Fallout 3
Posted by pookzilla on November 1, 2008
Okay, I’ve managed to get about 3 hours into the game and I think it’s exactly what I expected it to be. It is Oblivion with guns and a very cool new combat system.
If I got exactly what I wanted, why am I a little disappointed? I think it partially comes down to unjustifiably rosy memories of Oblivion. Oblivion was a game that kept my interests far longer than most, but it was deeply flawed. The characters were indistinguishable, due largely to repetitive and campy voice acting. This led to the game feeling bland at best and confusing at worst. Adding to this was the problem of character animations and models. Perhaps for their time they were good, but they look incredibly dated by todays standards, and the movement (facial and body) and AI were often SO BAD that they destroyed whatever sense of immersion the environments managed to create. Also, item management was a chore particularly for someone like me who has some degree of obsessive compulsiveness. When you can pick up (and sell) just about anything I can’t help but pick up everything. This usually means that half the time my Oblivion character has an inventory full of silver cutlery.
The characters in Fallout, despite having unique voice actors (as far as I can tell) still seem to be bland and indistinguishable. Thinking back on it as I write this, the only one I can remember is the Sheriff of Megaton and I think I only remember him for his fine hat. Character models/animation/AI still seem like a relic of 2006 and they’re still incredibly distracting. Itemitis is still a problem for me, although silver forks and goblets have been replaced with empty cola bottles. For instance I spent a good 30 minutes exploring the Super Mart near Megaton and all I ended up finding were some cans of food.
All the same, I put about 100 hours into Oblivion and I enjoyed it a great deal. Despite my complaints about Fallout I still look forward to playing it some more. The sense of freedom more than compensates for its shortcomings.
On the topic of the collectors edition, I’m really quite happy with it. The extra stuff they give you for $20 seems like a really good deal. I look froward to using the lunch box, the bobble head is cute, and the art book is very nice.
Kevin said,
Your comments on Oblivion reminded me of:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/75-Oblivion
And holly popularity of that site: I couldn’t remember the name but remember it was “zero “, typing “zero” into google gave it as first hint!
steve said,
honestly the sense is freedom everyone raves about is non existent to me, its a complete chore to make ur way from one area to another….constantly running into walls conveniently shaped as rubble piles everywhere. on the surface it may seem open but replace those rubble piles with slate walls and ur in an 8-bit dungeon folks!
pookzilla said,
Steve: I kind of agree with you. Downtown DC is a chore. Not only is getting from point A to point B hard it’s difficult to know exactly what route you should take. Is it a path through the rubble or is it another subway exit?
The wasteland on the other hand is exactly what I hoped it’d be.
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