Fallout 3 review: PSM3

[kikomiko]

Well, I guess I'll be the first person to actually respond POSITIVELY to this news. Seriously, guys, it's not like the whole review was negative. There were many positives, too, and you know, I think the review might actually have *gasp* liked the game! This is NOT a 50-60, and saying so is just ridiculous.

 

[entropyjesus]

Well, I guess I'll be the first person to actually respond POSITIVELY to this news. Seriously, guys, it's not like the whole review was negative. There were many positives, too, and you know, I think the review might actually have *gasp* liked the game! This is NOT a 50-60, and saying so is just ridiculous.

It sure seemed like he wanted to give it a 60. Seriously, the review was largely negative and only seemed to contain positive critique to satiate the editor and justify the terribly inflated 90/100 score it received. I'll admit Fallout 3 is not a bad game, but it's far from being great and falls into the "boring and mediocre" category. But you say you love Oblivion, so you might like this one too, but probably not as much.

 

[kikomiko]

Well, I guess I'll be the first person to actually respond POSITIVELY to this news. Seriously, guys, it's not like the whole review was negative. There were many positives, too, and you know, I think the review might actually have *gasp* liked the game! This is NOT a 50-60, and saying so is just ridiculous.

It sure seemed like he wanted to give it a 60. Seriously, the review was largely negative and only seemed to contain positive critique to satiate the editor and justify the terribly inflated 90/100 score it received. I'll admit Fallout 3 is not a bad game, but it's far from being great and falls into the "boring and mediocre" category. But you say you love Oblivion, so you might like this one too, but probably not as much.

I don't know...I think I'll love it Some of the quests described seem really cool, and the one part of Oblivion I didn't like was how long the battles could drag on, and I think that may be fixed in FO3.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

But the quests they give aren't as interesting or memorable. Remember stepping into the painting in Cheydinhal? Or pirates hijacking the Bloated Float? And the Dark Brotherhood quests? There's nothing nearly as imaginative or memorably in Fallout, save for a few key missions in the main quests.

Wasn't this the one bright spot that Bethpologists hold onto for dear life that Bethesda can somehow be relied upon to craft compelling quests?

Wasteland indeed.

 

[entropyjesus]

I don't know...I think I'll love it Some of the quests described seem really cool, and the one part of Oblivion I didn't like was how long the battles could drag on, and I think that may be fixed in FO3.

The battles are harder in this game than in Oblivion's and they can drag just as much if not more due to the goofy combat system. It's a bit more unforgiving than Oblivion but it's still pretty easy from my perspective. I thought Oblivion's fighting was way too easy and most of them ended with me scoring a massive hit on an enemy and watching him fly a few meters back only to bounce and fly another 5 meters. In Fallout 3, you shoot enemies in slow motion and watch them fly back a few meters in slow motion, repeatedly, which gets OLD very quickly. As far as I know there is no option to turn that off, which also sucks tremendously, because you end up watching the same bad death animations a few hundred times over by the time you finish the game.

 

[Bofast]

...it's the most negative, criticism-filled 90/100 review I've ever seen.

Yeah, it's ridiculous how they can combine a 90/100 score with such a review

Considering how dull I though Oblivion to be (or, rather the parts of it I could even make myself play), I didn't expect Bethesda to be able to make a game which is less fun. I mean, how is that even possible?!?

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

I expect that this is where you get the fabled ant strength whatever increase.

[spoiler:af2db28fff]No. That's in the quest where you have to save a town from fire ants, which were accidentally created by a scientist looking to return giant ants to normal size.[/spoiler:af2db28fff]

[spoiler:af2db28fff]Y'know, I have to ask; Why? Why would the scientist be looking to reverse the ant's growth? I remember back in the previous games people mentioning the odd Brahmin born with only one head and thinking that to be weird. Folks have grown up for generations with these creatures being screwed up, and that's normal for them. The only reason I could see this scientist caring is if he was like the researcher at the EPA (Restoration Project). Y'know, preserved since before the disaster. [/spoiler:af2db28fff]

 

[Seelix]

Problem is, the side quests aren't that satisfying. You can spend an hour traipsing through a subway tunnel fighting giant ants, only to find some low-level loot and a handful of bottle caps (the game's currency) at the end.

