Amazing Aim System

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect when trying out Fallout 3; I hadn't played any of the other titles, and the explanations I was given prior to starting out were sketchy at best. Stuck in 1950's culture? Sounded hokey, but it really worked when you become immersed in it. I began by opening the vault, something each Fallout game begins with, and ventured off into the wide world. The very wide world -- there was no real direction given, I could go anywhere I wanted. I exploded a few bees and dogs mole rats before stumbling into the first city. In the process, I gained level 2 where I could put stats into a variety of talents, such as explosives, melee and ranged weapons, and many social skills. I was also able to choose a boon; I picked "gun nut," which gave me an additional boost to firearms.

After that, I wandered around town seeking out information about my father, who'd left the vault before me. Through a mix of dialogue choices, I finally managed to find a delightful scumbag in a bar and got some details from him. Along the way I also accepted a quest to "disarm" the bomb in the centre of town; I suspect were I to blow it up as was hinted by my coworkers, there'd be nothing left for me to go back to. I wandered through some water unthinkingly, and realized the obvious: nuclear fallout means all food and water is irradiated, of course. I'd have to watch what I ate and drank carefully.

I opened up the menus and was pleased to see they were laid out with a viable bonanza of information and all neatly organized. It was extremely easy to change weapons, get healed up, and view my status with only a few movements of the analog sticks. I didn't fiddle with much myself, but Mikel later went in and changed style gear, equipment, healed on the fly during combat, and we listened to some chintzy radio too.

Dialogue Choice

Lastly, I set out to explore the region but ended up getting stuck on a wall. The helpful staff came over and suggested I recall away (the player can recall to any point of interest they've discovered), so I zipped back to the vault and then teleported to the nearby school, which hung the game. Guess I really am good at breaking things...but it is still in development after all, and just think: I found two bugs for them to fix for the final product!

Once the game was loaded again, I handed over controls to Mikel, who ran into some friendly bandits who were kind enough to give him some armour and weapons, including a flamethrower. This is where the macabre chuckling began, as Mikel quickly figured out the aiming system built into the game, and all three bandits went down one way while their seperated heads rolled another. Funny, but utterly disgusting. His crowning achievement came when a dog mole rat leaped towards him, he aimed with his flamethrower, and the dog was fried mid-air -- flying over Mikel's head and rolling down the hill behind him for several seconds. A pause as all three of us dropped our jaws, then insane giggling began.

Fallout 3 is a gritty, dark game with a cheeky sense of humour. Those that enjoyed the previous games will undoubtedly enjoy this one, and new fans can flock to the resurrected series.