Fallout 3

XBOX 360 PlayStation 3 Microsoft Windows

ESRB Rating: M

BBFC Rating: 18

PEGI Rating: 18+

OFLC Australia: MA15+

OFLC New Zealand: 18+

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

Engine: Gamebryo (Oblivion, Warhammer Online, Civilization 4)

Reviewed on: XBOX 360

Spoiler Free

Mature Language (Keep in mind, this is an ESRB M rated game so kids shouldn’t be playing this in the first place)

The Review:

You’re suddenly awakened out of a nap and are told that your dad has left the vault, his assistant has been killed, and you’re next. Within 5 minutes you’ve left the only life you’ve known behind forever. The great expanse of the Capital Wasteland first greets you with a sign that points you to a scenic overlook. As you first set eyes on your new home you realize something, you’ve never played a game like this before, but that it’s a good thing, a really really good thing.

Bethesda’s Fallout 3 comes 10 years real time and 36 years game time (it takes place in 2277) after Interplay’s 1998 hit, Fallout 2. Along with a new location, new characters, and new missions comes a new game design. Gone is the isometric top down view and in is the first person view. Bethesda really went for more of an action oriented game than an RPG oriented game yet does not alienate fans of the first 2 games. You start out being born, and after questioning how two Caucasian parents could end up with a Hispanic child, you are soon witness to your mothers death.

Flash forward 1 year and your dad leaves you alone. As a future explorer you decide its best to escape your cage and wander around the room. The first book you come across is You’re SPECIAL. Flipping through the pages edits the SPECIAL (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, Luck) aptitudes and will be with you the rest of the game. Flash forward to your 10th birthday and you’re thrown a surprise birthday party. You receive 2 main gifts, a Pip-Boy 3000 and a BB Gun, both of which will remain with you for the rest of the game (well you can get rid of the BB Gun but it doesn’t weigh much and does a significant amount of damage in comparison to some of the other weapons in the game)

Flash forward 6 more years and you find yourself taking the GOAT or the Generalized Occupational Aptitude Test. The results of this test are to show you what job you will have in the future but more importantly allows you to choose (or get assigned) three main skills. There are 14 skills that range from Lock Pick to Sneak and can be edited every time you level up. At every level up you also get to select one perk, which gives you a bonus in at least one skill set.

It’s on a fateful day 3 years later (you are 19 by now) that your dad leaves the vault for unknown reasons. You are led to believe that your life is in danger and the only way out is to leave everything behind. You grab what little possessions you have and find yourself in a new world, full of radiation-enhanced creatures, mutated humans, and hookers, lots and lots of hookers.

While certainly not the first FPS RPG game, it is the first game that incorporates a turn-based style action mode that a user can activate anytime called VATS. VATS stands for Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System and gives users the ability to pause the game, select which part of the body to attack at, and then have the game attack for them.

I used VATS more often then not and despite my previous reservations, found that VATS was my friend and that I should use it as often as possible. VATS isn’t free however and costs Action Points which can be replenished over time or by the use of drugs such as Jet. Drugs such as Jet, Psycho, RadAway, and Rad-X all play in a significant part of the game and while they may help you temporarily you can easily get addicted to them if you take too many in a short amount of time. While a doctor can easily fix your addictions for 50 caps, you won’t find a doctor in the middle of the wasteland and will have to travel to a city to get healed and back on track.

Weapons are certainly not hard to come by in the Wasteland and with enough knowledge you can even make your own. While you don’t have to make any weapons yourself (I myself never actually made one and instead opted to only use what I found) there are bonuses for making your own as you can use what miscellaneous and otherwise useless items in the wasteland into your own personal ammunition. Weapons do degrade overtime and must be repaired over time. I did find this particularly annoying due to the fact that weapons degraded at a much faster rate than they would in real life (then again this game takes place in 2277 and isn’t trying to be realistic by any means) yet it did add a sense of realism that sets it apart from other FPS games.

