PC Action Germany reviews Fallout 3

[rcorporon]

I'll agree that sometimes, Oblivion got boring.

But hell, you install MMM and OOO, and that game had hundreds of hours of replayability.

I'm looking for the same thing from Fallout 3, which is why I'm buying it on PC.

And I'm going to challenge everyone here to stop hating on the game, until you've played it

Then again, that'll never happen.

And really, I'm sick of all the "Bethsoft made them give it over a 90". They didn't. They can't. All these people talking about pay-offs...

You try and tell me Halo 3 was worth a 10/10. You try and tell me that The Orange Box wasn't. Gah, this place makes me rage, Bethsoft is a perfectly find company, and all this misplaced hate!

What do you mean "they can't?" How naive.

Ever wonder about those video game ads you see on IGN? It's funny how when a game company spends a ton of $$ to advertise with a review site, that review site then seems to always give that game a good review? Could the two be linked?

Same goes here. Beth calls up Company X and says "Do you want an exclusive, pre-launch review copy of our game? If you do, meet us here, and try to make sure that you overlook some of the issues, eh?"

Not that far fetched.

 

[Leon]

Same goes here. Beth calls up Company X and says "Do you want an exclusive, pre-launch review copy of our game? If you do, meet us here, and try to make sure that you overlook some of the issues, eh?"

Not that far fetched.

I like to imagine that Bethesda is Marlon Brando, only greasier and accompanied by the lingering aroma of Cheetos, making the gaming press offers they can't refuse.

 

[Kashrlyyk]

Is there any review that was not made in a hotel suite?? Where the testers could play the game for a week in their bureaus??

 

[Oakraven]

What do you mean "they can't?" How naive.

Ever wonder about those video game ads you see on IGN? It's funny how when a game company spends a ton of $$ to advertise with a review site, that review site then seems to always give that game a good review? Could the two be linked?

Same goes here. Beth calls up Company X and says "Do you want an exclusive, pre-launch review copy of our game? If you do, meet us here, and try to make sure that you overlook some of the issues, eh?"

Not that far fetched.

an even better example, Watch this review

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/208-Eve-Online

then notice what they ARE NOT advertising on the sight.

when prior to that review and even for a couple of days after it they had every freaking add spot on the websight

 

[Quaid]

Is there any review that was not made in a hotel suite?? Where the testers could play the game for a week in their bureaus??

you mean to give them a chance to throw it on torrent perhaps?

if i'm bethesda, i'm probably doing very controlled playtesting pre-release for p/reviewers after what happended earlier this month.

BTW, what do 'MMM' and 'OOO' do for Oblivion? I never bought it because I became so bored with Morrowind...

 

[aenemic]

What do you mean "they can't?" How naive.

Ever wonder about those video game ads you see on IGN? It's funny how when a game company spends a ton of $$ to advertise with a review site, that review site then seems to always give that game a good review? Could the two be linked?

Same goes here. Beth calls up Company X and says "Do you want an exclusive, pre-launch review copy of our game? If you do, meet us here, and try to make sure that you overlook some of the issues, eh?"

Not that far fetched.

an even better example, Watch this review

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/208-Eve-Online

then notice what they ARE NOT advertising on the sight.

when prior to that review and even for a couple of days after it they had every freaking add spot on the websight

heh, I watched it and then clicked on something else. page loads, and there you have it: EVE online ads.

 

[Brother None]

you mean to give them a chance to throw it on torrent perhaps?

if i'm bethesda, i'm probably doing very controlled playtesting pre-release for p/reviewers after what happended earlier this month.

That doesn't make a lot of sense. After the game is already pirated you refuse to send out Xbox 360 copies of game that is - again - already pirated

...

Tick tock tick tock tick tock

Doesn't make any sense

What do you mean "they can't?" How naive.

It is indeed naive, but the way people who are negative about the gaming media talk about it is naive as well. Bethesda doesn't have the muscle to put serious pressure on a magazine as big as OXM. Not serious pressure, not like the big publishers can.

And bribe? Bribe is just the wrong choice of words. I've never heard of a journo accepting money for a good review.

