In short, I was severely disappointed by the game. While exploration and combat can be fun, the game doesn't live up to its potential and it could be so, so much more with a proper campaign and side quests, both of which are lacking in length or depth.
wow big rant there. Unfortunatly it comes off as fan-boyish. To call the story awful is a gross over statement. Uninspired yes, but the ultimate goal of the game is the experience. The story is just the motivation.
Being that this is the election season I've been saying this a lot. I will say it once more:
Sorry but your opinion is wrong.
18 hours and you beat the game? Fair enough, you rifled through a game that is meant to be explored. I have around 20ish+ hours and I can tell you I'm close to about half way with the real story(I know this because I accidentally saw the main quest line on IGN).
The only part of my map that is really filled out is the bottom right corner, so I have really only explored 1/3 or 1/4 of the world.
Like I said, this game is meant to be exploring an unknown world. You missed the best part of what this game has to offer. Even if the ending isn't a huge exploding extravaganza or some HUGE plot twist. IT DOESN'T MATTER, it's about the story as a whole and the adventure that comes with the exploration.
Graphics: 9.5/10 Graphically it's amazing. It sets the mood of a post apocalyptic waste. They could of put a larger variation when it comes to bad guys.
Story: ?/10 Haven't finished it because I'm to busy exploring the whole game, but if the main story is as good as the collective small quest lines than 10/10
Gameplay: 9/10, there are a few bugs that will probably get patched with combat, but nothing that takes away from the overall goal or mood of the game.
Sound: Voice acting is great, but you are right it can get repetitive (if you are talking to the same characters over and over.... lol). As for the radio broadcasts... those are actually repetitive and get kind of annoying. But if you listen to Galaxy radio like I do, I love the 50's theme to it all.
Overall: ?/10. As of now I'd say 9.5/10 because it has a few glitches that don't make it a perfect game. I'm sure they will patch them, but it's nothing that takes away from the game or really has an effect on it. (Example of the types of glitches, a dead guy floating 3 feet in the air after I killed him, which only happened once. Again nothing that takes away from the game, but it's not a polished 10)
I havnt gotten an ending yet, but I dont see how you can say its a disapointment, ive played 1 and 2 of fall out, and wile the story is diffrent from the other 2 in certain ways, I dont find it to be a complete waste of time. Bethesada did the same thing with oblivion when it came to the 'main' story line, you can finish it very quickly if you really want to, or you can branch off and do other things for a more rewarding experiance. Infact Bethesada said that the game was in its self, its own game and really had nothing to do with the other 2 fallouts. Except with factions and some other minor things, the story its self was suppose to just be its own. and as for the ending, if there really are 200 endings, well it sucks that you stumbled upon one of the worst, but as there are 200 im sure some are not so unforgiveing as the one that you experianced. Now I agree side quest do seem to be hard to find, but I never recall them being easy in fall out 1, but that was a wile ago that I played it. But I honostly cant see why you can suddenly hate the story becasue of 1 ending you got, that just seems silly to suddenly find every flaw after getting a bad ending, but its your opinon and I dont wish to depate the story with anyone, I'll just give people some insite to what I thought of the game.
The only problem I have with it so far, is when it tells me that I have a 85% chance of hitting the enemy, but it dosnt take in the fact that there is an object in my way and I dont even notice it, so all my ammo is wasted... and super mutant brutes are hard as hell to take down with a pistol... so I wasnt very happy to accidently stumble upon one earily in the game. But that was more just my luck then a problem in the game.
