The fifth round of Fallout 3 hands-on previews from E3 starts and ends here! OC Register assures us the public gameplay demo is deceiving.<blockquote>After watching the promo for “Fallout 3″ on G4 yesterday, I was less than enthused. It looked a little clunky, to be honest, and it certainly didn’t seem that appealing.
I was wrong. So very, very wrong.
I got some hands-on time with Bethesda’s revamp of the Fallout series today, and it’s gorgeous. What looked muddy on the G4 broadcast was vibrant and full of life.</blockquote>2OpGaming.<blockquote>Walking through the world I was greeted by a two headed cow in the first two minutes of play which seemed like a randomly spawned creature much like in Oblivion. I was also attacked randomly by savaged rats and wild dogs when exploring the world. The draw distance in the game is once again incredible however in this build there was some texture pop in. However, much like Oblivion there’s only so much one console can handle. </blockquote>IGN Vault Network.<blockquote>There were only five minutes left of my hands-on time so I decided to head toward the next most inconspicuous locale. When I got to this gas station looking place I was suddenly prompted that a named enemy was attacking me. WOOT! I found a boss fight.
I took a few practice shots at him to see what I was looking at. He was extremely buff because none of my bullets seemed to hurt him. I tried to use the VAT but missed most of my shots due to the range of my attack. Before I could move into a better position I was attacked by two demon zombie dogs and was forced to retreat back to avoid being shot by the boss while I dealt with his canine. Using the VAT at close range proved extremely powerful. I focused all my attack points on shooting their heads and decapitated both dogs in a blaze of glorious bullets. The boss then proceeded to shoot me with his rifle and I ducked behind a rock to heal. When I looked up I saw the boss running into the distance and my hands-on time was over.
It’s obvious to me that fans of the series will undoubtedly love the game and newcomers will easily relate to the FPS and RPG elements present in Fallout 3. This is definitely one to add to your watched games list. </blockquote>The Next Level.<blockquote>There are a lot of stats, skills, abilities, et cetera. Not quite as many as the previous games in the Fallout series, but I found that a bit too cumbersome anyway. There's still more than a dozen basic stats to modify and develop your character any way you like, plus special abilities to bump them up even further, like the Lady Killer that's about winning a woman's heart by hacking out of her chest. All of these stats, maps, and other assorted data are managed by the Pipboy, standing as a cheerful 50s style cartoon character who, like the short clips in BioShock, extols in gruesome acts.
Fallout 3 works, and I'm not damning with faint praise here. You have a cult franchise with dedicated fans, the creation of a massive world in a style that's never been done before (since S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was almost entirely based on real locations), FPS mixed with RPG, all the decriers of the little too procedural Oblivion, and the most competitive video game market the world has ever seen. Even from my limited experience with the game, I could feel the same tingle of discovery as when I loaded up the original Fallout for the first time - or going back further, when I stormed the first town in its predecessor, Wasteland. The feeling that I was on the verge of an epic adventure I'd never forget. </blockquote>Game Informer is a proponent of "this really is Fallout".<blockquote>The fact that Bethesda’s plan to bring the beloved series to consoles has been controversial is pretty much old hat at this point. Many people have made up their minds about the game, and after playing it, it’s unfortunate that that’s the case. Fallout 3 is a Fallout game. It’s not Oblivion with guns or whatever other things forum-goers have sniffed since the game was announced. If anything, Bethesda’s worst PR enemy with Fallout 3 is, well, Bethesda.
The demos that Bethesda has given on the game have done a great job of showing off a lot of features in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, that kind of compressed experience has really misrepresented what the game seems to feel like. Mini nukes and tons of explosions are a fun way to show off the game engine’s impressive particle and smoke effects, but they’re understandably off-putting for people who didn’t think the first two games were quite so bombastic.
(...)
The best part of the demo was that minutes passed between these encounters. The world itself was interesting enough that I wanted to explore it, and it was great to have the freedom to do so without having to wade through dozens of fights every few hundred yards or so. For instance, I spied an interesting-looking building far on the horizon at one point. I used it as a bearing, and worked my way over to it. Eventually I stumbled upon an NPC named Tinker Joe just outside the Robco Facility. He offered to sell me one of his robot companions, but unfortunately his 1,000 bottlecap price was too rich for my blood. Maybe later, Joe.</blockquote>For two final bits, Kotaku highlights the drugs that got Fallout 3 banned, and some Destructoid blogger lets us listen in on what you hear when you call the number from the Perfect Life trailer (starts at 1:30).