The Wasteland itself is about 16 square miles and is similar in size to Oblivion (Bethesda’s previous RPG game). While it is in no way as large as Far Cry 2 (or for that matter True Crime: Streets of LA), the size is just right, and offers the ability to fast-travel to areas already discovered. While you may expect a nuked out area to be nothing more than dust and grime, quite the opposite is the Capital Wasteland. Cities (rather a group of buildings inhabited from everything from little children to super mutants), landmarks, and ruins scatter the Wasteland and do give the wasteland much needed variety.

Surrounded by open desert and small cities is Washington DC, complete with Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and the Capital Building, just to name a few of the more touristy spots. The city is large and plays just as much of a character as all the other NPC’s do. While you can traverse the city on the streets and alleyways there is a Metro subway system that you can also take (the subways of course don’t work however they provide an easy way to get from point a to b nonetheless). The subway systems are themselves filled with

Radiation in the Wasteland is just as much as an enemy as a Mirelurk or a Mole Rat (as expected though in a nuked out city). Radiation is most commonly found in water yet can be found in food, drink, and even in the air in some areas. Medications like Radaway will get rid of radiation and keep sickness in check. The pip-boy doubles as a Geiger counter and tells you how much radiation your are being exposed to and how much radiation you have suffered. Food is often a double edged sword and while it does replenish a small amount of health it also adds a small amount of radiation.

Let’s face it, just as in the real world, the wasteland is filled with horrible people willing to do horrible things, whether you give into a life of crime, killing, and stealing or follow your dads example of selflessness, virtue, and truthfulness is up to you. Nothing stops you from purchasing an assault rifle and absolutely tearing a city apart, killing moms, dads, sisters, brothers, sons, and daughters alike but there is one thing you gain by being good, karma. Just as in real life, karma’s a bitch and having good karma on your side can help you out in some sticky situations.

Just as in Oblivion, there are several side missions and while I refuse to go into any detail due to the spoiler free nature of this review I can tell you that they offer a great variety and often are just as enthralling as the main quest itself.

Without spoiling the game I can tell you that the game’s plot is very solid and full of twists and turns. It is one of the most gripping storylines out there and does not disappoint. The end climax is amazing and if there had been the right conditions I may have orgasmed.

Fallout 3 keeps Fallout 1 and Fallout 2’s 50 and 60’s style graphics and is filled with robotic servants and 80’s style computer terminals. While some question why a world set 270 years in the future would look so retro I love the theme and found it very modern at the same time. Cars and electronic equipment litter the streets and buildings of the wasteland and remind me of what people in the 50’s would have thought to be the future.

The Nitty Gritty:

Graphics:
9/10
The game simply looks amazing. While other games may have skimped down resolution on textures on buildings and other non-focal points, Bethesda does a great job of making you feel just as apart of the wasteland as the player him or herself.
While they do a great job with the background elements I did feel the character animations lacked a sense of life that otherwise would’ve given this a 10/10 rating.
This being said I have seen gameplay on the PS3 as well as a high-end PC and can say that while the 360 and PS3 game look virtually the same, the PC is a major leap in graphics and if you have the rig to handle it, I would definitely pick up the PC version if the best graphics are a must have.

Audio:
9/10
While there is no full on background music (which I love) the music from the radio is great and kept me company through more than one onslaught of Raiders.
The voice acting is top-notch and the narration by Ron Perlman is immaculate.

Length:
8/10
It took me 9 and a half hours to complete the main mission of the game, and the side missions add on hours and hours of gametime. To fully 100% the game I would expect the average gamer to take anywhere from 4-5 weeks.

Replayability:
9/10
Once you complete one of the many endings you should try all over again and get a whole new one, with new skills, new attributes, and a new attitude.

Gameplay:
10/10
It’s rare to find just the right amount of action and adventure and role playing in a game, and Fallout 3 is perfection. Dare I say it’s even better than Deus Ex?

Overall:
9.5/10
The game is amazing and is a must pick up for those that like FPS, Adventure, and RPG games. Fans of the first two and players totally new to the Fallout realm will find the game equally as exciting and exhilarating. This game is easily worth the $59.99 (£49.99 and €69.99) price tag and will not disappoint. I give this game the game of the month over Fable 2, Dead Space, LittleBigPlanet, Far Cry 2, and Jillian Michael’s Fitness Ultimatum 2009.

