More reviews found on the Bethblog list; these are the ones in English.
NY Daily News.<blockquote>There's nothing strange about being entertained by the story line, however. The satisfyingly high-stakes quest to save the already miserable world is a tough-as-nails exercise in survival and resourcefulness.
"Fallout 3" encourages your inner MacGyver. Collecting scavenged prewar junk allows you to fashion makeshift weapons like the Rock-it Launcher. Cobbled together from a wood chipper and a vacuum cleaner, the launcher will fire anything that's handy, from coffee mugs to candy bars, with deadly effect. The offbeat humor makes for some memorable moments, for example with Pip-boy, its 1950s-style cartoon mascot.</blockquote>Empire, 5/5.<blockquote>Role Playing Game – three words guaranteed to strike fear and loathing into the heart of any gamer more accustomed to roaring through cross-town traffic in a jacked sportscar, or pumping demented Nazis full of lead. But while post-apocalyptic epic Fallout 3 is governed by the bewildering statistics, intense character development and earnest dialogue that are the hallmarks of any hardcore RPG, the game’s immersive take on role-playing traditions and willingness to satisfy even the itchiest of trigger fingers make this one of 2008’s deepest and most gripping adventures.
Set generations after humanity brings itself to the brink of extinction in a billowing mushroom cloud, Fallout 3 is the latest entry in a hallowed series that began life in 1997, and has since been voted one of the best RPGs of all time in a string of geek-polls. Now shirking its PC-only roots for a simultaneous console release, Fallout’s development reigns have been handed to Bethesda Softworks, the coders behind 2006’s magnificent The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion; and while there’s still a seething fanboy contingent that claims it’s sacrilege for franchise creator Interplay to sign away its greatest triumph, Bethesda’s innate understanding of what a new generation of gamers wants from a modern role-player is the best thing that’s ever happened to the series.</blockquote>Entertainment Weekly, A.<blockquote>The game has such a rich and vast (albeit, spartan and dour) open world that you'll probably spend more time getting into random shootouts, scavenging for supplies, and helping other people than you will looking for dear ol' dad. Which isn't surprising, when you consider that the game was made by the same people behind the equally-epic-in-scope fantasy adventure The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The similarities end there: Fallout 3 employs a first-person point of view (yes, there is a third-person option — but don't bother) and has lotsa guns.
Of course, some first-person-shooter purists are bound to think that all the wandering around and chatting with people would kill the momentum, and that the role-playing elements (having to eat, improving your skills, etc.) make things overly complicated.</blockquote>MamaPop.<blockquote>Bethesda Softworks took the aesthetics of ambiance to an artistic level in Fallout, going beyond any experience they've ever produced. Taking a few cues from Cormac McCarthy and Mad Max, the wasteland of Fallout is the loneliest place on earth. Really. I've never experienced dread in a game before. Loping around the devastated terrain of DC with radioactive dust blowing overhead, wearing fatigues I stole from a man I murdered with a broken pistol, squatting under toppled overpasses made me, quite honestly, afraid to see what waited beyond outskirts of town.
In the four hours I played Fallout, I realized it's a bit more intricate than Bethesda Softworks let on, yet it was a welcome surprise. From the makers of Oblivion, I should've expected a similar experience with in-depth, multi-character relationship building, alliance making, and back stabbing.</blockquote>Check Your HUD blog.<blockquote>It’s worth pointing out that Fallout 3 uses the Oblivion engine. As such, it has a lot of the same issues Oblivion had. When you bump into a table that has a couple plates on it, the plates will go flying. When NPC’s interact with each other, the conversations are stiff, and just feel a little off. Don’t get me wrong—this has been improved upon greatly from Oblivion, but it is still an issue. Doors will magically pass through you, or any NPC that happens to be in the way when they swing open. Last but not least, as was the case in Oblivion, it’s possible to get yourself stuck when trying to traverse parts of the landscape the developers didn’t intend for you to cross over. In both games, I found myself loading a recent save after getting stuck in between some rocks Bethesda clearly didn’t want me to climb over. All things considered, these are small annoyances that only slightly detract from Fallout 3’s overall level of quality.</blockquote>www.dailytoreador.com/media/storage/paper870/news/2008/10/31/LaVida/fallout.3.Should.Impress.PostApocalyptic.Rpg.Fans-3517598.shtml]The Daily Toreador.[/url]<blockquote>The total freedom of choice and exploration is reason alone to play the game. To sweeten the deal, the massive world is filled to the brim with interesting characters and interesting conversations to be had with them.
Unfortunately, the combat isn't always as satisfying. At its core, "Fallout 3" is an RPG like previous games in the series. However, it also tries to be an action game.