The graphics are sublime on ultra settings, though I do have to agree I wish there was a wider selection of enemies, but that seems to be a problem with almost every game that goes all sandboxey.
the main story, has me intrigued, I want to know why the characters father has left the vault and where was I really born? and thats what a story is suppose to do in a game like this, give you motivation. So I see nothing wrong with it, but I havnt gotten an ending so maybe my opinon will change. The side quest stories are at the very least intrigueing at times, I cant really say they are extreamly great becasue I havnt done many, I spend to much time running around. But by going by my experiances so far id say they are atleast interesting and fun to complete...
as for the combat and play style, 3rd person veiw sucks, but eh what are you gonna do about that, the V.A.T.S system is, as I said before, extreamly awsome. But the first person shooter, or melee, with out the V.A.T.S, is well, a bit more difficult to use, but I expected fallout 3 to be a turn based game when I frist heard about it anyways so it dosnt bother me that useing the VATS is more effective...
voice acting, is fine I suppose, I havnt ran into a character that voice sounded like it didnt belong in the world, nor have I found one with such poor acting I remember im playing a game
in the end I have to, if I was going to rate this game id give it a 10/10, yes it has its glitches and problems, but what game dosnt? and yes as with all games I can sit here and complie a complete list of what 'could have been' but theres no reason to do that, the game is very solid IMO and one of the best games to come out. But thats my opinon as a fan of the other 2 fallouts.
18 hours and you beat the game? Fair enough, you rifled through a game that is meant to be explored. I have around 20ish+ hours and I can tell you I'm close to about half way with the real story(I know this because I accidentally saw the main quest line on IGN).
The only part of my map that is really filled out is the bottom right corner, so I have really only explored 1/3 or 1/4 of the world.
Like I said, this game is meant to be exploring an unknown world. You missed the best part of what this game has to offer. Even if the ending isn't a huge exploding extravaganza or some HUGE plot twist. IT DOESN'T MATTER, it's about the story as a whole and the adventure that comes with the exploration.
No, I didn't miss the best part of the game. I mentioned that I think when playing it as a sandbox, its great. Exploring and experiencing the world was great, but I am reviewing the main 'game' in the context of the story. I know the ending doesn't have to be something huge, but it has to be better than nothing happening and a black screen saying 'THE END.' Its not even an ending. Hell, its not even a cliffhanger. Its just 'THE END' and the plot doesn't go anywhere. So you are out to find your dad, but he eludes you and finds out that the wastes maybe aren't such a great place. They might as well have said 'THE END' when you got out of the vault. For all I know, the game might still grow on me. Another example could be GTA 3. When it came out, I gave it a scathing review for its repetitive missions, but ended up loving the rest of the game and eventually it grew on me. I can see that happening with Fallout 3, but the main story, which is an important part of the game, as it is with any RPG game, even 'sandbox' ones. Take Oblivion for example. Its story at least had a beginning, middle, and proper end and it took more time to beat.
And how is my opinion wrong?. An opinion cannot be wrong. It defies the definition of an opinion. I am severely disappointed, but I am not saying to the people who like the game that their opinion is wrong. An opinion is an opinion. Someones personal thought on something. No opinion can be wrong, and I am sharing my opinion, not telling people what to think of the game, I am simply saying it how I see it as you are with your opinion. If my opinion is wrong, than your opinion is wrong; but the point is, no opinion is wrong. I am not saying I dislike this game just because everyone loves it, I am saying I dislike this game because it is my honest opinion. If anyone who dislikes this games' opinion is wrong, then that is just more proof that to live in this world you have to follow what the leader says is good and whats bad.
wow big rant there. Unfortunatly it comes off as fan-boyish. To call the story awful is a gross over statement. Uninspired yes, but the ultimate goal of the game is the experience. The story is just the motivation.
I can see where you come from in saying its fan-boyish. I hate to admit it (as I generally hate being called a fan-boy of anything, but thats because generally I'm not.) but you could say I'm a fanboy of FO/FO2/FOT.
Yes, the overall point of the game is the experience, but the experience was shattered by such huge disappointment with the lack of a good story, and ridiculously short quests. Even the side quests seem to be damn near impossible to find. In a game with a sprawling world full of stuff, there should still be more side-quests to do than I have been able to find so far. I've maybe found 7, otherwise I've mostly been making my own adventures, which is a ton of fun but sometimes I feel disconnected with the world when I realize there aren't enough side-things to do. Sometimes you want a little more context in a game like this to keep you going, as you said, the story is motivation, but even outside of the story, theres little to be found when you aren't using your imagination. It has the seeds for a very great game, and as stated above, maybe it'll grow on me as a sandbox game.. but I was simply severely disappointed by the rest of it.
