1UP's Essential RPGs
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In a word, it's choice that makes Fallout 3 so terrific. But unlike choice in other games where it all comes down to a matter of making the good guy decision or the bad guy decision (I'm looking at you, BioWare), Fallout houses a number of multidimensional choices, some with deep ramifications. For instance, in one quest line, a group of ghouls (people who have become deformed due to radiation) wants to be allowed access into a private hotel where people are living but are kept out due to their appearance. Does that make the occupants bigots? Should you kill them all and allow the ghouls free passage, or should you listen to the residents' concerns that they would feel unsafe living alongside ghouls, whom they believe present a legitimate threat to their safety? Do you then kill the ghouls to prevent them from becoming violent to get what they want; do you talk them out of wanting to move in; do you convince the tenants there's nothing to be afraid of?
The radical number of options with which you can approach each situation you encounter in your travels, and the subsequent results, is mind-boggling -- don't even get me started on the decision to disarm or activate a nuclear bomb which will permanently wipe a major town off the map (thereby eliminating any and all quests and characters residing there). Think of it this way: When you can sit down and be captivated by hearing someone else's approach to the same scenario you found yourself in, the game is doing something right.
Combat is a major component of the game, and while it's hardly the game's strong suit, Bethesda should be commended for the seamless combination of real-time and turn-based combat. Fallout is more than happy to let you go at the action like you're playing a typical FPS, but it's not what I'd call the ideal setup -- real-time combat is a messy affair. Luckily, there's V.A.T.S. (the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System), which pauses time and allows you to pinpoint individual body parts for a slightly more turn-based, JRPG approach to combat (provided you have enough combat points). Swapping between the two combat methods is the most effective and most satisfying way of dispatching enemies. Aside from the strategic advantages that are presented by being able to take out a certain body part, it just looks cool -- particularly if you have the "Mysterious Stranger" perk, where a Dick Tracy-looking ally appears out of nowhere to blow your enemies away with a .44 before disappearing into nothingness once again.
Having played through the game twice on either end of the karma spectrum, I feel fairly safe in saying that Fallout 3 is worth both your time and money. The first DLC pack, Operation Anchorage, may have been somewhat disappointing due to being so combat heavy and easy, but the upcoming packs seem as if they'll focus more on what really makes Fallout 3 fun. Even if they don't pan out, what ships on the game's disc is an extremely well-crafted RPG that simply should not be missed.