Game of the month:
Being October’s game of the month pits it in competition with the other game of the months to determine what will be my game of the year.
Game of the months:

January: Burnout Paradise (360, PS3)

February: Devil May Cry 4 (360, PS3)

March: Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (360, PS3)/Super Smash Brothers Brawl (Wii)

April: Grand Theft Auto IV (360, PS3)

May: Mass Effect (PC)

June: Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3)

July: Soul Caliber IV (360, PS3)

August: Madden 09 (360, PS3 versions)

September: Spore (PC)

October: Fallout 3 (360, PS3, PC)

Well, if you have all seen on Xbox 360 Dashboard, there is a special edition Zune that is going to be released in next Friday (November 7th). It is a 120GB Zune that has some actual special things about it.

1) Engraved Crimson Omen

2) Preloaded with Making of Videos

3) 244 images of Game Art/Concept Art

4) Complete Gears of War Soundtrack

I own a Zune (30GB) and there is so much to love about it. I know, I know, iPod is more popular. But you have to remember Microsoft owns Zune, and has publishing rights to Gears of War. Lets take a run down on what features are available STANDARD on a Zune compared to an iPod:

File Compatibility

Lets be honest. Zune has better features, and yes, I know… it seems like I’m a M$ fanboy, but I’m not. Just to let you all know I run Fedora Core 9 and Ubuntu Linux running WINE so that I can sync my music and movies (it took some frustration and time to get it to install correctly)

One more thing to note that is you can use the sync cable in your HugeBox 360 and listen to your music while you game, or heck you can view/listen to anything on the Zune that is connected.

There are a few downside to my Zune. It is difficult to find Zune compatible products in a retail store (i.e. dockable speakers, cases, syncing cables) unless I do find them and want to pay an arm and a leg for them due to their rarity.

As for the Special Edition Zune you can check out the official website here:
http://www.zune.net/en-us/products/zuneplayers/gearsofwar2/default.htm
and you can pre-order at Zune Originals, Amazon.com, or Walmart.com.

I love my Zune and if you can find someone with one, test drive it, you will love it!

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS LANGUAGE THAT MAY NOT BE APPROPRIATE FOR MINORS (then again, the game itself may not be appropriate for minors, in fact, it isn’t appropriate for minors. This will also be a much more unbiased and unopinionated review than G-Nitro’s.

You’re in the middle of a busy downtown intersection. You wait for it, wait for it, and then BAM you get hit by a speeding car that sends you flying 30 feet in the air and 50 feet away. You immediatly get up and try to do the exact same thing again, it never dawns on you that instead of defrauding an insurance company by feigning injury, you would most very likely need insurance money as you would actually be injured and require major medical attention. It’s just another day in Stilwater though, and wackiness aside, shit’s about to get serious.

The question everybody keeps asking me is this: Is it as good as GTA IV? While it isn’t as good of an overall game as GTA IV is, it’s not trying to be. While it’s inevitable that one will eventually compare the two, it’s made very clear from the start: Saints Row 2 isn’t trying to copy IV at all.

The Background:
The game starts 5 years after the conclusion of Saints Row 1. You’re character awakes from a coma and finds himself/herself in a prison infirmary ward on life support at the request of Tony Bradshaw, who rose to the rank of Police Chief. Carlos, a brother of one of the Saints from the first game intentionally shanks himself just to talk to you. He’s got an escape plan in the works and after a little reluctance, you find yourself killing a doctor and then getting the fuck out.

Stilwater’s changed in the 5 years you’ve been gone and three new gangs rule the city. The Brotherhood, The Sons of Samedi, and The Ronin. Ultor, a clothing company from the first game, has taken over what was Saints Row and has turned it into an urban, crime-free utopia and serves as the last “gang” to conquer (much like the epilogue missions in the original Saints Row). Once you free Johnny Gat, you recruit 3 new lieutenants and decide that it’s time to take over what was yours.

