Fallout 3

aka: FO3
Moby ID: 37167
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

After World War II, rapid technology development carried humans towards a supposedly bright future, fulfilling their eternal dream. But eventually war raged again and in the year 2077, the dream suddenly came to a halt and mushroom clouds dominated the sky. A few communities survived in their underground bunkers called "Vaults"; others mutated heavily. Overall, what was left of the world was nothing more than a nuclear wasteland filled with ruins of a once great civilization. Two hundred years later, the human kind slowly but surely leaves the vaults and reclaims the lands of Earth.

The protagonist is one of them. As a member of Vault 101 in the wasteland surrounding the city formerly known as Washington D.C. and now called "Capital Wasteland", raised under the tight rule of the Overseer and the watchful eye of his father, he doesn't know anything about what is outside. But on his nineteenth birthday, his father unexpectedly leaves the vault. The hero's goal is to find him, learning part of the truth about what the Overseer concealed all these years on the way.

Fallout 3 is a role-playing game with elements of a 3D shooter. It retains many elements of the previous games in the series, while somewhat shifting the emphasis from social interaction and ethical role-playing to exploration of an open, continuous 3D world and combat. The player is free to explore the game's world from the beginning, visiting many optional locations, talking to characters and completing side quests. The main quest line, however, is largely linear, posing moral choices to the player only during its final phase.

Character creation and customization are similar to those of the previous games. The player shapes the main character by allocating points into the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck) attributes. The skill system has been mostly carried over from the preceding installments, including weapon specializations (small and big guns, energy weapons, etc.), and active skills such as Science, Repair, Lockpick, and others. Passive skills, particularly Speech, play a lesser role than in earlier Fallout games. A few skills have been removed completely. Skill points and perks are acquired when the protagonist levels up.

Combat system has undergone a major overhaul. Tactical turn-based battles from the previous games have been replaced with two different combat modes; the player is able to switch between them at any time. The simpler system of these two is action-oriented, nearly indistinguishable from traditional 3D shooter combat. The player character equips a weapon (ranging from a baseball bat to the destructive mini-nuke-launcher) and attacks enemies with it; damage calculation is based on the participants' statistics more than on the player's dexterity, though the latter plays a role as well. In addition, the player can opt to switch to Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.) combat mode, a real-time system that allows the player to pause the game at any time and target specific regions of one or more enemies until the available action points are used. After all the actions have been assigned, the game plays them out in a slow motion.

The Karma system from the previous installments is back, keeping track of the main character's actions and decisions made by the player throughout the course of the game. Ethically unacceptable actions reduce the player character's Karma points.

Spellings

  • 異塵餘生3 - Traditional Chinese spelling
  • 辐射3 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

473 People (446 developers, 27 thanks) · View all

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Average score: 90% (based on 144 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 281 ratings with 12 reviews)

Fallout 3 isn't really a true Fallout game, but if you can forgive that, it is still an incredible game.

The Good
Fallout 1 & 2 are the best games ever. When I heard that Fallout 3 was being developed, I crapped myself in anticipation. Sadly, even though the Van Buren demo provided some morsels for us fans, Black Isle Studios was bought out and shut down. It was canceled. Years later, Fallout 3 would resurface helmed by Bethesda Studios. When I heard this, I was mixed. I knew from the start the game couldn't touch the first two games, yet I really liked Daggerfall and Oblivion so I wasn't really outraged.

In the end, I was completely right: Fallout 3 is not a true Fallout game. Sure, it has the Vaults, radioactive scorpions, brahmin, a pipboy, and it is set in a big desolate wasteland, but everything that made Fallout unique is stripped away here. But in the end, if you can forgive this and if you like Bethesda's work, you will still find what is arguably their best game since Daggerfall.

The graphics may not "Wow," but character models are very good and the art direction is superb and lends the game a perfect post apocalyptic look.

Gameplay is much like Oblivion, although it improves upon Oblivion by having a larger number of enemies as well as improving the acting and other areas that made Oblivion somewhat lacking in the immersion category. Obviously guns play a bigger part here instead of swords and spells like in Oblivion. With said guns comes the "V.A.T.S." system, which allows you to freeze time and pick off body parts with greater accuracy and a Michael Bay camera shoot. VATS uses action points, and different weapons modify how many action points you can use and naturally each different enemy has different shapes and body parts, affecting what you can shoot based on your location.