I thought it was great. ~20 hours in and only level 15. I enjoy doing misc. quests, haven't really done too much with the main story arc. I blew tennpenny's head off lawl.
Okay, here is a new edition of my review. I decided to spend some more time with the game. This review is more in depth. Oh, and spoilers will pop up here and there.
I am still heavily disappointed with many aspects, mostly the story and the fact that some potential was quite squandered. But once I let the disappointment settle down, I can see why the game is garnering praise, although I still say it is overrated in some aspects.
The graphics are, as I said in my past edition, 'good.' They have amazing art design, and some textures are very well done, but others aren't so much. The graphics convey a 'destroyed beauty' style very well and the character models are a bit more varied than that of Oblivion, oddly enough, this is best seen on older characters, as they truly look old and oddly enough, seem more realistic than some of the 'childs' faces. While there are dated aspects, the graphics have a great art style, and they stay true to that of the original Fallout games art direction.
The sound is once again a mix. The sound effects are great, the radio effects are great, and the voice acting is for the most part great, but it does get repetitious hearing a voice over and over again for different characters, especially when you get into the Brotherhood of Steel. The atmospheric music is odd, it seems to be a low bit rate compared to the rest of the sound, but it has the potential.
I'm not going to whine about any bugs, because the only bugs I've run into are not problematic to the gameplay. I have found one or two visual clipping bugs, and there was a rather funny moment where a sniper fell from a large tower and his body bounced as if it was made of super-bouncy rubber. Yes, I hope these glitches are fixed, but its not worth picking at them if they don't ruin my game.
The story.. still disappoints me. It has all the seeds for another great Fallout story, but it falls flat at the worst point possible. The problem is that while it follows the Fallout tradition of 'You get a simple quest that spirals into something huge' set up, it ultimately doesn't go as far as it should, and the premise
of restoring the landscape to make a better world, but the government steps in to mess it up and feels regurgitated from FO2 but not as memorable as it relies more on uninspired cliches of the genre..
I am also still sad that much of the humour is gone, there are scraps of it, but not many. In the main quest line, there was really only one section that stood out, and that was the computer simulation of an old 50s style town. That was a very surreal and unique section, and in truth, it was even a little creepy and scary.
The actual combat, exploration and the game world are amazing. When regular shooting gets too hard or tedious, VATS spices things up. When VATS gets too hard or too tedious, classic shooting spices things up. Its a great balance. I do miss the traditional Turn based combat system though, action points feel weird and almost a pointless addition in real time combat, even in VATS mode.
While it has been growing on me, I still feel the disappointment, and I cannot rate it as high as many people have. I can only give it an 8, and nothing more.
That is a bit of an erroneous statement there. The over all fact that it is a Fallout game means that it is open to comparison with the previous iterations. While I would compare FO3 favorably to FO1&2 i can see why some would not be happy with the game.
I think it's much in the same way I would severely injure several Blizzard employees if Starcraft: Ghost ever saw the light of day...regardless of the quality of the game. When looking at a new iteration of a classic title, you can only expect Fan-boys to get angry at anything other than absolute perfection.
I do understand where Crouton is coming from and I sure I would have same opinion as him if I played the first two fallout games when they came out instead of a few years down the line. But alas I was to knee deep in Starcraft that I didn't see any other PC game for 3 years.
Fallout 3 can't be that fail! I mean its Fallout! I've seen it read about it, and watched videos about it. The game looks spectacular. Although as much as i love the classic AP+Turn Based style combat as Fallout1 and 2, I've always wanted to play a FPSRPG.
Although in terms of character creation, what do you guys have to say about that?
Visually, I have to admit making your character look very unique isn't as expansive as it was in Oblivion, however, the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system from previous Fallout games is here, and the stats are very customizable, and the perks are very diverse, many are classic ones and some are new to the game. They give you extra reason to keep grinding and leveling out there. I tried making my character look like me, but ended up with something kinda funny. When I put glasses on him, he was the spitting image of Gordon Freeman. Now if only I can find some orange power armour..
