Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Rent it first"

First things first, Oblivion fans, if you're expecting to waltz into Fallout 3 and be welcomed into a world where you can become a professional monster slayer and overall bad-ass right off the bat, you're in for quite a shock. While made by the same developer, Fallout 3 and Oblivion couldn't be more different. Now, don't get me wrong about the classification I've gave this game. If you're persistent, this game could quite possibly become one of your favourite PS3 games.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves right away. We'll get back to my verdict later. We'll start with an overview of the game. Fallout 3 is a first-person (Or third-person if you want) shooter RPG and like all of Bethesda's RPGs, it's crammed full of things to do. Fallout 3 is a game based in a dystopian future, where a nuclear apocalypse has, pretty much, destroyed the world; or at least left it on it's last legs. Because even after this awful nuclear holocaust, mankind has found a way to survive. I think the voice-over at the start of the game puts it quite nicely: War never changes.

So naturally, in a post-nuclear-war-world we're in for quite a unique environment. And it certainly doesn't fail to impress. As soon as you step into the apocalyptic Washington D.C. (Or: "The Capital wasteland") the vista you're introduced to is beautiful in it's own strange sort of way.

As for the main story of the game, you play as a character that you create. Male or female? Caucasian, Hispanic maybe? What's their name? What kind of person will they become in the future? The way this character creation is introduced is quite ingenious. You start out as a baby, and before your father triumphantly announces your gender, it's up to you to decide. He then uses fancy machinery to determine what you'll look like in the future and most of the game. Once again, you decide what your character looks like. Then Dad says that he and Mam have been thinking about your name. What do you think of- and then you're left to decide the name. Undeniably an innovative character creation screen.

But sadly, in a cruel twist of fate, your mother dies during childbirth and that's not a spoiler. Smartly, the game then fast-forwards a year and now your a toddler taking his/her first steps. Dad helps you with this and you're introduced to the game's basic commands. When he leaves, you have to choose your S.P.E.C.I.A.L attributes, an acrostic for: Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. You have to distribute points into these attributes depending on what kind of character you want to become. After this, the game fast-forwards another 9 years to when your ten and you'll be introduced to other characters in this vault where you live. You live in an underground vault so that you are spared the nuclear holocaust. The only problem? No-one enters this vault. And no-one leaves. This segment basically introduces you to dialogue and the clever "Karma system" Which we'll get to later. Basically, with dialogue options, you can be a goody little two shoes, a mean dastardly villain, or be completely indifferent. You also get introduced to shooting here. You're going to be doing that a lot in this game.

Fast-forward again to adolescence and you're about to take the G.O.A.T, or, Generalised Occupational Aptitude Test. The G.O.A.T basically determines job placement in the vault, but in your case, it determines what your tag skills will be (The skills you excel at more than others.) The skills are: Barter, Big guns, energy weapons, explosives, lock-picking, Medicine, Melee weapons, Repair, Science, Small guns, Sneak, Speech and unarmed. The tag skills are what you're going to use to determine your play-style. You can change your skills at the end of the G.O.A.T don't worry. Barter, is to do with haggling prices with merchants and how much you can sell items for. Big guns, are your aptitude with large guns such as mini-guns. Energy weapons are your aptitude with weapons such as laser pistols and rifles. Explosives are your aptitude with weapons like grenades and mines and also your skill with disabling explosive based traps. Lock-picking determines how good you are at picking locks. Medicine is your skills with healing items. Melee weapons determines your aptitude with weapons like a baseball bat. Repair is your skill at repairing your items and things like broken doors. Science is your skill with accessing data terminals etc. Small guns is your skill with weapons like pistols and assault rifles. Sneak is your skill that determines how good you are at stealth. Speech is your skill at influencing people through dialogue, getting them to spill the beans about info they might not want to share. Finally, unarmed is your skill at bare knuckle fighting, or with the aid of weapons such as brass knuckles. Yeah... Big choice.

Fast-forward again and, oh noes! Dad's gone missing and everyone in the vault hates you. So, long story short, you get out of the vault and you get the choice to go after dad, or just do whatever the heck you want. Don't be too hasty in your decision. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

When you leave the vault your also introduced to levelling up, where you can put skill points in your skills and choose perks that give different bonuses depending on your character build. Good with computers? Science perks will be unveiled to you. Charismatic individual? Speech perks become available. As you can see, the whole character system is very, VERY detailed. In a VERY good way.

But now is when, the poop hits the fan and the game let's go of your hand and leaves you alone in the capital wasteland without a clue of what to do to get your character better at his/her skills. NOT a good thing.