The game is gory as hell, and while I would've liked to see some actual pre-rendered death animations much like in the original games which made deaths seem a little more... erm, "painful" and creative, as the physics system is fairly rudimentary, it is still fun to watch and is ridiculously over the top. Splitting apart a raiders chest and then watching his limbs fly off is a simplistic joy.

The game sounds great too, the acting is VASTLY improved from Oblivion, and characters sound a little more distinct and into their roles than in that game. Weapons sound good and unique, and enemies make good sounds as well, be it in their life or in their death. The game also has a radio which plays fancy old tunes from the 30s/40s/50s as well as funny comments from a snarky D.J. as well as the occasional adventure of Herbert Daring Dashwood, which are funny and fun to listen to, although I wish there were more episodes.

Although the role playing system is dumbed down (See the "What I didn't like" section) and doesn't offer as much variety or replayability as previous Fallout games, the game still has several side quests and a genuine need to survive, which really immerses you in the role.

There are lots of different weapons and armors to discover, which all have different affects and values. You can also gather parts to create weapons, each one unique and cool, although it doesn't get much funnier than the Rock-It-Launcher; a gun that shoots random crap you pick up in the wasteland. Sending a milk bottle through a super mutants head and watching it break apart in 3 pieces or slaughter a group of raiders with toy cars is absolutely fricken' hysterical. Schematics are expensive and often hidden, and there is incentive to find multiple copies, as it improves the usefulness of the weapon you wish to build.

The game encourages exploration, and there are tons of eerie, strange places to explore as you scavenge and become a wasteland denizen. Sometimes the most fun the game has to offer is to try and find as many unique areas as possible, and see what secrets they hide within. It is very satisfying to stumble upon something hidden and uncover a side quest, a unique item, or just a strange random encounter.

Scaled leveling makes an appearance here, but it actually works in this game. Normally I am against the concept, but considering that Bethesda didn't make a large variety of monsters and since raiders rarely have unique characters in their ranks, scaled leveling makes sure that you will always fear what might lie around the corner or behind that ominous door.

The Bad
The biggest problem is that the role playing system from Fallouts 1 and 2 are extremely dumbed down. SPECIAL hardly affects your character anymore, in the first two games it was extremely important and each trait would be completely different based on the points you put into them, in Fallout 3, the effects of those stats are barely noticeable. The Tag skills system isn't dumbed down quite as much as the other areas, but the various permutations and numbers crunching in the background have been significantly reduced and tag skills have no affect on SPECIAL or traits like they did in the old games. Optional traits have been shuffled into the perks system, and perks are no longer granted every so often, they are granted every level. They are hardly "Perks" if you get them all the time. Several classic perks return, albeit changed greatly and like the rest of the stats, they've been dumbed down. This hurts the replay value, and unlike in the first two games where each character felt unique and different, most of the characters you create in FO3 will feel the same.

The karma system is busted beyond belief. You can be a thieving serial killer who eats his victims and then uses their body as a toilet, yet if you remember to give all your purified water to a bum you can have a high karma level. The game claims that karma and "Choice" play a big part, but they do not. There are a few interesting "choices," but it is annoying that they either make you the second coming or make you the devil, and if you make a "Choice" that karma is permanent, there's no altering it ever again. It constantly flops around, and has no real affect on the game except for the way the DJ talks about you, and if you are REALLY good people in Megaton might give you stuff, but that's it. Karma has no affect in the game whatsoever.

Although most of the graphics are nice, the animations are even worse than they were in Oblivion, and characters always look like they are skating on thin air with rocket powered jet skates.

Since the game has a habit of "Dumbing down" things, another thing that the game dumbs down is radiation poisoning. Radiation poisoning in Fallout 1 & 2 was a real threat, but in FO3 the worst that may happen is you won't be as fast or strong. It can kill you, but rather than killing you slowly like in the first two games, it only kills you if your geiger counter maxes out. I actually found times where I had severe radiation poisoning and had no idea, because my character seemed to act the same way.

The storyline, while it has moments, is relatively lame and the ending is possibly the worst ever. The ending is an anti-climax, and the final boss couldn't even contend with the calculator from Fallout Tactics. Hell, he's actually one of the weakest characters in the game, even if your arms, torso, and head are all crippled and your perception, strength, and agility are all nil you can tear him to shreds with a pistol that is about to break after one use. You also can't continue past the final quest, which is annoying because I did not want to have to create a brand new character just to continue exploring and find more quests. This was remedied in Broken Steel, but it is still a fault with the game. The main quest line is also ridiculously short and easy, it can be completed in a mere hour without much effort put into it, unless you've never played a shooter before and can't find out which button is the trigger.