The Basics:
Stilwater hasn’t totally changed for the worse in the game. The pops of color and lighting give the city a much needed feeling of life that was missing from Saints Row 1. Stilwater is alive and it’s a city that lives and breathes as you take it over. Like GTA IV’s rendition of Liberty City (1) the city’s inhabitants feel alive and you can tell that they have a life as well. I came across a woman sitting on her boyfriend’s lap and kiss as they watch the sunset over Stilwater’s Marina. I walked by a group of people doing yoga in a downtown park. I saw a guy get rear ended and exit his car, check the damage, then call the police. People walking will pull out their umbrellas at the first site of rain. You could spend a whole day in Stilwater just people watching and not fire a single shot, but then again, what fun would that be.

The combat and shooting mechanisms are about the same as they were in Saints Row 1. While I would’ve liked to see a seperate, GTA IV style (2) cover system, I had no major issues with the shooting aspect of the game. The fighting mechanisms on the other hand were a bit more lacking. Without a proper “targeting” system, I often found myself punching and kicking somebody or something other than who or what I was intending on delivering street justice to. This would most notably hurt me in situations where I was out in public and instead of hitting the gang member or police officer I wanted to, I would hit an innocent bystander just trying to run out of the way. Back again is the followers system, which allows you to have gang members follow you as you wreak havok across the city. You gain your first follower after completing the fourth prolouge mission and unlock more during the game with the ability to have up to 3 total followers. While the AI of your followers is much better, (For example: Instead of just standing around looking like idiots, they’ll actually get in another car and follow you if your car is full and you take off) nothing quite compares to playing with another person.

Co-op in Saints Row 2 is totally seamless and is akin to the Mercenaries 2 co-op system. Players can drop in and out of your game without having to be at the same exact spot in their game as you are with theirs which is useful in situations in which you want to play with your friend who’s already played a significant portion of the game. The play is kept fairly well balanced during co-op, enemies will have better guns, more firepower, and more health to keep things from getting too unfair.

Driving in the game is about the same as it was in Saints Row 1, it’s pretty loose and arcadey as compared to Gran Turismo. Car custimization is back and it’s better than ever, nothings better than outfitting a tiny 50hp scooter with an upgraded frame and nitrous oxide. A new feature which I liked and used a lot (as I do in real life) is Cruise Control. It essentially gives you a free thumb, as you can accelerate to your desired speed and then use it to mantain that speed without hitting the accelerator which is especially nice during drive-bys as you can then use your thumb to control the right stick (which controls the camera).

Another great addition to the game are the Burnout-style bonuses that give you respect for driving crazy. Driving in oncoming lanes, near misses, and powerslides give you respect depending on how long and how well you drive which is akin to getting boost in Burnout games. I found this very useful if I was only down a few respect points from unlocking new missions, however you would be hard pressed to totally fill your respect bar by using only the driving bonuses. Bonuses aren’t limited to just driving and you will get them for various-style kills and my favorite, the distance of a person thrown.

The Nity Gritty:

Graphics 7 out of 10
While the neon lights and beautiful buildings certainly make Stilwater look pretty, the low-resolution car textures take away from what otherwise is a great looking game.

Audio 9 out of 10
It was as important to me that the city sounded as alive as it looked and felt. I was not dissapointed. Birds chirped, sirens were heard in the distance, traffic sounded like a city and downtown sounded like downtown. On more than one occasion a dog barked in the game and i had to make sure it wasn’t my dogs barking in real life.

Music 7 out of 10
Just like it’s predecessor, Saints Row 2 has a great soundtrack with music ranging from Mozart to Lamb of God. I did, however, find a few things frustrating. The lack of KBOOM 108 is the most disheartening, as I thought it was the best talk-station in a game like this since VCPR in the GTA III. Mike and David’s conservative talk show is sorely missed. Another feature that is totally taken out of the game is the MP3 player and while it didn’t do anything totally different from using the xbox dashboard in the original Saint’s Row, it was a feature that I often used in the original. One thing that puzzled me is that there are two 105 stations and they get changed about 3/4’s into the game. They play totally different music and it’s odd that instead of having a totally different station, they just replaced it. One last thing that I was dissapointed in was that Underground 99.0 was a non-full power station, which meant that in some areas of Stilwater it was just static and you couldn’t tune into it.