Now the game gets HARD. And when I say HARD, I mean HARD. If you don't know exactly what to do or where to go to be able to survive. You're going to be stuck. It suits the purpose of the game really, the Capital Wasteland is a harsh, unforgiving place. It was never going to be easy. But this is just ridiculous.

The difficulty is so ludicrous this early in the game, that you'd be forgiven for throwing your controller at the wall. Want to explore the wasteland? Chances are you're going to get shot by raiders. Want to do a side-quest? Chances are it will contain enemies just too powerful for your level. There really isn't much room to manoeuvre in the beginning and for an RPG, that is not good. This unrelenting difficulty and harshness for beginners is easily enough to put people off and it's mainly the reason I've only gave this game an eight. However, if you're persistent and get through the cruel stages of the beginning, an absolutely superb game is unveiled to you.

It's also worth mentioning that the game does slow-down and lag at points, but other than that, the game is quite good on this front. Load times are surprisingly quick (Unless you've got all the expansions installed) and I've only noticed short crashes at a certain location.

One final bad point is the issue of money. At the start, you are genuinely clueless on how to get money. The currency in Fallout 3 is bottle-caps and they really are few and far between in the Capital Wasteland. You're not going to get caps much, you'll need to know where to look. Another problem this game has. The best option is to scavenge random items and sell them. This is the best way to get rich. Fallout rich. Which ain't that rich.

But I digress, when you get through the torturous stages of the beginning, you're going to love this game and be enthralled from beginning to end. The reason I know you'll love it is because if you were willing to bear the first stages of the game, then you at least see something in it. So, when you become the character you want to become and know how to deal with the menaces of the wasteland, the options are endless.

You could explore the strangely beautiful locales of post-apocalypse D.C. and experience all kinds of off the record adventures. For example visit a seemingly harmless town... With a disturbing secret. Or go to a settlement perched on a ruined highway. Perhaps explore the cleverly named "Bethesda ruins"? Or maybe you just want to visit an outdoor baseball court. And knock off a raider's head. Endless opportunities for fun!

Or you could do some side-quests, all unique and all with rewards. Continue with the main-story which is actually quite intriguing. It motivates you to complete it. The main quest also stems into other side-quests and attractions, subtlety nudging you along. Very smart.

As you explore the wasteland, naturally, you're going to make a reputation for yourself. Enter the karma system. Perform good deeds, for example, save a captive from a band of super mutants and people will begin to like you and maybe even reward you! Some might not approve though... You can't make friends without making enemies. Enter the Talon company mercenaries who want to kill you for being a nice guy.

You could be an evil villain, performing random acts of violence, become overlord of the wastes! People will hate you, but some will actually like you. Take the slavers for example, who kidnap people and turn them into slaves. You can become a slaver if you feel inclined. However, regulators won't like you, the opposite of Talon mercs, they erase bad guys from the world.

Finally, interestingly enough, you could be neutral, Indifferent and not really involving yourself in situations in the wastes. You stay under the radar of people who want you dead, but people won't feel inclined to reward you for anything.

Also, there's a wide-range of irradiated enemies in the wastes. Plenty to whet your blade with... Or baseball bat. There's the raiders, sadistic humans who like torture and killing. There's the super mutants who just want control of the wastes. And of course there's just odd looking irradiated creatures like Yao Guai's powerful evolutions of the black bear. A lot of variation.

Overall there's so much to talk about in Fallout 3 that it's genuinely difficult to list them all in this review. You'll just have to experience the game for yourself to see all it has to offer. All of the stuff that is on offer is innovative and genius. Unique even for Bethesda.

Now for the verdict. Fallout 3 is a treasure trove of opportunities for you to sink your teeth into but an unrelenting difficulty and harshness for beginners drags this gem down and makes it a very divisive title. Definitely, only for those who are persistent and are determined to see what Fallout 3 is for what it is. In the end these two glaring issues are what drag the title down and prevent it from being one of PS3's greatest games. However, if you are willing to see Fallout 3 through, and get past the cruel early stages, you will see a glowing goldmine. A wealth of shining innovation. A PS3 legend hidden behind a protective layer of difficulty and cruelty. If you are willing to see through this protective layer, you'll see an investment you won't regret and a truly brilliant game.

I've said "Rent it first" So that you know what you're getting yourself into if you get this game. If you can't handle the intense difficulty at the start, you're best leaving this game alone, but if you think you can, then go for it. Buy the game and prepare for an experience like which you've never experienced before.