VATS, while fun to use at times, is not really much more than Bullet Time with a shaky camera. It claims to be unique when it really isn't. On the same line, guns feel somewhat clunky and inaccurate, although they are still fun to shoot.

The monster roster is a little slim and I wish there were more. Although most of the more famous monsters, such as the Death Claws and the radscorpions, make appearances there isn't quite as much variety in them and some monsters are clearly just palette swaps. It is also annoying that Bethesda added radroaches and bloatflies, these monsters are extremely pointless as they barely do any damage and after level 1, you don't even get experience for killing them yet they appear as an arbitrary MacGuffin to make sure you can't sleep or travel and Bethesda makes sure they appear in a swarm so you have to beat tons of them and since there's no experience reward for killing them and the fact that they are no threat at all, it simply isn't fun to have to bash them just so you can be on your merry way.

The Bottom Line
Despite the fact that it is not truly a sequel to Fallout, and is not even in league with those games, Fallout 3 is still a great Bethesda game. It has their mark, and it's easily comparable to Oblivion, but as mentioned before it is truly much better than Oblivion. The game is highly immersive and fun to play, and exploring this game will reveal it is truly greater than the sum of its parts. Many secrets await for you in the Capitol Wasteland, and if you can ignore the relatively lame main quest line, there are many rewards to reap in the desolate wastes.

Windows · by Kaddy B. (777) · 2009

How to translate fantasy world into the Fallout universe.

The Good
There is a lot of creative ideas in the game, and it has its moments : like the Tenpenny Tower, which has a good surprise if you finish the quest with the "good" side.

Special award for the musics. No no, not the musics composed for the game by Inon Zur, which are as boring as the landscapes of the game. But the selection of jazzy tracks were quiet well chosen, and fun to adapt with Fallout's world.

I guess this is it. It is not that I hated all the rest of the game, I warn you right now. But... there are a lot of complaints.

The Bad
Much.
First of all, the environment. I love Morrowind and I like Oblivion despise its flaws, so do not think I don't like open-worlds game. But Fallout 3's world just feel empty. It is logical, after a nuclear war, but in a game, it just doesn't serve anything except bore the player to death. As much as I didn't like instant travels in Oblivion, in Fallout 3, I would have thrown my computer through the window without them.

Then, since we are in a role-playing-game (well, sometimes, I wonder if we really are...), the most important characteristics would be :

A) Character Development. As in all Bethesda's games, whatever you chose your character to be, they all finish to do the same. Bethesda tried the way of "choices & consequences", something they have not done in their TES series, and at the end we just have the classic good/evil differences. I may overrate Fallout 2, the only one I have played so far, but I found it to go beyond these clichés, and, in a way, no one was truly good. In Fallout 3, you have Paladins (the dissident branch of The Brotherhood of Steel), you have a secret society which kills evil men (you can loot fingers on those "evil men" and give them to the society as a proof, and earn a reward...).. All of this just fell flat and killed the little sense of credibility you could expect from the world.

B) Scenario & Dialogs. Once again, here, there is good & less-good, & even worse than bad. The scenario itself is not bad, but is poorly executed. Same applies to dialogs & characters, with some of them being good ideas (like the Android quest) and some which fell completely flat (destruction of the garbage-city, someone asks you to do it, but do not give you a real reason).

C) The World It is obvious that Bethesda wanted to do their own thing with the Fallout license. While we should applause them for trying to do something new with it, the illusion of novelty fades quite quickly : you are playing Oblivion in the Fallout universe. Yes, the mutants could be Orcs, these members of the Brotherhood of Steel are Paladins who protects the weak. Heck, there are even Vampires & Druids (& now Samurai, as I heard, with the latest DLC). As much as I love these components for a TES game, it is not what I expect to see in a Fallout one.

Final thing (I may forgot a lot of others, but this one cracks me up) : the world is not that open. Yes, there are places you can't go, because of artificial walls. You want to climb this pile of debris to get inside Washington DC ? Guess what ? You can't. There is only one way : take the subway, and go out at the exact place the game wants you to be, otherwise, how could the script work ? Well, open-world & obvious linearity does not go well...

The Bottom Line
Honestly, there are two types of gamers, which won't see the game the same way :
- Fallout fans. You will hate it. Stay away, try it when it will be cheap if you really want to know what has happen to your beloved universe, but you won't like it.
- Bethesda fans : you should like it. Well, you should, because it mostly feels like Oblivion in a different universe. You won't if the "liberty" of the Elder Scrolls is what you like the most. The little additions Bethesda tried to its style are welcomed though : different paths (good/evil), even if they are this simplistic, are still better than only one forced way.

