Fallout 3

 

 

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Ordered the game pre-launch and became a little nervous about being able to install and play it, having read the initial reviews on the web from those in the U.S.A. who had the game earlier.
Seems a number of those with high-end P.C.'s were having all kinds of problems - both in installation, game launch and crashes/game freezing.
It was not without some misgivings then that I installed the game on receipt.

My P.C. is a bit of an old cobbled up belter (cannot afford a better one at present) - 3gb cpu, 1gb ram, Nvid Geforce 6800GS (AGP),a really old Soundblaster card in vanilla stereo and Windows XP. It ran Oblivion beautifully (two years ago) but looked a bit pants as a bottom spec machine for this game. The game publishers stress that the game was designed around the Ge Force 8 and 9 series cards!

If this helps others who are intending to play solo - here are the tips which seemed good logical advice :-

Following advice of others across the pond, I de-fragged the hard drive first, killed my internet connection and stopped the firewall/anti virus engines prior to a full installation.
Then the game installed no bother at all - it is a very long installation though!!

I ran the game from the "launcher" with the disc in the drive for the first time, to let the game sort out my "default" in game settings - which were pretty low (not unexpected).
Exited out and took out the disc. The disc is only used to re-do the defaults now.
No disc, and re-launch from the "Fallout.exe" file in the Fallout directory on the C drive and away we went - no problems at all. No jerko-vision, no lock ups and (so far) no freezing.(Do not use the "Game Launcher").
Assuming you are playing solo - Just ensure you kill your internet connection and virus/firewall systems, remove screen saver and screen power-off time - outs first and launch from the Fallout.exe folder every time you play.
I've played for 5 days now and (so far) no problems.
I re-clocked my NVid 6800 and was able to bring up some of the details in the video settings slowly, bit by bit which has improved the overall look without penalty (so far).
Hope all of that helped somebody.

As to the game itself - many good reviews here.

Meld of Oblivion and the old Fallout series seems a bit odd but works very well.
Levelling up offers more reward as you get a "perk" every time - do choose wisely!
Money and ammo are hard to find at first (expensive with low barter skill) and it pays to "learn your trade" as soon as you can - survival is difficult otherwise.
Take your time and wander around the Megaton area annd surrounding country first - get some easier xp and useful items.

The repair skill is also essential - you will quickly wear out weapons and armour and be stuck without this. You also need to carry similar (partly worn out) items in your inventory as "spares" to repair with. Get them from the bodies after the usual random "raider fire fights".

Worth using the crazy nut-job trader lady in Megaton for her simpler quests and rewards to get more xp and a feel for the characters and mutated wildlife you will always encounter as you travel further out.
Concentrate on upping small gun, lockpick, sneak repair and science skills as soon as you can. You cannot survive without fighting - unlike Oblivion. Lock picking is a much simpler and satisfying experience than in Oblivion. Computer hacking takes some getting used to - a bit of a cerebral break during a mission (read the manual about how to do it)! Perception, intelligence and agility basics are a must.

I have not followed the main plot line at all yet - having too much fun just mooching around and picking up random quests, encounters and good loot.

Remember that all of your actions (good, evil or neutral) have consequences. Karma does play a part. (I appear to have "good" karma at present - too good it seems, as several hit squads are now trying to take me out from time to time - usually quite unexpectedly after completion of random quests - always stay ready to fight!)

Oblivion had "spell making and enchanting" altars - this game has "workbenches" dotted around - including one at the crazy lady's place in Megaton (use them for free). As long as you get the "schematics" you can cobble together the most strange (but effective) weapons from all kinds of junk you can pick up in the wastes during your travels - worth getting somewhere to live as your base to store all of this useful junk for the future.
My favourite home made weapon so far is the "Railway Gun" - a magnetic rail gun shooting railway spikes. It sounds an American locomotive hooter every time it fires - cheezy I know but somehow most enjoyable when a mutated mole rat explodes in front of you. (Dark humour!)
There is an encounter with a lunatic professor underground - voiced to sound like the character Hubert Farnsworth from Futurama!

I have not bothered to use the "Vats" system - more satisfying to do shooting the old down and dirty way.

Spoiler here (maybe?)

Search around for a scrapyard and pick up Dogmeat (remember the dog from Fallout2) for free - a truly awesome fighter/companion for you.

Scoped guns and rifles do work very well (with excellent sounds) if your gun skills are over 60% - sniping is great fun.
Gun graphics are pretty funky too.

Clearly Bethesda will have to address some (or all hopefully) of the launch/run/crash problems - but which great game has not had to have a few early patches?
Nevertheless, there are some in - game inconsistencies with characters and game play which also need sorting out.

Patches must be released a.s.a.p. please.

Loose a star because of this, but otherwise a fabulous game to immerse yourself in for hour after hour - like Oblivion, say goodbye to friends and family for a long time as it draws you in.

Other critics may disagree with some (or all) of this - but these are my experiences to date - and I will admit I am getting on in years - cut my gaming teeth with my children when Wolfenstein first came out as shareware in the early '90s with an Amstrad 286!!

This game is really worth a shot.

Every year or so I'll find myself replaying specific games, true masterpieces that capture the imagination so well that you can't help but try them again. Is Fallout 3 destined to be such a game? Potentially.

