Fall out 3: Game of the Year Edition

I already reviewed the old school Fallout. Now it’s time for the new school. I wanted to wait until I got my hands on the newest edition so I can review the DLC that came out too. So with out futher adeu,

Fallout 3 was produced by Bethsoda, same people who produced Oblivion. An action RPG steeped in lore that the bombs fell around 2077, (yet somehow the feel of the world then was still stuck in the 1950s, which gives the game a certain charm) There’s lasers, mutants, and War, cause war never changes. (you know I have to put that last part in there somehow) The new edition came out about a year after the original which includes all of the DLC.

Overall Design: Bethesda hit the nail on the head with this one. Although not a direct sequel to the previous games released by Interplay, it’s still resonates the same style and sense of humor, and atmosphere the originals had. In brief blips here and there (and in a mission or two) it does connect this story with it's previous ones, so that helps to keep things canon. Thankfully though the plot of having to save a village because it was dying like the last two canonical games was cut. It looks fantastic and plays fantastic too. It’s one of those games that’s gonna suck you in, so you better be ready for the ride.

Game Mechanic Design:
The Good: Very little complaints. Character and world design are almost photorealistic at times. Physics are believable (rare exceptions here, and even then, the awesome factor comes in, so you can forgive it) , the look and feel of how D.C. would look after nuclear fall out is believable. Sometimes you’ll get a little hiccup here and there when you’re scaling rocks, but that’s to be expected. The play area is so massive that you’ll spend hours just exploring the obliterated Capital Wasteland. You could run and gun, sneak, negotiate, there’s many ways to play through this game.
The Bad: Unfortunately if you’ve played Oblivion, you know what to expect. There are a lot of similarities between the two games, and that’s what some people were concerned with. Fortunately though they change things up a bit and had a couple different things to do that Oblivion did not – it doesn’t feel like a reskin of Oblivion with a different name thankfully. The worst that comes down to are a few glitches here and there between enemies, or items in the environments. But nothing that totally threw my interest from the game.

Game Play:
Like I said before, you can play this game a few different ways depending on battle preferences and the Stats you chose in the SPECIAL system (the system you allocate your points in, Strength, Perception, etc.). This adds to the replay value of the game many times over. Soon enough once starting the game anew I found myself playing two different records with two very different people just to see how things would turn out. The game is so in depth and there’s so much to do that it’s almost overwhelming to those not use to a sandbox kind of game that this is.

Story:
The main quest alone is pretty straightforward and can be completed rather quickly. What I love about the game is that you're happening upon other people and communities in the wasteland that give you missions of one sort another that help define the world your living in, and the character you're creating. Yes, the main story itself is kinda linear, but what you should be looking for is how you can affect the world your playing in, and live your own story through what they give you.

Voice Acting:
There are a couple notable actors among the cast (Liam Nelson as the Father of your character, and Ron Perlman as the narrator) but you’ll tend to notice a lot of the general population have similar voices. Considering the amount of people (human and otherwise) that are in the game (this was also seen in Oblivion as well) I wasn’t too surprised. It’s improved since Oblivion, but it’s still noticeable.

Replay value:
If you’re looking for a game you really want to invest some time in, and/or are tired of the 8-10 hour games, and want some meat, this is no doubt the game for you. I’ve easily logged about 100 hrs between the two characters I created not including the DLC I got with the Game of the Year Edition.And I'm still not done exploring the game.

Additional Notes/Warnings:
This section is new. It will detail changes made from the addition of DLC or other items that don’t fit into other categories. Sadly my biggest grip with the new edition is that it’s gotten a bit more choppy, has slightly longer loading times, and the worst of it all… the game tends to freeze on occasion. Before adding the new DLC these things were never an issue. After updating the firmware of the PS3 these issues became less frequent, but were still there. The only way I think this could be avoided is starting a brand new record with the new edition (I was using previously made characters from the regular edition) and I know early on there were some compatability issues from using old records with the new edition, so that could solve the additional bugs right there.

Down-loadable Content (DLC): There were five different piece of DLC for the game. Now that more than double what they put out for Oblivion, but they vary in content and polish, thus why I can’t just give a sweeping generalization for all of them. I put them in order in which they were released.

Operation Anchorage: No. 1 – Turns the game more into a shooting fest. You’re put into a simulator which you have to complete in order to access a weapons/ equipment vault for the Brotherhood Outcasts. The simulator throws you back to pre-war times fighting Chinese communists. It’s a run and gun scenario that doesn’t really have a place in the actual storyline other than given you some more insight to where some things, like the Brotherhood power armor, actually came from in the lore of the world. Being in a "simulator" ammo, health, and things like that are all almost like TF2 style as you run-gun through the simulation – so it becomes a game within a game. At the end you get you choice of cool equipment you experienced in the simulator. Overall i twas okay, but really takes a different path from the original game, and makes it kinda blah.

The Pit: No 2. Takes you out of the Wasteland and to Pittsburg where a shoddy government has slaves working toward some kind of cure for a crazy disease. You chose to either side with the slaves, or the “king” of the pit. This one is a little more atune to the story but doesn’t have more than a couple of missions, and gives you some new weapons and armor. In the end you get access to a steel mill to make ammo for your weapons, but you have to acquire pats and unused ammo for this to work, so unless you're a full time scavenger already, it's almost worthless. Again, okay, but something I could live without.

Broken Steel No.3 This was the big one because not only does it bypass the original ending that people were furious over, but it raises the LV cap of your character to 30. This continues the original storyline and you’re cleaning up the Enclave with the rest of the brotherhood. Again, little more than a few extra missions and some new weapons, but it definitely shines in some places and it actually feels like a true progression of the main storyline instead of some tacked on missions.

Point Lookout: No. 4 – You travel to Point Lookout Maryland, at first to find a womans daughter who gone missing, and get wrapped up in the politics and strange happenings of the local swap populatice and religious zealots. This one has a map you can actually explore to some length, albeit its only ¼ of the wasteland map, but you got new weapons, new missions that actually affect some things around P.L. that also extend back to the wasteland. In short it’s a worthy addition to the game.My only complaint is that it seems the enemies are a lot harder than they should be. This could be wrote off as some kind of elemental factor making them stronger, or an oversight by game developers, or an intentional oversight to make it more difficult. You decide.

Mothership Zeta: No.5 - Abducted by aliens and having to survive and take over their ship with a few other fellow detainees. It’s quite the sci-fi adventure and a little departure from the Fallout Formula. My favorite moments came out of the unexpected twists and turns during the exploration of the ship, and the addition of NCPs helping you out, doing some space walking, and yes, even some ship to ship battling. Also has some cool weapons and new healing items. Overall another set of missions disgused by shinny flashy things, with some new fresh elements to the series for its last installment.

Overall the game is definetly a must play. I would recommend getting the Game of the Year Edition because once you fall in love with the game, you’re going to want to play it as much as you can. Easily all of the segments together added about 20 hrs or so of gameplay. And of course I’m playing two records, so that’s what, 40 hrs? On top of the 80 I already had? I think 120 hrs is worth the $60 price tag. Especially in the recent wave of pretty games that last barely 15 hrs, Bethesda has produced another quality product.