Seems just like in vanilla Oblivion where there is no reward in exploration for let's say low-level thief. Just one big waste of lockpicks and time.

Quests that offer up moral quandaries result in little more than raised or lowered karma (your character's good/evil meter) and an underwhelming reward. In Oblivion you felt as if your choices were affecting communities,

Where exactly? And what choices?
Could new head of Mages Guild legalize necromancy again or send a squad of battlemages to close Oblivion gates or just to protect cities from so-called invasion? No, he could only multiply alchemical ingredients in his special chest that was his special reward for becoming Archmage!
Could member of Dark Brotherhood refuse to do quest 'Purification' or affect in any way assassin's community? Does any quests rules out one another? Is member of Dark Brotherhood forced to kill someone from other guild and therefore loses chances of career there? The only crossover I've found is ridiculous situation when PC as member of Thieves Guild has to steal something from Archmage and then give it back using help of third party because it is too dangerous to do it in person; but if PC is also Archmage? No, he/she cannot complete quest other way, like putting back his thing into his room - third party's help is unavoidable [I strongly suspect that FO3 will be no different in this matter].
I have found only one situation when my choice caused quite serious consequences [advancement in one guild become impossible] but it was effect of some stupid feature game has, not of carefully planned plot or quest line.

The only things that are affected are 'fame/infamy' stats.
If 'affecting' means that NPCs' responses are changing [I fail to see anything else] it means nothing, especially since those responses are in Oblivion very random [Guards in Mages Guiled often aren't aware of the fact that they have new boss and they do not adress new Archmage with proper greeting but they obviously heard that PC did some heroic deeds in city that is on the other side of the map].

but the scope of your actions in Fallout is disappointingly limted.

So there won't be random responses in one end of the map referring to deeds done on the other side of the game world? That's actually good thing.

By any other standards, the game's ripe with highlight. In a town called Canterbury Commons, two rival superheroes (the Antagoniser and the Mechanist) are at battle, turning the streets into a warzone and terrorizing its residents. The mayor asks for your help, and you end up battling through each hero's secret underground lair to end their reign of terror.

Sounds pretty boring to me.

You even get their ridiculous costumes as a reward if you finish the quest in a certain way.

This actually sounds somewhat funny to me.

And working for the slavers (human slavery is rife in the world of Fallout) is deliciously evil; especially when you're tricking hapless eight year-old kids into a life over eternal, thankless servitude.

One can do such evil to children? Wow!

Our only major gripe is the weak voice acting, which often doesn't match the face of the person it's coming from. Craggy-faced raiders will threaten you in a perfectly-intoned medieval brogue and every child has the same voice. It's a critical oversight, and shatters the illusion that you're in another world.

Same as Oblivion.

The game buckles under the weight of its own ambition in some of the epic scenes at the end (it can't emulated Call of Duty-style set-pieceS), but wandering the wastes, finding new towns and getting involved in the world's politics is a thrill.

This can be interesting. But only if it's nothing like in Oblivion where 'involving in politics' is completely thrillless since there is no politics.

The role-playing isn't far-reaching as Oblivion

No comments since he obviously means vanilla Oblivion.

and as an FPS it's merely above average, but there's no other shooters on PS3 as deeply imaginative and rewarding.

Right. But wait... wasn't he said before that:

Fallout's one of the biggest, deepest RPGs on PS3.

WTF? So what kind of game it is, huh? Reviewer cannot make up his mind or isn't sure or simply keep forgetting what he said before?

Until you've sat with it for 30 hours, from birth to epic ending, you won't realise how engrossing it is.

30 hours with tons of unskippable slow-motion sequences after using VATS? Not engrossing but rather gross. No thanks.
If there is Construction Set ever released I will waiting for mod that will allow turning this feature off. Then I could think of longer time spent with game.