Windows · by Alaedrain (3442) · 2009

Simply brilliant - but might not be for everyone...

The Good
True enough, it offers almost limitless freedom of actions, perhaps more than Oblivion ever did. You explore huge devastated city, with no chance to ruin something for yourself if you get there ahead of time. Nice implementation of VATS - they found use for those old turn based action points, to placate old fallout fans no doubt. Amazing soundtracks and 2008 graphic at its best. Voicing isn't bad either, at least much better than Oblivion is.

The Bad
None so far, beside little accidental crashes, but happens VERY rare. Some small items a little bit easy to miss, but I guess it's part of realism.

The Bottom Line
98% of people will love it, as its unmistakably best mix of RPG and FPS yet, but then again, those 2% who like the pure genre (skipping through talking, or finding it to be too much of an action game) will absolutely hate it. Oh and don't let anyone say it's short, there is no way one can skip through it in 7 hours unless maybe they sit with a guide in their lap and skip all conversations in mindless effort to pass it in record time (and even then I doubt it possible without cheating). Absolutely worth time spent - hopefully they will release add-ons, it seems to be build pretty much like Oblivion, with .esm files loading at start.

Windows · by Marina Shoykhet (3) · 2008

[ View all 12 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
BOS-in-a-BOX bubbleman1987 Dec 9, 2012
(no subject) bubbleman1987 Sep 5, 2012
Minor complaint time! *spoilers* Simoneer (29) Feb 19, 2011
Melee character? BurningStickMan (17916) Jan 8, 2011
Teh Ultimate Fallout 3 Mod Guides! Slug Camargo (583) May 13, 2010

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Fallout 3 appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Australian release

Fallout 3 was originally banned in Australia in July 2008, but an edited version was re-submitted to the country's Classification Board. Funnily enough, this is also the version that was released in all regions.

German version

In the German version all blood and removed limbs were removed. This includes robot parts, e.g. the arms of Mister Gutsy.

References to the game

Fallout 3 was parodied in an episode of "Die Redaktion" (The Editorial Team), a monthly comedy video produced by the German gaming magazine GameStar. It was published on the DVD of issue 02/2009.

Awards

  • 1UP
    • 2009 - "Digital Delivarence" Award for Best DLC in 2009 (Editor's Choice)
    • 2009 - "Digital Delivarence" Award for Best DLC in 2009 (Reader's Choice)
  • GamePro
    • February 2009 (issue 245) - PC Game of the Year 2008
  • GamePro (Germany)
    • February 26, 2009 - Best Console RPG in 2008 (Readers Voting)
  • GameStar (Germany)
    • February 26, 2009 - Best PC Game in 2008 (Reader's Voting)
    • February 26, 2009 - Best PC RPG in 2008 (Reader's Voting)
  • Gamespot
    • 2009 - Best Downloadable Content/Expansion in 2009 (Reader's Choice; for the DLCs)
  • GameSpy
    • 2008 – Game of the Year
    • 2008 – PC Game of the Year
    • 2008 – Xbox 360 Game of the Year
    • 2008 – PC Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
    • 2008 – Xbox 360 Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
    • 2008 – #2 PS3 Game of the Year
    • 2008 – PC RPG of the Year
    • 2008 – Xbox 360 RPG of the Year
    • 2008 – PS3 RPG of the Year
    • 2012 – #10 Top PC Gaming Intro
  • GameTrailers
    • December 25, 2009 - Best Expansion/DLC in 2009 (for the DLCs)
  • Golden Joystick Awards
    • 2009 - Ultimate Game of the Year
    • 2009 - PC Game of the Year
  • IGN
    • 2009 - Best Xbox 360 Aftermarket Support in 2009 (Reader's Awards; for the DLCs)
  • Machinima 2009 - Best DLC in 2009 (for the DLCs)

Information was also provided by Big John WV, PCGamer77 and piltdown man

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Sicarius.

Xbox One added by MAT.

Additional contributors: Katakis | カタキス, Jeanne, Apogee IV, Carl Ratcliff, Solid Flamingo, Zeppin, Paulus18950, Lizzy Carft, Patrick Bregger, Starbuck the Third, Plok, FatherJack.

Game added October 31, 2008. Last modified March 7, 2024.