It's more like...pressure and manipulation. Perhaps OXM was under contract to give Fallout 3 the front page, a certain number of pages and a 9+ score in exchange for the exclusive. It happens, I don't know if it happened here.

But what is clear is how much pressure is involved. Not just the "don't say anything bad or we won't talk to you anymore", the whole luxurious treatment thing is also suspect (it's becoming an industry trend and it's bad, piracy excuses or no), as are exclusive reviews even without contracts.

One thing Bethesda has in favour of itself is a reputation of a brave independent company. It isn't, but it's got the rep.

But hey, all that doesn't change one thing: maybe they just honestly like it. I don't like how you guys are discounting this as an option. Plenty of people genuinely liked Oblivion. Of course, I do agree the reviewers seem to be doing the same trick they did for Oblivion and gloss over the flaws, but don't be distracted by scores: scores have long since become meaningless in video gaming, and even though Fallout 3 has yet to receive a perfect score (which isn't that surprising), I'd read what people are writing to see what the reaction is.

an even better example, Watch this review

Zero Punctuation isn't a review feature. However, what people too easily forget is that there's one thing more important than ads and that is traffic to get money from those ads in the first place. The Escapist has been leeching ZP's popularity for ages now, no game ocmpany could make them give up that kind of success, not for any amount of ads.

Beside, everyone accepts ZP rips into games. It doesn't mean anything.

 

[Ausir]

That doesn't make a lot of sense. After the game is already pirated you refuse to send out Xbox 360 copies of game that is - again - already pirated

Well, these recently published reviews were probably written before the leak.

 

[Leon]

you mean to give them a chance to throw it on torrent perhaps?

That is an unfortunate risk, but is rather easily lessened by implementing a unique identifier on each review copy sent out, with a clear warning to the reviewers that their copy is unique. It could be anything, and hard to find for those that don't know where to look. Version number, a certain unused art file, some text at the end of an executables code.

Regardless of that, this cloak-and-dagger situation where a game is reviewed on the developers/publishers terms is one reason why I pay little heed to early reviews.

 

[Artisticspaz]

It certainly looks like 9 is the minimum set by Beth. The graphics and animations alone warrant a 1 point (10%) deduction given how dated they are compared to current AAA titles like Mass Effect.

ME graphics cannot be compared to FO3, considering the detail and scope of each game. ME had someof the most piss poor excuses for World ever, it's like they took the same planet and gave it a new paintjob 20 times or so. Even in the 3-5 places that had detail, none of them really had to much shit going on in them. In FO 3 you can see all the different shit in the enviorments everywhere that's going on;even if you don't think it fits the atmostphere.

why don't u say how GTA4 graphics were shit compared to mgs 4.

Oh and char. animations would go in the presentation score.
you silly litttle graphic whore.

 

[Quaid]

you mean to give them a chance to throw it on torrent perhaps?

if i'm bethesda, i'm probably doing very controlled playtesting pre-release for p/reviewers after what happended earlier this month.

That doesn't make a lot of sense. After the game is already pirated you refuse to send out Xbox 360 copies of game that is - again - already pirated

...

Tick tock tick tock tick tock

Doesn't make any sense

Actually it makes perfect sense. You're right that it doesn't undo the damage, but it does show Bethesda reacting to the situation and taking the 'Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me' approach. It can set a precedent to game review companies for the future. They need to show people that they are not taking this act lightly so even though it doesn't change what happened it may dissuade pirates in the future.

Bethesda is already trying to work with their customers by not putting heavy DRM on the discs so it may be necessary for them to keep even tighter control over game copies pre-release.

 

[mulaalia]

And bribe? Bribe is just the wrong choice of words. I've never heard of a journo accepting money for a good review.

Of course you didn't, that's the whole point of bribing, secrecy, secondly, you can bribe someone with money, yes, but also with privileges, women, man ,boys, drugs so on......

 

[Oakraven]

That doesn't make a lot of sense. After the game is already pirated you refuse to send out Xbox 360 copies of game that is - again - already pirated

------------

What do you mean "they can't?" How naive.

.

One thing Bethesda has in favour of itself is a reputation of a brave independent company. It isn't, but it's got the rep.

-----------------

Beside, everyone accepts ZP rips into games. It doesn't mean anything.