The freedom may scare people used to shooters like Resistance and the simplified customisation might disappoint hardcore RPGers,

So who really is the target of this game? Rhetorical question of course.

but if ever a game was worthy broadening your horizons for, this is it.

How lowering expectations is broadening one's horizons? Probably my understanding of 'broadening horizons' is different.

Better than Oblivion?
Find out how F3 compares to Bethesda's epic RPG...

Is it better? Well, frankly, no, it improves a lot of gameplay niggles, but the overall experience is less consistently entertaining. And also, because so much is unchanged, it doesn't feel as fresh as Oblivion did when we first played it.

No surprises since it is “Oblivion with guns”. I wonder in how many future games Bethesda will be using Oblivion as a base.

The dialogue is a lot better, as are the character models. They're still ugly and slightly emotionless, but a far cry from the sloth-mouthed meat puppets of Cyrodiil.

'Ugly' is rather strong word to describe models which are at the same time 'a lot better' than Oblivion's, a 'far cry from the sloth-mouthed meat puppets of Cyrodiil', isn't it?

But the quests they give aren't as interesting or memorable. Remember stepping into the painting in Cheydinhal? Or pirates hijacking the Bloated Float? And the Dark Brotherhood quests? There's nothing nearly as imaginative or memorably in Fallout, save for a few key missions in the main quests.

Erm... [As Mrs Broflovski usually exclaim:] What?! What?! What?!
I never understood why 'quest with painting' is so very often used as main example of imaginative and memorable quests in Oblivion. It is nothing more than “go! go! kill! kill! fetch me some thing and then you can go”. The difference is that is starts in more unusual way and pretends that it has some 'intriguing' background. Oh, and for this one quest graphics change. But 'doing' quest is actually typical and boring. Ii kinda raises hopes for something different and then serves the opposite.

'Pirates on Bloated Float' is almost the same case. Interesting beginning, some surprises, promises and then comes rather typical stuff. 'Almost', because player can actually choose to deal with final opponent using weapon or words [it's unusual in Oblivion]. But the outcome of this quest is in fact the same so choice doesn't really matter. Bad guys are defeated. No chance for joining pirates, no other alternative way to get out this mess [ship was hijacked and was taken on the lake so logic dictates that jumping into the water and making run away should be possible - invisible walls prevents from such action showing the one and only way for 'doing' this quest]. I don't like this quest much because when it starts PC is literally forced to go through it and to do it in one way. I wanted to jump off the ship and swim away - what a surprise... in so very open world where one can go everywhere. Imaginative quest my ass.

As for 'Dark Brotherhood', first part of quest line is quite nice if not interesting: something for stealthy character, something for one that likes some fighting. Unfortunately second part is not. Especially when PC knows truth but cannot do anything about it because quest line is planned in one specific way.

“There's nothing nearly as imaginative or memorably in Fallout“
Right. So does it mean that they at least do not promise anything unusual just to give painfully typical stuff? That they are typical from start to end? That's really some relief...

And the environment's just not as much fun to explore. It's gorgeous, sure, but the sweeping fields of Oblivion were a joy to ramble in, unlike Fallout's desolate wasteland. Cyrodiil was split into distinct, varied regions - the mountains, the swamps, the forest - whereas DC is all grey gloom and lots of scattered debris and rubbled.

And a bit earlier:

Fallout 3's world looks incredible, tinged by the chill of the desolate, post-apocalyptic emptiness.

Oh yeah, generic Oblivion world filled with few types of entrances [mines, forts, caves, ruin] to generic dungeons [saw one, saw them all] gave unending joy of exploration.
As for FO3... Desolate wasteland is bad? What then wasteland should be like? Colourful, filled with trees, flowers and animals like Oblivion's world is? This reviewer is aware of the fact that this game uses post-apocalyptic setting, isn't he?
And one more thing: reviewer seems to dislike world for its gloom, monotony and desolation. Again: does he really grasp the concept of post-apocalyptic scenery? What did he expected? But it seems it is still gorgeous for him. And few chapters back 'chill of the desolate ' is seen as something positive. WTF? It looks like either he cannot make up his mind or simply prefers fantasy setting with lots of life and colours.

