Fallout 3 Previews

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Written by BuckGB on April 10th, 2008

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In adulthood, your father's unexplained disappearance is what will finally lead you outside the relative safety of your fortified vault. But where the story goes from there, Bethesda isn't saying yet. It may not be a lonely world out there--what with super mutants, the mercenaries of the Talon Company, and the cult-like Brotherhood of Steel all marauding across the landscape--and it sure isn't a friendly one, either. Luckily, at least one friend will accompany you on your travels. Man's best friend, in fact. Early in the game, you'll find a courageous dog named Dogmeat and his master under attack, and when the master meets his inevitable end, Dogmeat will quickly become your loyal companion. When and where this happens will be randomized, so it should fit seamlessly into the flow of the game.

Fallout 3 mixes real-time action with turn-based tactics for a unique combat system. Exploring the world from either the first- or third-person perspectives, you're able to engage enemies in real-time using a variety of weapons--both melee and projectile. The V.A.T.S. mechanic, however, pauses the action to let you spend action points targeting specific parts of an enemy's body. Hit a button and the game pauses to show you hit percentages for each part, even letting you target multiple enemies. The range at which you can target, as well as the number of actions you can take depends on how many action points you have. Over time they replenish, but without any you're unable to take any actions within V.A.T.S. It's a brilliant system, largely because it's entirely optional. You're never forced into using it, even though it's highly advantageous in tough battles for targeting specific enemies and executing multiple attacks in quicker succession than possible in real-time. You could conceivably work through the entire game without every using it.

At first, all you can do is cry (hit the A button) and listen to the doctor speak, who happens to be your father. This is just the first of several quick stops through your childhood, which cleverly form the tutorial and character creation section of the game. When someone asks if you're a boy or a girl, a selection box opens and your dad's response is dictated by your decision. You choose your name, and then customize your face on a Growth Projection Machine. Fallout offers several preset character faces, or you can construct someone from scratch - don't worry, there are dozens and dozens of facial hair options. After finishing that, the game skips ahead one year.

The next milestone occurs when you turn 10 and attend your birthday party. Vault 101's overseer presents you with your very own Pip-Boy 3000, which will serve as your quest log, map, and radio receiver throughout your wasteland jaunt, sporting a handsome cathode ray tube display that doubles as a flashlight when clicked on its highest setting. Your 10th is also an opportunity to interface with a group of unsavory youngsters who are apparently destined to grow up to become some of Vault 101's troublesome hooligans in their later years. Keep those faces fresh in mind for when it comes time for BB gun practice.

Even things that are considered to be somewhat standard equipment are getting a treatment that falls into the (cool idea) category. One good example is something you might not even notice when you play. Pete Hines, Bethesda's VP for public relations and marketing, stated that, after you go through the detailed character-creation editor at the start of the game, the face of your character's father in the gameplay will be procedurally crafted based on how your character looks. The concept creates an immediate familiarity between the two characters' onscreen appearance, and while it seems to be a simple process to make that happen and it makes full sense from a design standpoint I don't recall that a gamemaker has ever done it before.

We then jumped ahead to a different sequence where we were explored a ruined tenement infested by feral ghouls. Those familiar with Fallout lore will remember that "ghoul" is just a term used to describe any human that has been exposed to such severe amounts of radiation as to become severely deformed physically, but feral ghouls have actually lost their minds and have become aggressive animals. Their deadlier brethren, "glowing feral ghouls," have an unhealthy fluorescent green glow that sets off your PipBoy's Geiger counter and eventually make your character extremely ill if you let them zap you with their radiation-based attacks. Feral ghouls are extremely swift and vicious, leaping at you with tremendous speed. We dealt with them primarily using real-time combat, using the old Fallout favorite 9mm submachine gun, which did a good job of inflicting lots of damage when fired in bursts. A few times, we watched as combat switched to the turn-based VATS mode, which lets you target various body parts on your enemies (as in the original Fallout games). In these cases, the final shots to our enemies were delivered in dramatic slow motion, sometimes even turning the ghouls' limbs and skulls into bloody pulp (though we're told that the infamous Bloody Mess perk, which causes everyone around you to die spectacularly, looks even more insane in practice).

Jeff: Yeah, with all due respect to Bethesda's immense talent in many areas, I don't think I'd go to them for plastic surgery. Anyway, yes, karma factors big in Fallout 3, and the choices you make, starting way back from that 10th birthday party of yours, will follow you throughout your life, affect how NPCs will react to you (start being a bad guy, and other bad guys will come out of the woodwork to...do bad things with you) and even affect the game's ending. Bethesda is promising something like a zillion endings -- OK, 500, but that sounds equally preposterous -- all based on the decisions you make and actions you take, however minute they might seem to you at the time. And though what I wrote makes it sound like I don't believe they can pull it off, I actually do. The original Fallout did that very thing.

OK, so back to the demo: They skipped the rest of the childhood stuff at this point -- including the key narrative events that lead you to leave Vault 101 and begin the real game -- and then showed us hooking up with good ol' Dogmeat, the canine companion from the original game who fanboys prayed would make it into this one. Well, he did. Note, however, that this is not the same Dogmeat, since this game takes place over 100 years after the first two games. I think I might like this Dogmeat better though -- he does some cool tricks. Being able to send him out on missions to fetch items you need should reduce time spent wandering the world yourself looking for crap. I thought that was a cool touch.

In proper following of the previous Fallout games, your character will eventually come across the ultimate bad ass doggy companion, Dogmeat. His owner destroyed by some means of carnage or another, you approach a wandering Dogmeat in an elaborate junkyard and engage in conversation to eventually convince him to tag along. Naturally, his responses are limited to friendly woofs and barks, but with enough persuasion, Dogmeat determines to aid you in your journey in search of your father across the post-apocalyptic landscape. This companionship proves to be highly beneficial, as you can request Dogmeat to search the surrounding area for helpful items such as weapons, food, and drugs. Diligent dog that he is, Dogmeat will search your surrounding area for up to an hour to scour every inch of land for items you could use. However, mistreatment of Dogmeat and assigning him to dangerous tasks could result in the loss of a faithful friend forever, so it's wise to be cautious when sending him off to dutifully fulfill your requests.

That was our taste of the character development system, and we didn't get to see what happens when you get older and take the GOAT (Generalized Occupational Aptitude Test), basically an SAT for post-nuclear war survivors. But next up was something that all Fallout fans can get giddy about: Dogmeat.

Taking down these enemies is a snap (well, maybe a few snaps) when you make use of the myriad weapons at your disposal. Weapons can be purchased, stolen or taken off of conquered enemies and it would behoove you to get as many as you can. I really loved the design of the weapons themselves, they really exuded a sort of "SteamPunk" style melded with an almost fifties style. Everything looked as if it was cobbled together from what could be found around the devastated environment. (The Fat Man Rocket launcher was a particular favorite of mine) And of course, as you all know by now from seeing the screenshots, the environment is a fictionalized Washington DC that has been ravaged by nuclear war.

As Hines moved around dark corners, he showed off the system that lets gamers choose to play as a real-time or turn-based shooter. Basically, you hit a button to activate turn-based mode, pausing the scene, and queuing up specific attacks to enemies. After running out of your attack slots -- these are based on the firing rate and clip size of a weapon -- the action plays out in a brief movie-like sequence. Other times, he lobbed grenades around corners in real time, giggling once when a random zombie arm flung back across our field of view.

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