Eight Months of Gaming

Anandtech looks ahead for eight months at some of the exceptional games coming our way. Included are (for this month) Mass Effect's PC port and (for autumn) Fallout 3.
Fallout 3 is a game that needs no introduction - at least if you're a PC gamer and have been around a while. If you're not a PC gamer and have stuck mainly to consoles through the years, chances are the only taste of the beloved Fallout series you got was a hack-n-slash spinoff Brotherhood of Steel, released in 2004. In all fairness, let's forget I mentioned that game, shall we? The original Fallout game made its debut in 1997 and is still referred to by many as the RPG to end all RPG's. A year later, Fallout 2 was released, thus turning the Fallout name into a franchise that would rival the likes of the ever popular Diablo series. Now, ten years later, the third installment in the series surfaces as Bethesda Softworks (maker of The Elder Scrolls series) takes the reigns. Much has changed, but Bethesda has made it clear that they are not looking to create The Elder Scrolls: Fallout.

While Fallout 3 might be referred to as a first person shooter, its cult followers know better. The game is very much an RPG with deep statistical character progression that will result in a different experience for each gamer who plays it. In this role-playing experience of epic proportions, the story unfolds thirty years after the events in Fallout 2. The year is 2050 and Vault 101 where your character's lineage took refuge during a nuclear holocaust is now open. In an attempt to investigate the disappearance your father, you emerge into the mutant-ridden wasteland that is Washington D.C. While there are countless ways to play Fallout 3, Bethesda has made sure that the outcome is also varied. In fact, there will apparently be 200 ending scenarios. So, if you're the type of gamer whose goal will be experiencing each ending, this may well be the last game you buy! Look for Fallout 3 on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 later this year sometime between Halloween and Christmas.