Ahh games season, this year is the worst I’ve seen in a while. We’ve had Need for Speed Undercover, Red Alert 3, Far Cry 2, Left for Dead, the list goes on. I will start this season with Fallout 3.
Let me begin by stating that I have NOT played Fallout 1 or 2. I’ve not entirely sure why, maybe I was too young when it came out, maybe I was too busy playing Team Fortress. However I am aware of how amazing everyone considers the games and I am well versed in the universe and story.
I say this because there appear to be two camps in the fallout 3 players universe. Those that hate it because it isn’t “true to the originals” and those that hate the first group. I don’t happen to be either.
So, Fallout 3. After what is possibly the most creative character creation processes I have experienced it is into the game proper. We have the usual tutorial process (how to walk, how to shoot) then the G.O.A.T. which is a fairly funny aptitude test which as far as I can see has no effect on the rest of the game. From discussion on several fan sites it also appears that the choices you make in S.P.E.C.I.A.L. (the stats system) really don’t make a huge amount of difference, far less that the originals.
I won’t bore you with the details so let’s just start when you leave Vault 101. I can honestly say that that I was blown away when I first left the vault and stood on a hill staring out across the wasteland. Maybe it was the openness after being stuck in the vault or just the sheer desolation I don’t know, but for the first time in a long while I had an emotional reaction to a game moment.
Unfortunately I had to stop at this point and turn down all my graphics settings. Running a 6 year old P4 and a 7800GS means I had to turn off most of the detail and turn the res down significantly (I’m now running in 1024×768). At these settings the game runs well, which is my main concern. My only issue so far has to do with draw distance. With my current settings enemies can fire at me outside the draw radius, meaning I get bullets and worse flying at me from non existant models. Zooming in pops the models but it is still disorientating. I don’t blame the game for this, having the ability to turn the settings down enough to run properly is a good thing. I am however looking forward to getting a new PC in the next few months so I can experience the game in all its glory.
Anyway, a quick jaunt to Megaton gets the game started proper. You start the main quest and start picking up side quests and very quickly hit your first moral dilemna. Fallout 3 has a Karma System, do good things, good karma, bad things, bad karma. The choice is normally fairly obvious, e.g. Kill Everyone to solve problem will give you bad karma, while talk the situation through will result in Good Karma. This adds up and certain NPCs will react to you differently. As a good player I get hunted mercilessly by Talon Mercenaries and there are apparently Enforcers which do the same for evil characters.
On the whole quests are fairly interesting. There are NO go kill 500 of X to get Y, which is nice. There is normally a bit of back story which adds some character. This backstory doesn’t necessarily stick rigidly to Fallout canon, which has pissed off a large number of fans of the original. As I’m new to the universe I don’t really care, the situations on the whole are entertaining and engaging. However the delivery and voice acting are fairly awful. In my case I just skim read the text and ignore the voices. It becomes really annoying the 5th time you hear the SAME voice coming from several different characters in game in the same flat manner. I would honestly expect a bit more emotion from someone who just MURDERED HIS PARENTS AND DRANK THEIR BLOOD, but maybe that’s just me.
As mentioned before most quests have a variety of ways to complete them. This usually comes down to the Good guy and Bad guy choices, but there are also occasions to use your speech/medicine or other skills to resolve the situation in alternate ways.
On to combat. In a word, uninspiring. V.A.T.S. in Fallout 3 is an attempt to bring turn based combat into an FPS. Basically push V, which will freeze the combat, target the various target parts and then click away. Each shot takes a certain number of “Action Points”. Once you are happy you push E, and your target shots are played out in slow motion. Your action points regenerate over time, after which you can rinse and repeat. You can fight in real time as well, V.A.T.S. is purely optional but I believe you will spend a lot of time there.
The main problem with this system is that the slow motion gets really old, really fast. The last game to use slow-mo well was Max Payne, but in a similar way you eventually end up spending all your time in slow-mo because it is the most efficient, safest way to fight, even though you are sick to death of watching it happen.
This wouldn’t be too much of a problem if real time combat was a legitimate alternative. It’s not. Combat in real time uses three times as much ammo and in most cases end up costing you more health than using V.A.T.S. However, when NOT using V.A.T.S. , most weapons are your standard FPS fare, your bullets go where your cursor is. In V.A.T.S. you have a percentage to hit different body parts, which is tied to stats, perks, weapon condition etc. Which means if you are trying to snipe someone in the head from range, DON’T use V.A.T.S.
To give you an idea, in most combat situations I will sneak around. As soon as I see the Caution warning, which means that someone or something is nearby, I will push V, which will zoom in on an enemy, if they are visible (this normally overcomes the getting shot at from outside view distance issue I mentioned before). Once I know where they are, I will try and line them up and hit them in the head with a ranged, scoped weapon without using V.A.T.S.
In sewers/rail tunnels etc I will normally run around, wait for something to aggro (yes I played WoW) then wait for them to get close. Once they are right in front of me I will hit V.A.T.S. and pop them in the head. If they survive, dodge/run away until my AP recharges and repeat.
That’s combat for you.
That’s about enough for now. I will start writing up some play/quest logs later.