In order, their were a number of reviews that basicaly were done Prior to the F3-360 leak,

Beth and Zmax also have a bit of a reputation for playing dirty. Granted whith the whole Interplay mess they may have ligitimatly not had mutch of a choice.

Well to be fair he even rips into the games he says he loves.

and lets face it the 1-10 crapola numbers dont seem to mean squat. (even though I use them) by and large either a game is
1 what this was actualy suposed to be a game?
2 Utter Crap
3 Crap
4 bad
5 eh it could have been (a lot) better
6 fair
7 Good
8 Great
9 GOTY potential
10 put this one in the current "top 100 games" (Buy the CEGame and CESG!)

sigh looks like I just came up with a numbering scale lol

 

[Leon]

why don't u say how GTA4 graphics were shit compared to mgs 4.

why don't u say how GTA4 graphics were shit compared to your face!

Kidding aside...

You're correct about the planets in ME. God damn, the planetary exploration was such a bore, both in playing and eyecandy. Although, the interiors such as the Citadel and the Normandy, not to mention the character detail, were great. I don't see why Fallout 3's jerky/sliding animations and awkward interaction can't be compared to those of Mass Effect, on their own merits.

Edit: Whoops, misquote.

 

[doomestic]

Yea there is no excuse at all as to why Bethesda has not improved on the animations since Oblivion. None.

I really don't understand it. Is it some sort of a limitation in the engine or something?

 

[Humpsalot]

But first you get to choose Name, Sex and Appearance, ethnic origin, hairdo, -color and one of ten faces.

So if you chose a ethnicity of distinct color/characteristics does your dad's face/skin color change? Or is it just assumed your mother was of that ethnicity? Also if later is true if you see a picture of her will she be that ethnicity? Also your dad looks like Steven Balwin.

 

[Artisticspaz]

I hope Donald rapes you tonight.

You're correct about the planets in ME. God damn, the planetary exploration was such a bore, both in playing and eyecandy. Although, the interiors such as the Citadel and the Normandy, not to mention the character detail, were great. I don't see why Fallout 3's jerky/sliding animations and awkward interaction can't be compared to those of Mass Effect, on their own merits.
.

well i was mainly discussing graphic comparisons, and hey atleast the enemies have nice animations. Were halfway there 8D...

and ME also had pretty bland enviorments in terms of detail, except for of course the citadel(for the normady you just need to watch a sci-fi movie and replicate any old ship)

 

[Brother None]

Actually it makes perfect sense. You're right that it doesn't undo the damage, but it does show Bethesda reacting to the situation and taking the 'Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me' approach. It can set a precedent to game review companies for the future. They need to show people that they are not taking this act lightly so even though it doesn't change what happened it may dissuade pirates in the future.

You seem to be missing the point. As Ausir pointed out, all these reviews are probably based on play-throughs that happened anywhere from a week to two weeks ago. It's not like Bethesda saw the leak and then suddenly decided not to send out review copies and invite people instead, all these invitations probably already stood for months; we're talking exclusivity deals here, not last-minute situations.

The game leaked despite these measures, these measures are not a consequence of the leak. Even if they were, it wouldn't make sense.

If you want security in these stupid-ass pre-release review (a nonsensical concept anyway), then send out review copies with unique identifiable codes so you can bust the leak. This measure doesn't work, but it's preferable for game companies because it allows them to put pressure on the reviewer. Again, GTA IV also did this and caught a lot of flak for it, it's a bullshit move.

 

[Ausir]

So if you chose a ethnicity of distinct color/characteristics does your dad's face/skin color change? Or is it just assumed your mother was of that ethnicity? Also if later is true if you see a picture of her will she be that ethnicity?

It's been known that it does change for a year now.

 

[UniversalWolf]

Yet another review to prove that Fallout 3 is a great game. Sure, I will still have to play the game to make my final verdict, but I am pretty much positive at this point that I will greatly enjoy the experience.

Yet another review to prove that Bethesda knows how to manipulate the gaming press. Sure, I will still have to play the game to make my final verdict, but I am pretty much positive at this point that Fallout 3 is a shameless rape of one of my all-time favorite games.