Ranged combat is also a lot more robust, although the AI is still incredibly dim, with enemies rarelu making intelligent use of cover during gunfights.

Erm... I am not very good when it comes to FPS stuff but isn't good opponent's AI crucial for single player shooters especially when there is no multiplayer at all?

There's a lot of negativity here, but if you loved Oblivion, you'll love Fallout 3.

I do not understand. So is it better, worse or the same as Oblivion? Because comparison seems to be unavoidable.

You just won't be as enthralled by the world.

But why? Because it's crappy AS post-apocalyptic setting? Or perhaps because IT IS post-apocalyptic setting? Because it is not colourful fantasy world full of medieval-like cities filled with happy citizens, woods with animals... etc.? It isn't clearly stated.

Edited: misspellings [few down, surely more to go].

 

[Lingwei]

But the quests they give aren't as interesting or memorable. Remember stepping into the painting in Cheydinhal? Or pirates hijacking the Bloated Float? And the Dark Brotherhood quests? There's nothing nearly as imaginative or memorably in Fallout, save for a few key missions in the main quests.

So a fetch quest becomes memorable just because you chuck the player into a place with some weird textures?

A series of fights quest becomes memorable just because the player is chucked into a seperate world space with only ocean to look at?

A quest line that starts out alright (but contains no C&C at all) and then turns to shit is memorable?

There's a lot of things that Bethesda is screwing up but at the very least they are trying to implement some choices and consequences into their quests and should be given credit for that. When people who think that linear fetch and kill quests are imaginative and memorable while quests with choices and consequences aren't then I'm not likely to take their opinion into account much.

 

[Anarchosyn]

I'm just happy to get a post apocalyptic RPG again. Sure, watching game play of this title is like watching Bethesda forcibly extricate the dignity from my grandmother's panties, but I'm old and cynical anyways. I doubt anything could have lived up to my expectations.

Looking around at what the industry has brewing I see little else that looks even half as good.. sadly.

 

[Ausir]

And working for the slavers (human slavery is rife in the world of Fallout) is deliciously evil; especially when you're tricking hapless eight year-old kids into a life over eternal, thankless servitude.

One can do such evil to children? Wow!

And they actually do mean eternal. After all, kids are immortal.

 

[Brother None]

And they actually do mean eternal. After all, kids are immortal.

Regardless, the enslaving of children is pretty cool, in hardcore evil terms. I'm impressed Bethesda includes such things in their game.

 

[analord]

I'm just happy to get a post apocalyptic RPG again. Sure, watching game play of this title is like watching Bethesda forcibly extricate the dignity from my grandmother's panties, but I'm old and cynical anyways. I doubt anything could have lived up to my expectations.

Looking around at what the industry has brewing I see little else that looks even half as good.. sadly.

cough cough. I wonder where you work.

Anyway, is it impossible to compare F3 with Fallout 1 or 2? Seems like they're two different sports now. But they have the same spirit and that's what ... oh god I can't even finish this sentence. I'm dead inside.

 

[Moving Target]

I'm just happy to get a post apocalyptic RPG again. Sure, watching game play of this title is like watching Bethesda forcibly extricate the dignity from my grandmother's panties, but I'm old and cynical anyways. I doubt anything could have lived up to my expectations.

Looking around at what the industry has brewing I see little else that looks even half as good.. sadly.

Not tell you where to spend your money or how to be "old and cynical anyways," but it seems like it'd just be easier- both for your sanity and your pocket book- to just not buy any game that comes along with the slightest resemblance to a sub-genre you like.

I mean, I bought this horrible game called "Shadow Vault" (really don't know why Iplay or Black Isle didn't sue the pants off the company that made it, but, anyway) just because it was another TB iso PA cRPG. It's the only game I can remember literally *chucking* away.

So don't just buy something because it's in a genre you like, don't just get a game because it's got brand name recognition. That's exactly what Zenimax has been counting on these last three years. Do not do what they want and give them your hard-earned money. It's just encouragement to make more sub-par pablum.