Review of: Fallout 3

Reviewer: David Lam

Title: Fallout 3

System: PlayStation 3/Xbox 360

Genre: Action RPG/First-Person Shooter

Here we have Fallout 3 a game that would appeal to people who enjoy role playing games and sandbox games. Fallout 3 centers around a post apocalyptic world during the 1950's. The world is in shambles as nuclear fallout has spread all across America. You are a member of something called a Vault. Vaults were built for protection against nukes and they are underground structures built to house and protect humans. Every vault is different ; some are ruled by tyrants and others infested with radioactive mutants.  Some vaults are filled with insane people and you play as a character which is customizable as male or female with different attributes.  You go through life as a vault member and eventually you get out after your dad disappears. You learn and experience the world outside meeting all different kinds of people and mutants in a 1950's setting. You experience the culture and see the new ways people survive. 

                There are many enemies some with weaknesses and strengths. Some die quickly to guns while robots for example die quickly to energy weapons. You search for your father however there are hundreds of quests that you can complete along the way. Each quest is different and they feature interesting characters and the game shows so much comedy. Some characters are quirky and funny while others show this scary insane psychological trauma they suffered as a result of the nuclear fallout. Soon you learn the ways to survive and every quest or decision you make brings karma. Good deeds bring good karma while bad deed do the opposite. Your karma affects how factions or group associate with you. The evil raiders will like you if you killed the town law enforcement although this would sentence the defenseless inhabitants to death. The law enforcers will welcome you for clearing out the raiders in the land. Every decision gives good compensation and bad consequences. Sometimes you make choices because of the moral influences in your life.

                The variety of weapons are limitless allowing for your to hack, shoot, and bludgeon your way to victory. You gain new abilities and new weapons with special abilities as you progress. For example the Rock-It launcher shoots random objects that you pick up like coffee mugs or lawn gnomes. This is very entertaining and very funny especially when you knock off a mutant's head with a lawn gnome.

                Fallout 3 is very bloody and gory because of the V.A.T.S. system. This allows the player to freeze the game and target enemies using their AP which determines the amount of targets you can hit. Once you select a target you can then select a body part to damage. The amount of times you shoot or hit the body part depends on the amount of AP you have. So you can specifically target an arm and it can become cripple making the enemy less accurate and deal less damage with melee weapons. When you destroy a limb or head it will either explode (head) or be severed and fall off (limbs). The weapons deal a lot of damage and it is appealing to freeze the game choose where to shoot your opponent. Fallout 3 has thousands of possible scenarios and secrets along with an interesting combat system. You can also choose to go third or first person and Fallout 3 gets an A for having fun game play and funny quests. It has a solid plot line along with great 1950's music.