Lets' get the Fallout fan stuff out of the way first. I've played the first two and Fallout 3 most definitely has the feel of the original games brought into first person. It's gritty, dark, non-linear, and sticks to the original concepts well. That said, there's just enough to irritate compared to the old games - some questionable mixing of stories, limited options in quests beyond basic good & bad choices, limited followers, and my biggest complaint, a grand total of two endings, compared to the vast options of previous games, leaving you with something of a 'so what' attitude to your escapades. The locking & auto-levelling system is done well, though the level cap of 20 is somewhat irritating, especially given the prevalence of max-skills items (e.g. need 100 lockpick to open)

In terms of graphics, sound, and physics, this game is extremely good. Not a moment went by where I thought some look or sound felt out of place or non-Fallout, and I made a point of exploring everywhere. There's really not much more I can say than that without repeating the same refrain. Atomic explosions in particular I thought were done well and not too over-the-top. Some of the voice acting and written dialogue is pretty funny, intentionally so, and provides much of that same light relief that previous games managed.

The main storyline is pretty good, if somewhat cliched by the end given previous games, but has some quite forced sequences leaving you feeling somewhat frustrated, in particular the ending. However, the meat of the game is elsewhere in the wasteland; quite a few quests that will have you exploring and finding neat items or other quests in no time.

Looking back over the game, I find myself wishing the developers had spent more time polishing the game. The game itself is still quite buggy; I had quite a few crashes and there are still bugs in the actual gameplay if you're not careful, even after patching. The Fallout Wiki project is a godsend in identifying fixes for these; a shame the developers clearly don't read it.

On top of that, there's just so much more they could have done to round it off into a truly iconic product. I miss NPCs commenting on your outfit, particularly when you find powerful weapons and armour; your ability to intimidate or persuade seems unrelated to whether you're a walking tank or fresh out of the Vault. For all of the excellent times where NPCs or radio stations will note your activities and their results, there are just as many when nobody seems to notice that you did anything at all.

Given the above, I'd normally have given it 3 stars, deducting one for bugs and one for lack of polish on RPG features, which should be the core of the game. However it's such a good effort in taking Fallout into modern 3D, and gave me sufficient good memories, that it's worth adding another star for that. I'd heartily recommend giving it a try, because it has good points you shouldn't miss. Will I find myself replaying it some years from now, as I have done Fallout or Halflife? Maybe, but it's by no means as certain, which is a shame, because I really want to love this game and be able to give it 5 stars.

i played this on my 2.5g dual core, 4g ram and nvidia 8600gt pc. Really good game, i usually
only play fps and so this was a bit of a departure for me. good varied missions/tasks to complete and some
gruesome and tough enemies to beat. I like the xp levelling up skills you can aquire, like 'mysterious stranger' where during a shoot-out you may get help from a visitor who appears from nowhere brandashing a magnum. Also liked the
more advanced weapons such as the 'shishkebab' and the 'gattling laser'.
i would defo advise to do some side quests before following main quest as otherwise you'll miss loads of the map and levelling opportunities and shorten the game. Also get to learn all the key commands early on as there can be lots of switching between weapons, items, map screens etc often when under fire. Ending is a bit of a let down.
Overall, would recommend and am now about to start on the expansion pack.

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3.0 out of 5 stars I've fallen out with Fallout 3
Ok I know this game is over 3 years old (released October 2008) but here is my review of the game Fallout 3. Read more

Published 25 days ago by Seventh Degree

3.0 out of 5 stars average FPS in fallout world
I just finished the game, basic version, no add-ons, mods, DLC etc. Using win7 and good graphics card. It took me about 60h of gaming. Read more

Published 14 months ago by A. Pegza

5.0 out of 5 stars Oblivion with guns: "Good", but nowhere near "Great"
Note: tl;dr available at the bottom.

I first played Fallout 3 a little after it came out at a friend's place, and quite enjoyed it, but left off getting hold of a... Read more

Published 15 months ago by Korlus

3.0 out of 5 stars Boring?
...not quite sure. I found the game very engaging at first but the endless walking across such a repetitive environment killed much of my initial enthusiasm. Read more

Published 16 months ago by Cpai

4.0 out of 5 stars Everybody should play this game
Really good game. A compelling story with the freedom to make your own decisions and explore a huge gameworld. Read more

Published 17 months ago by Mark Ball

5.0 out of 5 stars I didn't want it too end

Immersive, atmospheric, addictive, on higher settings it looks a bit lovely. It's not perfect but Lord knows nothing in life is. Read more

Published 17 months ago by mrarchangel

4.0 out of 5 stars Great but bugged
Brillant game, let down by it is bugged toi hell. My video card was fine for this game, but it freezes and crashes quite a lot. Bear with it, it`s an absorbing and great game

Published 18 months ago by 3strands

5.0 out of 5 stars Fallout 3 (PC)
Very different to the traditional RPG's of Fallout 1 and 2, combines RPG with FPS, basically a numbers game with an FPS skin. Read more

Published 20 months ago by Mr. R. J. Price-Horsman

5.0 out of 5 stars good
if you like oblivion you might like this unless you prefer the bright colours of oblivion to the dark boreing colours of fallout 3, i like fallout.

Published 23 months ago by E. S. Hunter

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Fascinating Game!
Gave this game a go on the recommendation of a friend....very glad I did! Total freedom to wonder around the stunning Capital Wasteland in post nuclear apocolypse Washington DC... Read more

Published on 4 Feb 2010 by Harry Flashman

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