The character customization system is very deep and well done, but only in the RPG aspects, the visual side isnt as extensive though. I loved making weirdos in Oblivion, and you can make off looking people but not as funny or 'unique' as you could hope.
And how is my opinion wrong?. An opinion cannot be wrong. It defies the definition of an opinion. I am severely disappointed, but I am not saying to the people who like the game that their opinion is wrong. An opinion is an opinion. Someones personal thought on something. No opinion can be wrong, and I am sharing my opinion, not telling people what to think of the game, I am simply saying it how I see it as you are with your opinion. If my opinion is wrong, than your opinion is wrong; but the point is, no opinion is wrong. I am not saying I dislike this game just because everyone loves it, I am saying I dislike this game because it is my honest opinion. If anyone who dislikes this games' opinion is wrong, then that is just more proof that to live in this world you have to follow what the leader says is good and whats bad.
Glad you took that sarcastic statement of mine so seriously.
There is no changing your mind on this game and that's fine. Not everyone is going to like it. But your opinion is flawed in the way that you are judging the game before you experienced the full extent to what it has to offer. You gave a final judgment with even admitting that you haven't played it fully and over time your opinion might (or might not) change based on exploring more.
I hope for your sake that you play the game more and explore, otherwise you've wasted 50 dollars on playing the minimum short 15 hour main story line. Along with getting only one of the hundreds of endings it has to offer.
I'm enjoying the game a lot. Much more than might be expected given how much I dislike 'sandbox' games. But, I think I'd come to grips with the fact that it wasn't going to be a 'real' Fallout game, or even a close imitator like FOT, before I started playing. And I think that's ok, because I'm not sure if another Fallout game is really possible. Van Buren is long dead and buried, and Black Isle, despite putting out at least three of the very best rpgs ever, isn't coming back. But even if they were, I'm not sure they could put out a Fallout game these days, in this culture.
I think it's hard to realize just how far off the reservation games like Fallout or Torment would be if they were made today. This Fallout had trouble just including the drug references. Lovingly made hypergory sprite animations of the effects of fully automatic machine gun fire at close were never going to make the transition to today's 3d games with obligatory exploding gibs, let alone the pitch black storylines with an even blacker sense of humor. And even more the slightly frivolous nature of some of the things left in the world. I'm not at all surprised that Bloody Mess had to acquire a damage buff to make the jump to a game meant for today's 360/ps3 market.
Fallout 3 has it's occasional moments (walking into Paradise Falls as an escaping slave's radio collar explodes his head comes to mind), but it was never going to be the third of three, and in some ways I don't want it to be. I'm never going to get a real Fallout 3, the same way I'm never going to get another real Tribes. But I want to go back to that world, and have a decent time there, even if it's not going to be nirvana. So all I'm looking for is enough commonality, enough acknowledgment of what's come before for Bethesda to move forward and make a good game, if not a Fallout game, and I think they've managed that.
And it does feel like a plausible extrapolation of what Black Isle might have done given the tech. The slightly overexposed look of the world, the radio stations, the barely veiled hostility of every Mr. Handy I've met, are all going in the right direction. In the end, it's not Fallout, it's not funny, it's not as freewheeling, everything's a little more dumbed down, a little more combat focused (one of my huge disappointments is how impossible seems to be to skip combat through skill use), but it's as close as I'm going to get, and in many ways it's a good game in it's own right, and one I don't regret paying out cash for, or even for running around to a couple different stores to find a copy on release day. It feels like the game I'd wished Bioshock had been, a game I do regret shelling out for.
On a side note, am I the only one that didn't like the character creation stuff? SPECIAL works just fine for me, but then that chunk is largely unchanged for Fallout 1, 2, or any other stats based rpg character creation. All that bumpf about the birth, and the crib, and the party etc. I just came out of it with the realization that a) after 20 minutes I still couldn't build a character face that I liked or even looked vaguely normal (to which I'm thankful that you almost never see the character's face in game, though that begs the question of why they put so much effort into the creation interface), and b) that I'm never going to be able to reroll to play the game another way simply for the sheer waste of time the intro would present.
