Fallout 3: The original spirit lives on

The Fallout series has long been one of my favorite series and despite seeing things that could have been better this is a very solid, rewarding title that is firmly set in the Fallout universe.

Premise:

The basic premise of that Universe is that the cold war heated up into a nuclear firestorm. Fallout 1 begins in 2161 and Fallout 3 happens about 110 years after that and unlike the other 3 Fallouts is set on the East coast and over a much smaller landmass than the original, centered on Washington DC.
Gameplay and general "genre":

Fallout 3 is the first in the series to go to an assisted first person mode as opposed to the 3/4 view similar to Diablo 2 that the previous versions have. This puts it into the rarely explored FPSRPG category. The effect is fantastic and even creatures that were basically just free experience in previous versions can leap out at you after hiding somewhere. If you'd have told me I would be afraid of a mole-rat I would have laughed at you but those things were actually frightening.

In combat you have full access to your inventory and can either automatically target using your VATS system (which requires action points and allows you to aim for specific areas) or shoot normally, like you would in a standard FPS. Your weapon skill still matters however, so aiming directly between the eyes with a sniper rifle doesn't mean you'll score a hit. Combat was interesting but enemy AI was fairly basic and very predictable. Most of the game's combat still boils down to shooting the Super Mutant in the head until he falls down and doesn't get back up.

History and lore:

While geographically removed there's still a lot of the history in the game. Vault dwellers are still jerks. Raiders still seem to have outposts everywhere. They still mock the original game's quest for the water chip. More importantly there's some of the depth of the original storyline with branching quests and of course the ability to be varying degrees of good or evil. The bottom line is that the game still feels like it was made by the original folks responsible. Much of the truely dark and disgusting pieces have been removed (for example the ability to shoot and kill children) but you can waste just about any other character out there.

There were some things that didn't make a lot of sense but they weren't bad enough to be bothered by them. What was lacking was that wonderful humor that was found everywhere in Fallout 1 and 2.

Complexity:

The game is a lot easier than the original. They've made things far less dependant on your character's stats. TAGs (special skills) have just a percentage modifier at the start. Strength requirements are gone and perks seem less character altering than before.

Guns and ammo are easy to find (and ammo doesn't require weight, a HUGE difference). There are lots of ammo and weapons stashed in the wasteland and the like.

The overall story is quite short and very unsatisfying but the subplots and stories were always what made the game.

Realism, if you can ever call a game like this realistic, also suffers a bit. There are some weapons that border on silly.

Graphics and sound:

The game looks good and plays quite well. No studdering or similar on my system (7800 GTS, 2 gigs of PC3200 and Athlon 4400+) on medium-high settings. The scenery isn't much to look at but that's mostly because there are a limited number of things you can do to a decaying wasteland. Weapons fire and the lovely death animations of enemies are quite up to unrealistic but very gruesome. If you shoot someone in the leg, it'll blow it off. The sound was fine and not particularly distracting.

Overall:

This is a nice solid game that'll hold most people for 50-75 hours as they explore it all and play different characters. The gameplay was fun. The lore had the right feel for longer term fans and the new additions really didn't seem to take away as much as I'd feared.

New players who enjoy more than a simple FPS will find something quite amusing. Pure RPG players might be a bit disappointed. Diehard fans will have mixed reactions but likely something favorable overall.