Fallout 3 Review (Xbox 360)

By Joe Haygood

“War. War never changes.” With those immortal words from Ron Perlman, Bethesda re-opens the Vault door on Fallout 3, a triumphant return to our favorite post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Fallout 3 takes a new spin on the classic franchise, by not only moving the clock forward, but by taking you to a whole new location in the world, good old Washington D.C. You have been tasked with trying to find out why, under strange circumstances, your father has left the safety of The Vault, a giant fallout shelter built inside a mountain. You follow him into the Capital Wasteland, not only to find his trail, but to explore and take in this new, forbidden world.

Bethesda has always used neat, unique ways to build character traits, but in Fallout 3, we are treated to what might be the greatest sequence of events to create your character. In Fallout 3, you start the game at your birth, with your father and mother greeting you into the world. Your father presents you with a screen that will show you what you will look like at the age of 18. Here you build your appearance and characteristics. You then are flashed forward to a point where you pick your stats and another where you pick your perk stats, all up to the point where you finally are left with the quest to leave the vault. It is a highly creative process, which truly represents character development, as you are growing with each stage Fallout 3.

Once released into the post-apocalyptic wasteland, you are left to your own devices on how to proceed in the world. You can start following the trail of your father, or you can just wander around the world, exploring this new and strange world that you have walked into. There are no boundaries as to where you can go, or on what you can do. The path you take is all based on what you want to do in the world. It is a bit daunting at first, because there is no direction when you leave the vault. There is nothing that is necessarily forcing you to do the main quest, which results in a great amount of freedom and confusion to the player.

Fallout 3 at its heart is a morality play. When you are tasked with a mission, you can go about and complete it in several ways. Do you take the high road and make the right choices, or do you put on a set of horns and act as evil as possible. You are always judged by people, based on the actions that you take. Kill innocents and you are deemed to be blight upon humanity, but save the innocent and you become a champion of good. One of the situations you will run across is a man by the name of Tenpenny. Tenpenny hates ghouls, hideous figures that were hit with mega-doses of radiation, and refused to die. You are asked to rid a local underground train station of these ghouls, but when you arrive at the train station, you are given a counter proposal. You can try to negotiate a peaceful settlement between the two factions, you can backstab Tenpenny and help the ghouls overrun Tenpenny’s haven, or you can be an evil s.o.b. like myself and murder the ghouls while they sleep. How you proceed gives you karma, and the decision you make will follow you through the game.

Fallout 3 is a gritty and ugly world, and Bethesda has captured this world in great fashion. Walking around the wasteland presents a world that has been thoroughly decimated by war and destruction. At every turn, something is there to remind you of the power of the bombs that dropped. It is a tough reality to portray, and it is done in Fallout 3 with painful efficiency. When you first get a chance to walk into the downtown center of what is left of Washington D.C., you see how bad the devastation was to the world, as you see landmarks like the Capitol building, the Washington Monument, and even the horrible destruction of the museums that line the Washington Mall. The vision of retro future also stands out here, with the future looking like development stopped in the 1950’s, but with a dab of future technology in there, like functional robots and laser weaponry. Fallout 3 paints this visual spender with the best looking graphics engine we have witnessed on the 360 hardware as of yet.

Several actor step in to provide voices for Fallout 3. Liam Neeson gives life to the voice of your father, and does a good job with what he is given. Some of it seems forced and clichéd, but overall, he puts a lot of passion into the role. Malcom McDowell, no stranger to video game work, puts in a great performance as President John Henry Eden. Listening to his lines about baseball and the Enclave is great fun as he mixes in between seriousness and hilarity. Unfortunately, there is not much else in the way of good voice overs, by any of the other characters outside of the omni-present DJ, Three Dog. As a matter of fact, I think most of the voice work by other characters was done by the same twelve people at Bethesda. Every other mercenary and caravan trader seems to sound like the same guy looping over and over. With a budget like Bethesda had with Fallout 3, it seems like they put all their eggs into the star power and less into the support roles. Making up for some of the poor voice acting is the Ink Spots, adding some of their great music along with other old school 40’s and 50’s artists to give some great ambiance to the world.