Storyline 6 out of 10
There were numerous plot holes large enough to drive a truck through however for the sake of not spoiling the game I will say no more of them. The games background is simple enough: gangs have taken Stilwater when the Saints fell apart and it’s up to you to take it back. It can be argued that it doesn’t need anymore background store than that however I still think it was lacking.

Replayability 9 out of 10
Once you beat the main story (it took me about 16 hours to complete all 45 missions of the prologue, main story, epilogue, and bonus hidden mission keeping in mind it took me about 1 hour just to find the hidden mission) it would be wise to do it all over again with a friend in co-op. The addition of multiplayer really adds to the longevity of the game and will make sure you never get bored in Stilwater.

The Bottom Line
While the game certainly isn’t as good as GTA IV, it’s not trying to be. It’s a solid open world shooter that is definitely worth the money to buy it. It’s multiplayer aspects really work in its favor and it’s a fun game and when it comes down to it, the reason people play games is to have fun.

Overall: 8 out of 10
I only had 2 GTA IV comparisons!

Review By OutstandingCoffee:
Gamertag: y2k1996
PSN: OutstandingCoffe (I couldn’t do two e’s as it was too long)
http://www.demoncoffeereviews.com
http://www.pwned.com/OutstandingCoffee

Oh c’mon why wouldn’t they pull that. The Inquirer reports that on November 19th of this year, Sony’s Playstation Home will be unleashed to the public, coincidentally on the same exact day that Microsoft drops it’s New XBOX Experience for its XBOX 360 console.

While Home is certainly more substansial (it’s a whole virtual world where you can walk around, play games, watch movies, and more, semi-akin to second life), where as NXE is more of a looks-rather-than-content update, both are being heavily looked forward to.

While people who live close to each other in real life probably won’t substitute going to somebody’s PS Home versus going to their real home, it does offer a great solution for people who live across the country. The world you ask? No, Playstation Home is region locked and is based on your PSN account info rather than your PS3’s origins. For instance: Even if you owned a Japanese PS3, you would still be locked into your regions Home.

When this rumor gets confirmed or the much more likely “No Comment”, I’ll let you know.

So you’re 360 is pretty cool right? Well it’s about to a lot cooler on Nov 19 with the release of the highly anticipated NXE which is short for New XBOX Experience. If you live under a rock and haven’t heard about it, it’s a whole new dashboard replacement (just click the link and it’ll take you to an example NXE) along with avatars, which Microsoft claims to have thought of before Nintendo’s Mii’s. Additional features include being able to load a game to a hard drive (you still need the disc in the drive to play but you can expect higher frame rates and quicker load times), the ability to win Microsoft Points by playing arcade style games, access to Netflix movies, and more.

Be sure to check out all the other TGS 08 happenings!

A Sony exec, namely Patrick Seybold, told potential Playstation 3 consumers that no holiday price cuts, let alone permanent, would be in the works as it would cost the company too much money. *FACTOID: Sony made $88.7 billion in revenue last fiscal year while Microsoft, whose company recently permanently dropped prices of their XBOX 360’s at least $50, made $60.4 Billion in revenue last fiscal year, $28.3 billion less than Sony*

While people with an HDTV are getting a 2 for 1 with the $399.99 PS3, it is still a little high for the average consumer. No help is the rumor that Microsoft has an external Blu-Ray player in the works that would sell for as little as $99.99.

While games like LittleBigPlanet and Resistance 2 will help a little with sales, the fact that the 360 has a bigger and ever-growing game library, the same quality graphics, and cost under $200 will have the cash strapped gamer prefer going for the 360.

Ben’s Opinion: Sony can’t seem to make their mind up on whether they are going to fully market and develop the PS3 when the PS2 is selling so well. The most recent bundle SCEA has come up with is a PS2 plus Lego Batman. Here’s a novel idea for a bundle: A PS3 with a PS2, that or put backwards compatibility back in. The deal is that Microsoft has stopped developing and making their original XBOX, which one has to assume is saving them some amount of money. How much money would be saved by stopping production on the PS2 and then passing those savings along to the consumer in the tune of a $50-$100 price cut to the PS3 and put backwards compatability back in on the high-end configurations (the 160gb).

