Fallout 3

Fallout 3

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Fallout 3

Fallout 3 is an action role-playing game released by Bethesda Game Studios.^[1]^[2] It is the third major game in the Fallout series, which has also spawned the spin-offs Fallout Tactics and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel.

Fallout 3 takes place in the year 2277, 36 years after the setting of Fallout 2 and 200 years after the nuclear war that devastated the game's world.^[3] The game places the player in the role of an inhabitant of Vault 101, a survival shelter designed to protect a small number of humans from the nuclear fallout. When the player's father disappears in mysterious circumstances, the player is forced to escape from the Vault and journey into the ruins of Washington D.C. to track him down. Along the way the player is assisted by a number of other human survivors and must battle a myriad of enemies that now inhabit the wasteland. The game has an attribute and combat system typical of an action role-playing game but also incorporates elements of first-person shooter and survival horror games.

The game was released in North America on October 28, 2008, in Europe and Australia on October 30, 2008, and in the United Kingdom and Ireland on October 31, 2008.^[4] It is available on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 video game consoles as well as the Windows operating system.

The game received a positive response from critics who in particular praised its open-ended gameplay and flexible character-levelling system.^[5] It has been compared favourably to the 2007 game BioShock for its setting and use of elements from mid-Twentieth Century American culture. However critics have described some weaknesses including the lack of precision in real-time combat and little variety in enemy types. Public reception was overwhelmingly positive on release with high sales figures, particularly compared to previous titles in the series.^[6]

Gameplay

Game mechanics overview

The game features interchangeable first-person and third-person perspectives. Main character creation occurs as the player experiences the character's childhood. As a child in the Vault, the character reads a book titled "You're SPECIAL", whereupon the player can set the character's seven primary attributes. The character receives weapons training and a PIP-Boy 3000 later on during childhood, and the player's performance in various tests suggests a set of skills for the character. Additionally, several quests inside the Vault influence the player character's relationship with his or her acquaintances. Skills and Perks are similar to those in previous games: the player chooses three "Tag" Skills out of a total of 13 to be the character's specialties. The maximum level the player can achieve is level 20;^[7] every level up, a new perk can be selected, each offering advantages of varying quality and form.^[8] The Traits from the previous Fallout installments, slightly modified, were combined with Perks in Fallout 3, and the player can choose a new Perk each time after gaining a level.^[9]

The game world itself is similar in size to that of Oblivion, which has a 16 square mile game world. It also makes notable reference to other works of science fiction like Dune and Twilight.^[10]

V.A.T.S.

An example of VATS in action

The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, or VATS, plays an important part in the fighting phases of the game. While using VATS, real-time combat is paused, and action is played out from varying camera angles in a computer graphics version of 'bullet time', creating a combat system that the Bethesda developers have described as a hybrid between turn-based and real-time combat. Various actions cost action points, limiting the actions of each combatant during a turn, and both the player and enemies can target specific body areas for attacks to inflict specific injuries. The game features a new health and radiation system as well. The player can measure an object's radioactivity and gauge the effect it will have on the character.

Item decay and custom-made weapons

Another game mechanic is item degradation. The more weapons and armour are used and damaged in combat, the more they lose their effectiveness. Firearms slow their rate of fire and do less damage and apparel gradually becomes less protective.^[11] Items can be repaired for a price from special vendors, or if the player has two of the same item, one of the two can be salvaged to repair the other.

Players also have the option to create their own weaponry using various scavenged items found in the wasteland. These items can only be created at workbenches, if the player also possesses the necessary schematics. These weapons include melee, a variety of ranged and several extremely explosive devices. There are 3 versions for each Schematic, making the related weapon stronger and more durable. These Schematics are only found in certain locations, either on the ground, sold by some vendors or offered as quest rewards.^[9]

Team members

The player can have a maximum party of three, consisting of himself or herself, a dog named Dogmeat, and a single non-player character or NPC. Dogmeat can be killed during the game if the player misuses him or places him in a severely dangerous situation and he cannot be replaced;^[12]^[13] it is possible to not encounter Dogmeat depending on how the game is played.^[14] One other NPC can travel with the player at any time, and in order to get another NPC to travel, the first one must be dismissed by the player.^[9]

Karma system

The karma system is an important feature in the gameplay. The player's actions, including conversation and combat choices affect the player's status in the game world; a player who makes good choices will be received more positively by NPCs, and a player that makes bad choices will have the opposite reaction. Quest choices can also have more extreme repercussions on karma; for instance, the player is given the choice of destroying an entire city for a quest, and this single action gives a great deal of negative karma. Extremes of karma have certain effects: a high karma leads to the player being attacked by bounty hunters, and for random NPCs to give the player gifts in thanks of their service. Crimes can also be committed by a player, and whichever faction or group that is harmed by a crime will be fully aware of the player's action. Other factions that were not affected by the crime will not be aware of it, and since a town is usually its own faction, news of a crime committed in one town will not spread to another. Factions can range in size and boundaries, however, and may not be restricted to a single area.^[9]

Plot

Setting

The PIP-Boy 3000, displaying the player's skills statistics.