Combat and violence go hand and hand in Fallout 3, adding up to some great looking, and grizzly violent encounters with the native population. Fallout 3 gives the player a choice in how they handle combat. You can use real time combat where you shoot away at your enemy, or you can enter the VATS mode of combat. VATS (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) pauses combat, and allows for players to target a specific part of the body, queuing up attacks to unleash upon the enemy. VATS combat, works and feels very similar to the old turn based combat style of the first Fallout games, even down to the idea of Action Points, making sure that players do not spam the VATS system. While both combat systems are there, the real time combat feels fake, as the shooting is still based on your skills, and not on your actual ability to hit the target. This means that even though you line up a shot at someone’s head at point blank range, you still have a statistical chance to miss, due to your skills being a factor, instead of how well you can aim. VATS works rather well and in the long run will probably be the combat system of choice for most people. It does make for a lot of backpedalling fights, but it just seems to give more realistic combat results. Once you make the hit on a target, be prepared for some gruesome results, which may churn some stomachs. There is something sadistic, yet satisfying about watching someone’s skull imploding from a shotgun blast, and seeing the eyeballs fly out of the head. This kind of violence may not sit well with everyone that plays Fallout 3, but it does fit the ugliness of the world that you are a part of now.

While we have a game that offers tons of play and fun for its price tag, there are two glaring issues that really detract from Fallout 3’s overall polish. There is nothing worse than walking along a mountain ridge, or between two buildings and getting your character caught in the terrain, essentially locking your character up, and having the player load a previous save game. Also having major problems is the third person view, which is in the game, but fully non-functional. Your character looks to glide on the terrain in third person view, and when you get into combat, the view really just hampers any sense of combat flow.

Fallout 3, does present a masterpiece on how to set up mission structure, moral choices and solid combat, all laid out in a horrible, yet intriguing post-apocalyptic wasteland. Bethesda has made broad steps to cater to the old guard, as well as new visitors to the Fallout franchise. There are still a few blemishes here and there that should have been fixed before Fallout 3 left the building. That said, Fallout 3 is a fantastic game that should be played by anyone and everyone over the age of 17 this fall.

PC Releases for November 2008

Posted By Joe Haygood

Well, for those in PC land, I cannot give you the big bang out of the gates that the PS3 and 360 have in Resistance 2 and Gears 2. If I try, all I can muster is Operation and CSI: NY. Both are surely entertaining titles in their own right, but can’t hold the jock strap for either of those games. However, beyond the first few days, we do have some pretty good titles coming to the PC in November, so hold on to your seat as we take you through the PC releases of November 2008 at the speed of Plaid (who gets the reference).

James Bond: Quantum of Solace – I have to admit that I was on the fence when it came to adding this game to the top titles for November 2008. The demo last month did not light any fires, but it pulls off the first to third person action quite nicely, and for those that are budding achievement whores on the PC, this game is coming with achievements as well, along with a price tag $10 cheaper than its console breathern. I am putting some faith in this title as the sequences we have watched in videos have looked far better than the demo. Also, the game is covering two movies, giving you a little more bang than most licensed titles. Look for James Bond Quantum of Solace on Nov. 4th.

Call of Duty: World at War – After last year’s phenominal hit in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, it was strange to see another Call of Duty game so soon this year. Then all gamers put up a collective shrug as we saw it was the B-team coming in to put out this year’s Call of Duty game. Well, there are some things that are spicing up the game a bit. We have a dedicated story with a top notch voice cast, including Mr. Fresh off of Jail, Keifer Sutherland. Also, we found out earlier in the week that when you finish the single player campaign, you unlock an arcade mode that has you killing Zombie soldiers. Hey, if you can’t get respect for your game the old fashioned way, just throw some zombies in and it will satisfy any gamer. Look for Call of Duty: World at War on November 11th.

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King – Okay, Warcrack addicts, the wait is finally over, your latest and greatest expansion pack has arrived. Over a year in the making, Wrath of the Lich King will bump the level cap up to 80 from the current 70, bring the first hero class to the game with the Death Knight expands the Northern explorable area of the map. Also included with the fix are a chunk of bug fixes and tweaks to smooth out the play experience. This is also one of the first PC games in my memory that is getting Gamestop to actually advertise, make shelf space available, and even garner an ever popular midnight launch. Look for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King November 13th.

