a gray and depressing scenario that scares for his loyalty with which we could imagine a similar situation.
But what makes a truly special Fallout 3 is the complete freedom with which leaves us confront survival in its inhospitable territory. A freedom that affects almost all areas of the game, from exploration to battle through the resolution of puzzles or manage our inventory. Take, for example, how to eliminate the watchtower of a complex that we blocked access. We could take the easier route and attack with a weapon more powerful than we have at that time. Or maybe we could talk to him and try to embaucarle to let us go without. We could even approach quietly on his back, hiding a grenade in his pocket and detonated from a distance. There are only three ways to approach the same problem, but the fact is that the game is open to test many other options.
All this is possible thanks to a refined interface, to which virtually modeled to enjoy in Oblivion. Renamed here as Pip-Boy 3000, takes the form of a gadget that will get to the top of the game and from which we can not only manage inventory and weapons, but the map of Capital Wasteland, information from the missions or the physical state the protagonist. Navigation he is quick and intuitive, a point which many other games should take an example.
The combat system is perhaps one of the most inspired Fallout 3. Based on a first-person perspective (with the option of choosing another in the third), the principle may seem like a FPS, at least until they discover the benefits of VATS (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System).
On one side allows you to display the fighting in a much more cinematic and dramatic, but the hybrid battle shift in real time and also requires taking a new approach to the fighting. Adding a large strategic component. To execute the action pauses and shows the different points of the body to which we can attack, along with percentages of success and angle that help us choose the best option. Normally we have enough action items to carry out three attacks using VATS, before the fight his way back in real time and action items will recharge.
This duality between fighting in shifts and real-time important a moderate and intelligent use of VATS, usually alternating with coverage attack the enemies before they can lash a fatal against us. And this must be added the shortage of ammunition, which will force us to be extremely careful and precise to locked in a battle. Perhaps this approach to action can be frustrating for players of traditional FPS, because the real-time combat is too fast and brutal, but the inclusion of VATS precisely to help make a significant difference between Fallout 3 and other games of this genre.
Fallout 3 Gameplay Video
Like any good role-playing game that is price, Fallout 3 gives the player a variety of tools to customize skills and experience acquired over the adventure. Maintaining the systems S.P.E.C.I.A.L. and Perks (advantages) from previous releases, with whom I set the points of experience to adapt the character to the way we play and get different qualities (specialization with certain types of weapons, capacity increase of inventory, new Options dialog, etc.).. But it is important to note that the maximum level to which they can aspire is 20, after which the fighting began to be easy, and that the customization options are far less comprehensive as in the previous two Fallout.
The question that will most Fallout fans of the saga is whether this third delivery in Bethesda has managed to maintain the level of excellence in the script that counted with the previous two. The answer is, unfortunately, not ... although she is extremely close. For example, one of the most remembered from previous releases were its continuous references to elements of popular culture today, something that Fallout 3 has virtually disappeared. But in general we can say that the work of screenwriters has been outstanding, both at history as the talks which are kept with the inhabitants of Capital Wasteland. And of course this is still that sense of morality in action, the real possibility of choosing different paths between good and evil, between selfishness of our very survival, or the attempt to sacrifice in order to get a second chance for a humanity in decline.
'Fallout 3' Screenshot 3
This is clearly represented in Megaton, the first human enclave that we will find after the flight of the Vault 101. This grimy city is hiding bars, shops or even a small religious cult, a perfect breeding ground to start to build our destiny. Ahead lies several secondary missions, some of which even contradict others and force us to make decisions that may lead to the destruction of the city or its preservation.
Technically Fallout 3 has everything you might expect from a new game generation. Its vastness makes no concessions to detail, fraught with distinctive and interactive, all represented with great loyalty through the use of an enhanced version of the engine of Oblivion. But just as was the case with him, it is also the origin of the worst aspect of Fallout 3: the third person in sight. It is inexplicable that, after complaints received, in Bethesda have not improved so as not to the feeling of being above the stage, or that the player animations are less coarse and more realistic. What is most frustrating is that the person in third person perspective does not add anything and could have been removed without any problems, eliminating the root one of the darkest days of the final outcome of the game.
The audio section is also noteworthy because it rests largely on the success of the atmosphere. The music is present in the game in the form of radio, which also can listen to hours of conversation with details that enrich the history and the universe Capital Wasteland. The contrasts are struggling with a mutant with laser guns while we hear of the 50 swing in the radio helps create that special and unique atmosphere that makes the game show.
The main problem that could have Fallout 3 (the tedium of carrying out repetitive actions) shall be dealt with by a multitude of secondary missions of varied nature, but above all with the feeling that the world revolves around our character, but we are a sheer element in it. The main route of the game is well-guided and can be overcome without the need to explore more, but in doing so we lose everything that hides in its giant mapping. There are always new exploring areas, new characters and more secrets to know which reveals the story. Counting the main mission and all the content side, Fallout 3 offers more than 60 hours of gameplay, which will join the downloadable content to add to shortly launch Bethesda (exclusively for Xbox 360). Besides the huge variety of incentives to take decisions that we return again and again to the game to take different paths to our previous game.
In any case, the final result to be obtained Bethesda is excellent and deserves to be recognized as one of the best games this year. The gameplay has been adjusted so perfect for both neophytes and connoisseurs of the saga will find things to their liking, the production values are excellent and the VATS is one of the best combat systems that have been seen in an RPG in recent years. The ambition and the care put into recreating a huge post-apocalyptic dystopia make Fallout 3 one of the most recommended titles of the moment, and one of those games where future development should take example on the way to get experience as a more comprehensive and comforting as possible.
Fallout 3 Developer Interview
Fallaout 3 is available on PC, XBOX360 and Playstation 3
My personal note about Fallout 3
I played Fallout 2, and loved it...even not being a next gen game, is one of the best rpg I have ever played (next to Balthurs Gate 1 and 2)