When the Blu-Ray addon for the 360 does come out, Sony will lose a large advantage in the eye of the consumer. Sure the 360 won’t be able to play games from the Blu-Ray drive, but then again not many games other than PS3 exclusive games are really taking advantage of the higher capacity discs that the PS3 can use.

Sixaxis wouldn’t and isn’t be a huge advantage for 3 reasons:
1. The Wii’s motion controller works much much better, and if you’re going to buy a console based on it’s motion control, the Wii is the only way to go.
2. There’s a rumor going around that Microsoft is making a motion-based controller for the 360
3. Really, honestly, who uses the sixaxis that much anyhow, and if you say you use it a lot, you’re lying.

While you can argue that the PS3 is more technologically advanced (and it is) all day long and that it’s better because of whatever reason, the fact of the matter is, that whichever console has the games that you like playing more on it, will be the better console for you. If you like casual games, it will be the Wii, if you’re more into hardcore games it will be the 360 or PS3, if you’re into MMO’s it’ll be a PC, whichever console is better is a matter of opinion, not fact, and (especially now) one of the biggest factors that affects people’s opinion, is the price. Sony might want to think twice about not lowering it during the holiday season, especially with the 360’s recent price drops.

October 21st, 2008 at 2pm at a location that will be kept secret due to the fact that if it were revealed then all you nerds would go bum-rush it.
No, it’s 99.9% likely to NOT be an announcement about Full Throttle 2, as nice as it would be, but much much much MUCH more likely to be the widely rumored KOTOR MMO (aka the worst kept secret in the biz). Rumors of the existence of such a game began back last October when “a source close to BioWare” said that the MMO that BioWare was currently working on was going to take place in the KOTOR realm. That same source also said the game was targeted for a 2009 release, which would time up perfectly to this announcement.

Rumors of the game were further fueled this July when LucasArts filed trademarks for the names Star Wars: The Old Republic, Star Wars Legends, and Star Wars Sagas. Would it not make sense for the MMO to be called The Old Republic? While we may not know what exactly LucasArts and BioWare have cooking for us until the 21st, we do know that it does have something to do with Star Wars.

I’ll keep you posted as to what happens!

So that thing with Take-Two didn’t work out huh, well there’s always more fish in the sea, and it looks like EA may have another one on it’s hook. Word on the street (from gameguru) states that EA is looking to gobble up Epic Games in an effort to win back the hearts and minds of the hardcore gamer.

Now gameguru may not have the best grammar or the most trustworthy sources however the fact that EA recently struck a deal with People Can Fly (an in-house studio belong to none other than Epic Games) only strengthens their claims.

Along with the claims of the Epic buyout, gameguru also indicates that EA would like to get it’s hands on Unreal 4.0 and furthermore to that, be the exclusive developer for it. Yes, that means that the next Gears of War (not 2 but 3, and why wouldn’t they), Brothers in Arms, BioShock, Mass Effect, and potentially Duke Nukem Forever (they could switch to this engine, you never know) would be EA developed. Of course that means that they would have to decide to stay with the Unreal Engine.

While EA may be as big as it’s ever going to get, I’ll let you know if and when I hear more.

For all of you who can’t quite wait til November 4th, there may be some hope. Starting on October 2nd, applications for the Resistance 2 open beta have started to be accepted here. You must login with your PSN email address and password and provide your name, top 3 shooters you currently play online, what consoles you own, what consoles you play online with, and how often you play.

While it’s not told exactly when the whole thing will start, you can be assured that the second people start getting accepted I’ll let you know

So you finished the first game and was wondering when the f*** will the episode 2 come out? Well it hasn’t been release dated yet however according to their official website episode 2 has been completed and has gone gold for the PC, Mac, and Linux versions. The price will be $14.95 (or 1200 Microsoft points for those of you buying the 360 version) and will available from the Greenhouse digital distribution service as well as PSN and XBLA. If you live under a rock and haven’t heard of Penny Arcade then go check em out!