Ive played Bioshock for a good 10 or 12 hours now and I can't help but see a good amount of similarities with Fallout. Now, Bioshock is obviously going to be different from Fallout 2 merely because it is in a different era of gaming and much more is possible, along with the fact that one is first person and one is a 3/4 overhead, turn-based game. However, it made me wonder how similar Fallout 3 will be to Bioshock, if it carries over many of the aspects that Fallout 1 and 2 did.

Obviously the greatest similarity is the 50s vibe that both games have, which is great. The songs from that time are a great contrast to the dystopian realities that both games are set in. From there you can also see a very similar skill description techniques. That being "yellow and white" basic cartoons that are comically non-violent in their style of decribing beating people with wrenches or rocket launchers. I can easily imagine Fallout 3's pipboy having a voice explaining skills in a short and sweet manor just as they are in Bioshock.

Next, Bioshock's weapons can be upgraded in a homemade manner, just like the weapons in fallout 2. After upgrading the Machine gun to have less kickback I couldn't help but think that it looked very similar to the extended magazines, scopes tied on , etc, in Fallout, in style at least.

Then, there is the concept similarity of the gameplay, in theory at least. There is the "defeat enemies how you want" idea. From melee to range to hacking nearby computers(and getting by automanted sucurity systems). Fallout also did the same thing with its skill progression, allowing you to upgrade whatever you wanted to do. This also leads to the "choose when to fight" aspect of the game, which both have.

You can even stretch the interactions with characters pretty far to say they are the same too. Imagine if a Big Daddy was like the muscle guarding a merchant. Then think of the hacking of a vending machine as being pickpocketing a merchant, you get more for less, and sometimes even things that you can't get normally(as in fallout you could take the merchants items that were on him, rather than what was on sale). And when enemies are fighting each other, you can stand back and watch, or help the losing side so that mop up is easier, which often happened in random encounters in Fallout 2.

I can't help but think that when Fallout 3 comes out its gonna be pretty similar to Bioshock. There will obviously be many differences. Bioshock has elemental powers, no NPC interactions, a camera, hacking minigames, etc. Fallout will(I would think) have radiation concerns, many NPC interactions, many more weapons and armor to choose from, levels, cannibalism, etc. However, I just thought I'd point out some of the similarities in Fallout and Bioshock as I didn't really think about this comparison before I actually played the game.