Fallout 3 Magazine Review
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The Capital Wasteland stretches for miles in every direction, and what you do now is your choice. The game nudges you towards Megaton, a nearby shanty town constructed from the remains of a crashed jumbo jet, but you needn't bother. The main 'quest' features the game's best set-pieces, but if you want to build stats, gather weapons and money to buy supplies, it's wise to attempt one of the game's myriad side quests. The wastes look barren and empty, but every few miles you'll bump into someone looking for help or an offer of work. Problem is, the side quests aren't that satisfying. You can spend an hour traipsing through a subway tunnel fighting giant ants, only to find some low-level loot and a handful of bottle caps (the game's currency) at the end. Quests that offer up moral quandaries result in little more than raised or lowered karma (your character's good/evil meter) and an underwhelming reward. In Oblivion you felt as if your choices were affecting communities, but the scope of your actions in Fallout is disappointingly limted.
By any other standards, the game's ripe with highlight. In a town called Canterbury Commons, two rival superheroes (the Antagoniser and the Mechanist) are at battle, turning the streets into a warzone and terrorizing its residents. The mayor asks for your help, and you end up battling through each hero's secret underground lair to end their reign of terror. You even get their ridiculous costumes as a reward if you finish the quest in a certain way. And working for the slavers (human slavery is rife in the world of Fallout) is deliciously evil; especially when you're tricking hapless eight year-old kids into a life over eternal, thankless servitude.
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Better than Oblivion?
Find out how F3 compares to Bethesda's epic RPG...
Is it better? Well, frankly, no, it improves a lot of gameplay niggles, but the overall experience is less consistently entertaining. And also, because so much is unchanged, it doesn't feel as fresh as Oblivion did when we first played it. The dialogue is a lot better, as are the character models. They're still ugly and slightly emotionless, but a far cry from the sloth-mouthed meat puppets of Cyrodiil. But the quests they give aren't as interesting or memorable. Remember stepping into the painting in Cheydinhal? Or pirates hijacking the Bloated Float? And the Dark Brotherhood quests? There's nothing nearly as imaginative or memorably in Fallout, save for a few key missions in the main quests.
And the environment's just not as much fun to explore. It's gorgeous, sure, but the sweeping fields of Oblivion were a joy to ramble in, unlike Fallout's desolate wasteland. Cyrodiil was split into distinct, varied regions - the mountains, the swamps, the forest - whereas DC is all grey gloom and lots of scattered debris and rubbled.
Things that are superior include the loading times (probably improved byu about 70%) and how you can wait for a different time of day without the game having load in all the 'night' textures. Ranged combat is also a lot more robust, although the AI is still incredibly dim, with enemies rarelu making intelligent use of cover during gunfights. There's a lot of negativity here, but if you loved Oblivion, you'll love Fallout 3. Simple. You just won't be as enthralled by the world.
