Fallout 3 Previews

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Written by BuckGB on August 6th, 2008

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I was also free to wander the countryside, tuning into a couple of available radio stations while (hopefully) evading a few roving bandits and getting into the occasional scrap with an animal, which would be a great opportunity to learn how the semi-turn-based VATS combat system works. Fallout 3 is all about freedom, and the demo certainly got that across.

So why am I so unsatisfied?

Maybe it's that this demo did little to show how Fallout 3 is truly different from Oblivion. Ok, the lock-picking mini-game is slightly different (and better) but the dialogue trees, skill breakdowns and overall feel seem so much like Oblivion, at least in this early stage of the game, that the untrained eye could mistake it for a mod.

Combat is one place where the two games really diverge, but how can I really see that playing as a level-two noob with a couple of weak machine pistols? I had a difficult time fending off dogs and even a couple humans weakened from exposure and hunger. Not terribly appealing. Why not start the demo deeper into the story, where better weapons and skills could make the combat differences between Oblivion and Fallout 3 glaringly apparent? Or are they really as different as we've been told?
(...)
At E3, Fallout 3 made a lot of "best of show" lists. I'm sure Bethesda is thrilled with that. Even in an E3 that felt positively anemic on the game front, being called out as one of the five or 10 most crucial is significant. But I don't see it. I've been told for months that this is a dramatic step forward from Oblivion, but very little of the open-ended demo I had supported that claim.

We know we've played something great, perhaps even something special, when we find ourselves thinking about it when we're not playing it. When we find ourselves wishing we were playing it while we're sat on the underground, or browsing the internet, or listening to our editor prattle on about Geometry Wars 2. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does it reminds us of the power video games hold over us, how entrancing the spell they cast really can be. It happened again recently, and the game was Fallout 3.

It seems ridiculous to have to form some kind of informed opinion based on a two hour toe-dip into Bethesda's stunning post-apocalyptic world, given the gargantuan nature of this sci-fi RPG, but that's what we're paid to do, so here goes. Haters be quiet - Fallout 3 is shaping up to one of the best games of 2008, and, fingers crossed, could be one of the best RPGs ever.

This goes without saying for any fans of the previous Fallout games, but we still have to say it for newcomers: While there are nay-sayers who will denounce the game for it's chosen style of combat -- which we'll get to later -- we think the change is for the betterment of the series. The reason for our opinion on this is two-fold. Developers like Bethesda are most passionate about a title when it's something they really want to do and such is the case for Fallout 3 in its current form. Secondly, we've had three games with the classic isometric style combat and it was about time for something new. People are always clamoring for innovation and change and that is exactly what Bethesda is trying to accomplish.

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