Last week, I picked up Fallout 3, a sequel to some PC series that I had never played before. I’ve heard good things about the series, but the main reason I picked it up was that it was developed by Bethesda Softworks, creators of the awesome Oblivion. Despite its generic medieval setting, Oblivion had an “one more quest” addictiveness to it. I eventually got to be the head of all four guilds simultaneously as well as ruler of the Shivering Isles. I played a metric fuckton of Oblivion. In addition to the developer’s heritage, the “Leave It To Beaver” postapocalyptia setting also held a huge amount of appeal.

I don’t normally buy special editions of games, but for some reason, Fallout 3’s aesthetic immediately made me want an artbook to examine every facet of the environment. So I bought the special edition lunchbox package and I don’t regret it. The bobblehead is fun to poke, the DVD is included (that’s all I can say; I haven’t watched it yet), and the art book is awesome. The game comes in a lunchbox with that retro sensibility which permeates the entire package.


On to the game…

The opening of the game has both its ups and downs. I like how Bethesda masked the character creation with your birth and subsequent adolescence. Unfortunately, I still couldn’t make a character that didn’t look disgusting, so I can immediately find one thing for the developers to improve upon. There was also another frustration within the character creator, and that was that once you give your character a beard, even to simply see how it appears, your character could never go beardless again. You can change the style, but you cannot get rid of it. That, to me, is a huge oversight.

I also like how Qui-Gon Jinn ushers you through growing up, and the voicework is pretty good. Another problem carrying over from Oblivion is the stiff animations. The awkward movements of characters take me out of the immersive environment on occasion. The “You’re Special” book was a nice touch that helped me spec out my character, and I almost wish that had also come in the special edition lunchbox.

My biggest issue with the prologue to the game is that it does not readily prepare you for the outside Wastelands. It competently introduces the shooting and VATS mechanics, but it does not give you the resources to subsist outside of the vault. Everything collected before reaching age 19 is thrown out. In addition, I reverted back to some old Oblivion habits and did not pick up seemingly useless crap like the myriad plates and cups littering the vault. Unbeknownst to me, I would later be with no money to buy items later in the game.

This was due to the “Escape!” mission being oddly paced. You wake up, sirens blaring and the girl telling you to rush out of the vault and escape. So, naturally, I booked it for the vault entrance. I didn’t take time to find more than two scant weapons, and wasted most of my ammo helping out bully Butch’s mom. Everything about the mission screamed, “Get the fuck out!” rather than “Take your sweet time and gather resources and XP.” By the time I reached Megaton, I had nothing to sell, and therefore, nothing to buy. I was stranded. I didn’t have enough experience to make it across the Wastelands and complete other quests, despite numerous failed attempts to do so. It was frustrating, and I ended up having to break into a store and rob them just to get that nudge forward. Not exactly the nurturing start I was hoping for.

Soon after that, however, the game picked up extraordinarily. I now have a good arsenal of weaponry and armor. I found Dogmeat, nuked Megaton to a crisp, and traveled to the top of a dilapidated Washington Monument. The wastelands are a little bit too barren, brown, and static to excite me, but when you reach a unique location, the level design and art style show their amazing true colors.

The prologue is going to be aggravating to play through again, due to its sloth’s pace, but despite a frustrating start (I’m not sure whether to blame myself or the developers), Fallout 3 has turned into the best not-Rock Band 2 game of the year.