Fallout 3 Retrospective

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Written by BuckGB on April 24th, 2010

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Sure, some weapons work better than others, but once VATS has run its course and I have to cower behind a rock while I wait for it to recharge, I have to trust in my FPS skills. Only, Fallout 3 isn't an FPS. It's an RPG, and the floaty crosshairs reflect this. None of the weapons have any real heft, and the controls slide around without weight or substance. It creates a disconnect that I can't get over, but more importantly I keep bloody missing whatever I'm shooting.

Early on, this aggravation is compounded, not eliminated, by the turn-based VATS. I queue up a long line of attacks, only to see my laser beams fly off into the distance like a light show at a rave. In Fallout 3, this translates into dying a lot. It introduces the paranoia of constantly having to save every five seconds, which breaks any immersion. In some ways, this is a masterstroke of mercy. I'm constantly at odds with the cloying animosity of my surroundings, and any interruptions are a welcome relief.

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In total, I've put well over 25 hours into Fallout 3 so far, and I've managed to get absolutely nowhere. It's difficult to summon the courage to return to a world so ruined and so ruinous as that of Bethesda's. Endless foraging, punishing combat, the chores of simply existing can you blame me? It's all so wearying. I just don't have the energy for it.

Like I said, it's probably my fault. I understand; I just don't enjoy it. Perhaps I just prefer my games to be shinier, lighter, fluffier excursions: ones that lie glittering in my pile of games, winking at me, alluring and infinitely more inviting than the iron grimness of Fallout 3. I fondly scratch Dragon Age: Origins under the chin a game positively merry by comparison, but undoubtedly informed by Bethesda's Fallout and make a genuine promise to return to that soon.

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