The action portion, real-time combat element of the gameplay disappoints somewhat in that it's still an RPG - just an RPG in disguise. This means you can point a gun at an enemy's head but still miss because a series of hidden "dice rolls" behind the scenes didn't go your way.</blockquote>
NY Daily News.<blockquote>There's nothing strange about being entertained by the story line, however. The satisfyingly high-stakes quest to save the already miserable world is a tough-as-nails exercise in survival and resourcefulness.
"Fallout 3" encourages your inner MacGyver. Collecting scavenged prewar junk allows you to fashion makeshift weapons like the Rock-it Launcher. Cobbled together from a wood chipper and a vacuum cleaner, the launcher will fire anything that's handy, from coffee mugs to candy bars, with deadly effect. The offbeat humor makes for some memorable moments, for example with Pip-boy, its 1950s-style cartoon mascot.</blockquote>Empire, 5/5.<blockquote>Role Playing Game – three words guaranteed to strike fear and loathing into the heart of any gamer more accustomed to roaring through cross-town traffic in a jacked sportscar, or pumping demented Nazis full of lead. But while post-apocalyptic epic Fallout 3 is governed by the bewildering statistics, intense character development and earnest dialogue that are the hallmarks of any hardcore RPG, the game’s immersive take on role-playing traditions and willingness to satisfy even the itchiest of trigger fingers make this one of 2008’s deepest and most gripping adventures.
Set generations after humanity brings itself to the brink of extinction in a billowing mushroom cloud, Fallout 3 is the latest entry in a hallowed series that began life in 1997, and has since been voted one of the best RPGs of all time in a string of geek-polls. Now shirking its PC-only roots for a simultaneous console release, Fallout’s development reigns have been handed to Bethesda Softworks, the coders behind 2006’s magnificent The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion; and while there’s still a seething fanboy contingent that claims it’s sacrilege for franchise creator Interplay to sign away its greatest triumph, Bethesda’s innate understanding of what a new generation of gamers wants from a modern role-player is the best thing that’s ever happened to the series.</blockquote>Entertainment Weekly, A.<blockquote>The game has such a rich and vast (albeit, spartan and dour) open world that you'll probably spend more time getting into random shootouts, scavenging for supplies, and helping other people than you will looking for dear ol' dad. Which isn't surprising, when you consider that the game was made by the same people behind the equally-epic-in-scope fantasy adventure The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The similarities end there: Fallout 3 employs a first-person point of view (yes, there is a third-person option — but don't bother) and has lotsa guns.
Of course, some first-person-shooter purists are bound to think that all the wandering around and chatting with people would kill the momentum, and that the role-playing elements (having to eat, improving your skills, etc.) make things overly complicated.</blockquote>MamaPop.<blockquote>Bethesda Softworks took the aesthetics of ambiance to an artistic level in Fallout, going beyond any experience they've ever produced. Taking a few cues from Cormac McCarthy and Mad Max, the wasteland of Fallout is the loneliest place on earth. Really. I've never experienced dread in a game before. Loping around the devastated terrain of DC with radioactive dust blowing overhead, wearing fatigues I stole from a man I murdered with a broken pistol, squatting under toppled overpasses made me, quite honestly, afraid to see what waited beyond outskirts of town.
In the four hours I played Fallout, I realized it's a bit more intricate than Bethesda Softworks let on, yet it was a welcome surprise. From the makers of Oblivion, I should've expected a similar experience with in-depth, multi-character relationship building, alliance making, and back stabbing.</blockquote>Check Your HUD blog.<blockquote>It’s worth pointing out that Fallout 3 uses the Oblivion engine. As such, it has a lot of the same issues Oblivion had. When you bump into a table that has a couple plates on it, the plates will go flying. When NPC’s interact with each other, the conversations are stiff, and just feel a little off. Don’t get me wrong—this has been improved upon greatly from Oblivion, but it is still an issue. Doors will magically pass through you, or any NPC that happens to be in the way when they swing open. Last but not least, as was the case in Oblivion, it’s possible to get yourself stuck when trying to traverse parts of the landscape the developers didn’t intend for you to cross over. In both games, I found myself loading a recent save after getting stuck in between some rocks Bethesda clearly didn’t want me to climb over. All things considered, these are small annoyances that only slightly detract from Fallout 3’s overall level of quality.</blockquote>www.dailytoreador.com/media/storage/paper870/news/2008/10/31/LaVida/fallout.3.Should.Impress.PostApocalyptic.Rpg.Fans-3517598.shtml]The Daily Toreador.[/url]<blockquote>The total freedom of choice and exploration is reason alone to play the game. To sweeten the deal, the massive world is filled to the brim with interesting characters and interesting conversations to be had with them.
Unfortunately, the combat isn't always as satisfying. At its core, "Fallout 3" is an RPG like previous games in the series. However, it also tries to be an action game.
The action portion, real-time combat element of the gameplay disappoints somewhat in that it's still an RPG - just an RPG in disguise. This means you can point a gun at an enemy's head but still miss because a series of hidden "dice rolls" behind the scenes didn't go your way.</blockquote>