I was wrong. So very, very wrong.
I got some hands-on time with Bethesda’s revamp of the Fallout series today, and it’s gorgeous. What looked muddy on the G4 broadcast was vibrant and full of life.</blockquote>2OpGaming.<blockquote>Walking through the world I was greeted by a two headed cow in the first two minutes of play which seemed like a randomly spawned creature much like in Oblivion. I was also attacked randomly by savaged rats and wild dogs when exploring the world. The draw distance in the game is once again incredible however in this build there was some texture pop in. However, much like Oblivion there’s only so much one console can handle. </blockquote>IGN Vault Network.<blockquote>There were only five minutes left of my hands-on time so I decided to head toward the next most inconspicuous locale. When I got to this gas station looking place I was suddenly prompted that a named enemy was attacking me. WOOT! I found a boss fight.
I took a few practice shots at him to see what I was looking at. He was extremely buff because none of my bullets seemed to hurt him. I tried to use the VAT but missed most of my shots due to the range of my attack. Before I could move into a better position I was attacked by two demon zombie dogs and was forced to retreat back to avoid being shot by the boss while I dealt with his canine. Using the VAT at close range proved extremely powerful. I focused all my attack points on shooting their heads and decapitated both dogs in a blaze of glorious bullets. The boss then proceeded to shoot me with his rifle and I ducked behind a rock to heal. When I looked up I saw the boss running into the distance and my hands-on time was over.
It’s obvious to me that fans of the series will undoubtedly love the game and newcomers will easily relate to the FPS and RPG elements present in Fallout 3. This is definitely one to add to your watched games list. </blockquote>The Next Level.<blockquote>There are a lot of stats, skills, abilities, et cetera. Not quite as many as the previous games in the Fallout series, but I found that a bit too cumbersome anyway. There's still more than a dozen basic stats to modify and develop your character any way you like, plus special abilities to bump them up even further, like the Lady Killer that's about winning a woman's heart by hacking out of her chest. All of these stats, maps, and other assorted data are managed by the Pipboy, standing as a cheerful 50s style cartoon character who, like the short clips in BioShock, extols in gruesome acts.
Fallout 3 works, and I'm not damning with faint praise here. You have a cult franchise with dedicated fans, the creation of a massive world in a style that's never been done before (since S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was almost entirely based on real locations), FPS mixed with RPG, all the decriers of the little too procedural Oblivion, and the most competitive video game market the world has ever seen. Even from my limited experience with the game, I could feel the same tingle of discovery as when I loaded up the original Fallout for the first time - or going back further, when I stormed the first town in its predecessor, Wasteland. The feeling that I was on the verge of an epic adventure I'd never forget. </blockquote>Game Informer is a proponent of "this really is Fallout".<blockquote>The fact that Bethesda’s plan to bring the beloved series to consoles has been controversial is pretty much old hat at this point. Many people have made up their minds about the game, and after playing it, it’s unfortunate that that’s the case. Fallout 3 is a Fallout game. It’s not Oblivion with guns or whatever other things forum-goers have sniffed since the game was announced. If anything, Bethesda’s worst PR enemy with Fallout 3 is, well, Bethesda.
The demos that Bethesda has given on the game have done a great job of showing off a lot of features in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, that kind of compressed experience has really misrepresented what the game seems to feel like. Mini nukes and tons of explosions are a fun way to show off the game engine’s impressive particle and smoke effects, but they’re understandably off-putting for people who didn’t think the first two games were quite so bombastic.
(...)
The best part of the demo was that minutes passed between these encounters. The world itself was interesting enough that I wanted to explore it, and it was great to have the freedom to do so without having to wade through dozens of fights every few hundred yards or so. For instance, I spied an interesting-looking building far on the horizon at one point. I used it as a bearing, and worked my way over to it. Eventually I stumbled upon an NPC named Tinker Joe just outside the Robco Facility. He offered to sell me one of his robot companions, but unfortunately his 1,000 bottlecap price was too rich for my blood. Maybe later, Joe.</blockquote>For two final bits, Kotaku highlights the drugs that got Fallout 3 banned, and some Destructoid blogger lets us listen in on what you hear when you call the number from the Perfect Life trailer (starts at 1:30).
