Fallout 3 Preview
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The next encounter, which saw Hines beset by two staggering radiation-zombies, known as ghouls, was dealt with using the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (or VATS) Bethesda's solution to the lack of pure turn-based combat. Freezing time, Hines was able to flick through the various enemies, queuing up shots on multiple ghouls. Having selected your targets, the view switches to an external camera, swooping in on the bullet-riddled bodies as they fly back in slow motion. A later encounter against some super-mutants, fought in a warren of dugouts lying between the shattered remnants of the Washington Monument and the Capitol building, illustrated how useful VATS can be, tipping off Hines to the presence of an enemy sneaking up behind.
While its combat credentials are fairly secure, previous demonstrations have done little to assure us that the writing is also up to the standard of previous Fallout games. Although this viewing focused largely on combat, we were shown developments to the opening section of the game, which sees the player growing up in a nuclear shelter, this time witnessing the protagonist's surprise tenth birthday party. It's a section designed to introduce the player to the kind of social interactions, depth of conversation, dialogue and consequences that Hines tells us persist throughout the later game.