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel – Dropping on the PC a little earlier than its console breathern, Sacred 2 looks to remedy the bugginess that came with its predecessor. Now several months into testing the final game, CDV looks to ship a game that is completely polished when the customer gets it this time around. For those that are looking for a serious Diablo like experience on the PC, Sacred 2 captures all the elements of the click and slash genre and executes on them rather flawlessly. Also, the game streams its environments, so you never run into any loading screens or cutscenes. It is a really cool premise that should be used to greater effect in PC games. Look for Sacred 2: Fallen Angel on November 11th.

Left 4 Dead – Straying away from the Half Life universe for the first time in a long time, Left 4 Dead is a new and unique experience for PC players as the game is designed to be played in four person co-op mode. Co-op is a new and strange experience for PC players, and hasn’t been approached by that many developers. However, if a company can pull it off with style and panache, it would be Valve software. The game stars you in the feet of one of the four protagonists in the game, and you have to fight to survive. Teamwork will make sure that all will live. For the first time in a video game, we are also getting Zombies that move very quickly and will not hesitate to take you out in a most gruesome fashion. Look for Left 4 Dead on both retail shelves and Steam on November 18th.

Tomb Raider: Underworld – The hardest working lady in video gaming is back for another helping of jumping, rolling, rock climbing and shooting her way to the endgame event, and this time around it gets better for PC players with achievements. Now, I know what you are saying, “Wasn’t Kane and Lynch from Eidos with achievements?” Well, the system has had a year to grow, and the game is not developed by IO Interactive. Not too much has been said by the developers in regard to what the story is about in this Tomb Raider, but it looks like somebody long thought dead is returning, and it means Lara is going to have to start performing her acrobatics all over again to solve the mystery. Look for Tomb Raider: Underworld on November 18th.

Legendary – Easily the underdog game of the month, Legendary packs in a solid looking story while making its own mark on the FPS genre. Legendary uses a skeletal mesh deformation system to slowly peel away layers of skin and muscles on its creatures as they are attacked. Wounded creatures will also react to damage by protecting those areas, and making sure to vary their attack patterns to limit you ability to kill them. We have not seen much of the powers that your character is suppose to have in the game, so that could be a bit of a let down. But overall the unique level and character design has me chomping at the bit to play this game. Look for Legendary on November 18th.

Need for Speed: Undercover – It is funny to think that the Need for Speed brand has been in the PC gaming industry for over 20 years now, and it is still going strong and selling better than ever. After a bumpy ride with last year’s Pro Street entry, Need for Speed is revisiting the underground scene, and adding a fan favorite, police chases for a excellent driving experience. A new storyline has been brought in to help move the game forward, staring you as an deep police undercover operative trying to infiltrate a car gang. Also, the NFS team is going FMV with its cutscenes, and bringing in some high end star power like Maggie Q to add to the dramatics of the story. Look for Need for Speed: Undercover on November 17th.

And that is all we have for this month. There are a few other titles that are there, like the Lord of the Rings expansion, along with the aforementioned CSI: New York game, but it is a light month for the PC when you are looking at quality titles. Until we come back next month, enjoy, make sure you have the latest video card drivers.

Samsung Q310 13.3″ Laptop Now on Sale in the US

The Samsung Q310 13.3-inch notebook is now available for purchase through NewEgg.

One of the company’s first laptops for the US market, is offered as the Q310-34G model for $1,100 and Q310-34P for $1,250 (both prices are after instant savings). The Q310-34G has the Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 processor at 2GHz and a 250GB hard drive, while the Q310-34P comes with the Core 2 Duo P8400 at 2.26GHz and a 320GB HDD.

The both Intel Centrino 2-based laptops feature 3GB of DDR2 memory, the Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics, a DVD burner, 1.3MP web camera, 802.11 a/b/g/n wireless module, Bluetooth, Gigabit Ethetnet LAN port, and 56k modem. The display has a resolution of 1280×800 pixels and glossy coating.

There are also three USB ports, HDMI and VGA outputs, an ExpressCard slot, and 7-in-1 media card reader,

The Q310 laptops weigh 4.4 pounds with a 6-cell battery and run Windows Vista Business operating system.