Confessions of a Wasteland Outcast
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When it came time to cast my vote for Game of the Year a few weeks back, I spent a series of antacid-infused days wrestling with whether or not I had the stuff to go against the grain, to stand up to pitchfork- and fire-wielders, and be true to my heart. Mostly I wondered if I'd forsake the little credibility I have in this business by picking something other than Fallout 3.And therein lies the problem with many online video game "sources" these days.
So what did I do? Weak fool that I am, I voted for Fallout 3 as GotY, wondering as I did so whether or not I'd be able to look myself in the mirror the next morning.
Make no mistake: Fallout 3 is a remarkable game. Yet the question is, do I crown it with laurels and start up the "Chariots of Fire" theme simply because I admire it? Or, do I vote for what might be perceived as a less ambitious game; a game that, regardless of its limitations, sucked me in, and held my attention for weeks on end, at the risk of tarnishing my reputation?
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As I endured those 10 hours -- and don't give me any of this "you're not an RPG person" business; while role-playing games are far from my favorite genre, I have played my fair share of Dragon Quest games over the years -- I tried very hard to convince myself that I was having fun, that I was intrigued, that I was moved in some profound way.
I wasn't.
Beyond all of this, what I resent most is the way the game was marketed. Watch commercials for Fallout 3 and you think you're about to play some sort of mind-blowing hybrid of BioShock and Halo 3. Which is terribly, terribly misleading. Sure, sales numbers have been high for the game. But the numbers that I'd really like to see is how many copies of Fallout 3 were returned after consumers got them home and realized that they'd been duped -- yet again -- by savvy ad execs.
