"War, war never changes.", while that may be true, Fallout certainly has. There has been a dramatic leap in gameplay mechanics from Fallout 2 to the recently released Fallout 3.
The one major change is that the game has completely changed it's gameplay style. While essentially remaining an RPG, Fallout has abandoned it's old isometric point of and now implements the point of view and gameplay very much like Bethesda Softworks' previous game, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
The story starts with your birth in Vault 101. During your time in the vault you learn the basic gameplay functions in a set of clever tutorials as you go through the rather short journey from being a crawling infant in his pen to a young adult. You find that your father has left the vault and in doing so, all hell breaks loose and you are forced to abandon your sheltered life and brave the harsh world that is the Capital Wasteland in search of your father. The story is captivating and will have you losing track of time as you dive deeper into it and explore the vastness of the world.
The morality system is far superior to that of other games like Mass Effect, Bioshock, or Knights of the Old Republic. Those games, while offering moral choices, essentially shoehorn you into a "Very Good" or "Very Evil" type of character in the end. What I personally have always wanted was to be able to play a morally neutral character, or, what it's recently referred to, the "Han Solo Character". In that respect, Fallout 3 delivers. You can play a"good" character, an "evil" character, or make your decisions based on what would be most effective or convenient, which in the end, doesn't force you in to one of the two extremes.
The sound in Fallout is exceptionally well done, from the subtle sounds of the wind blowing across the empty wasteland and your footsteps,to the voice acting of the NPCs. The dialogue, while cheesy from time to time, is expertly delivered and performed, especially the performance of Liam Neeson, who plays the role of your missing father.
Aiming and maneuvering in a firefight can be clunky and troublesome at times, but you have to remember, this isn't a first-person shooter. That being said, the new V.A.T.S. combat system more than makes up for your clunky aiming on the fly, allowing you to pause the action and strategically target and attack your enemies. More often than not you will find yourself using the V.A.T.S. system, seeing as it seems to add increased accuracy, saving you ammunition and health, which is key when trying to survive in the vast and dangerous Capital Wasteland.
When I said earlier that Fallout 3 is very much like Oblivion, that goes for the good points as well as it's shortcomings. The third-person perspective,while available for use, is in no way a viable way to play the game, and just looks plain weird.You still have to deal with encumbrance, meaning you'll be fumbling through your inventory rather often, deciding what to keep and what to toss. The NPCs in Fallout also suffer from some of the issues they did in Oblivion, such as some weird movements, the occasional jaggy animation, and their movement speed changing from a snails pace to hauling ass without any reason. Be that as it may, all of these can easily be seen as beauty marks on the fantastic product that is Fallout 3. All in all, if you're looking for a lot of content for your dollar, Fallout 3 is definitely the way to go.
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