FALLOUT 3

"War..... war never changes."

Good things definitely come to those who wait, and it has been 10 long years for this game to become a reality.  The reason for my excitement is that even to this day, its predecessors Fallout 1and Fallout 2, have not been matched in its atmosphere, tone and design. 

The one major thing that sets this game apart from any other role-playing game (RPG), is its SETTING.

90% of RPGs out on the market are "Fantasy" based, with swords, shields and magic.  There are very few RPGs set in modern times and it is because of this that the genre tends to be very stale.

Fallout completely turned that on its head when it placed its setting waaaay into the future, into one of my favourite settings, "Post-Apocalyptic".  Ever since Mad Max, I've loved this whole destroyed, rusted future and when I discovered these games, I was instantly sucked in.  They wrapped the entire package into an excellent 1950's coldwar nuclear-fearing setting, getting the same nostalgic mood and the ridiculous mentallity of that era.  The set design and art direction were fantastic.

The game was also one of the first to give the player extreme freedom and moral choices.  You could rob, steal or kill to your heart's content, living with your decisions or paying through Karma Points.  You could literally marry someone and then pimp your wife out for cash.  The choice was yours.  But just like GTA IV, you don't have to play like that at all.  The options are there, but its up to YOU how to play it.

The set up was fantastic.  The world is destroyed by a mass nuclear war and all the remaining citizens of the world go underground into these "Vaults".  They live down there for many years, never coming out to the surface.  Generations pass, and soon the Vault that you live in has a malfunctioning Water Chip, and you are tasked with going out into the real world and finding help.  Thus, your journey begins.

NOW, with the eminent release of FALLOUT 3, fans of the game series could not be luckier.  With today's technology and an excellent production team, the world of Fallout is now grander than ever before.

The setting is a bombed out, destroyed Washington D.C.

The concept and design is amazing. All your weapons are made up of used parts of other appliances, as if you were grabbing junk and welding it together.

This design continued over to the armor of the mutants.  All the armor is pieces cobbled together and stuck on, exactly how these creatures would live in this setting.

Eveything is controlled through your "Pipboy 3000", basically a tricked out PDA-watch thing that acts like an organizer, map and radio. The game's mascot is also The Pipboy character.

Its you against the world but you also have a canine companion, "Dogmeat".

Walking in places like these are both familiar enough for you to relate, but also alien enough for you to wonder.

The art direction is fantastic.

Boys with their toys.

There is just so much to explore in this incredibly rich environment.

Well, its time to shut out the world and get lost again...