Fallout 3 takes place in a post-apocalyptic United States in the year 2277. The player character is a member of Vault 101, a fallout shelter serving Washington, D.C. The player character lives with his/her widower father (voiced by Liam Neeson)^[15] until, one day, the player wakes up finding that the father has left the vault and ventured into the wasteland for unknown reasons. The vault overseer becomes suspicious of the player, and orders him or her killed, forcing the player to go out into the Capital Wasteland in search of his or her father.^[16] Along the way, the player will encounter organizations seen in the previous games, including the Brotherhood of Steel, a group of technology-coveting survivors, and the Enclave, the elitist and genocidal remnant of the U.S. government.^[17]

Story

While the game is designed to be played sandbox style the main quest itself is linear. Shortly after the Vault 101 Dweller (the player character) turns 19, his/her father disappears from the Vault under mysterious circumstances. The main plot follows the player character's attempts to locate him and learn why he left.

The main quest begins after the player is confronted by the Overseer's daughter, informing you that her father is trying to kill you, forcing you to escape into the ruined wasteland outside the vault. The search for James, the player's father, then takes them on a journey through the wasteland, first to a nearby town, then a radio station and then on to Rivet City, a derelict aircraft carrier now serving as a human settlement. Here the player meets Doctor Li, a fellow scientist who worked alongside the player's father. Doctor Li tells the player of Project Purity, a plan to remove the radiation from the water of the Tidal Basin, as a means of helping to restore the environment and improve the lives of those inhabiting the wasteland.

After investigating the lab of Project Purity, built inside the Jefferson Memorial rotunda, the player tracks James to Vault 112, and frees him from a virtual reality program being run by the corrupt Vault's Overseer. The player and James return to Rivet City and meet up with Doctor Li. They discuss the Garden of Eden Creation Kit (G.E.C.K.) and its possible whereabouts, which are rumored to be located in Project Purity's computer database. However, while the player helps James restart the lab equipment, the Enclave arrives and attempts to take over the project for their own purposes. James sacrifices himself and kills several Enclave soldiers during a confrontation by overloading Project Purity's main chamber with lethal amounts of radiation. After fleeing the lab through underground tunnels, Li and the player arrive at the Citadel of the Brotherhood of Steel, which is located off the ruins of the Pentagon. After recovering, Li pleads with the player to find a G.E.C.K. to finish James' work. The player eventually finds one in Vault 87, which had been dedicated to creating and perfecting the FEV (Forced Evolutionary Virus). After retrieving the G.E.C.K. the player is ambushed again by the Enclave who take the player captive.

Awakening in a holding cell, the player is briefly interrogated by Colonel Autumn and then summoned to the office of President Eden, who promises safe passage to his control room. While the player is en route, however, Colonel Autumn, acting against Eden, orders the Enclave soldiers to attack, and the player must fight his or her way to the control room. There Eden, actually a supercomputer given control of the East Coast of the United States, gives the player a modified form of the FEV virus, which once utilized will not only purify the water but kill all individuals with any level of mutation. The player must eventually chose whether or not to activate the virus. The player escapes the Enclave and returns to the Citadel, where the Brotherhood of Steel enlists his or her aid in assaulting the Jefferson Memorial with Sarah Lyons, a leader of squadron of Brotherhood soldiers. After succeeding, the player must deal with Colonel Autumn through violence or persuasion. Through the building's intercom, Doctor Li informs the player due to the damage caused by the recent fight, someone must activate the system before it overloads, destroying the facility. Unfortunately, the one who activates the system will have to be sacrificed due to the chamber being close to being overwhelmed by lethal amounts of radiation. In the end, the choice comes down to the player, who must chose whether to activate the system personally, convince Lyons to do it, or simply wait, which ends in the facility's destruction. The ending sequence that follows depends on the previous actions of the player.

Downloadable content

The G.E.C.K.

The official editor for Fallout 3 available only for the PC version of the game, called the G.E.C.K. (Garden of Eden Creation Kit - after the quest item in the game), will be available for free download in December 2008 and will allow PC users to create and add their own content to the game.^[18]

Operation Anchorage

Billed as a "military simulation" and available for the PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game, Operation: Anchorage traces the liberation of Anchorage, Alaska, from its Chinese Communist invaders, and will be available in January 2009.

The Pitt

The second pack, titled The Pitt and available for the PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game, sees the player journey to the industrial raider town located in the remains of Pittsburgh, and is scheduled for release in February 2009.

Broken Steel

Broken Steel, scheduled for release in March 2009 and available for the PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game, sees the player join the ranks of the Brotherhood of Steel and rid the Capital Wasteland of the Enclave remnants once and for all, and continues the adventure past the main quest.

Development

Interplay Entertainment

Fallout 3 was initially under development by Black Isle Studios, a studio owned by Interplay Entertainment, under the working title Van Buren. Interplay Entertainment went bankrupt and closed down Black Isle Studios before the game could be completed, and the license to develop Fallout 3 was sold for a $1,175,000 minimum guaranteed advance against royalties to Bethesda Softworks, a studio primarily known as the developer of the The Elder Scrolls series.^[19] Bethesda's Fallout 3 however, was developed from scratch, using neither Van Buren code, nor any other materials created by Black Isle Studios. In May 2007, a playable technology demo of the canceled project was released to the public.^[20]

Leonard Boyarsky, art director of the original Fallout, when asked about Interplay Entertainment's sale of the rights to Bethesda Softworks, said:

Bethesda Softworks

Bethesda Softworks started working on Fallout 3 in July 2004,^[21] but principal development did not begin until after The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and its related extras and plugins were completed.^[22] Bethesda Softworks decided to make Fallout 3 similar to the previous two games, focusing on non-linear gameplay, a good story, and black comedy. Bethesda also chose to rate the game M for mature, and to include the same sort of adult themes, violence, and depravity that are characteristic of the Fallout series. They also decided to shy away from the self-referential gags of the game's predecessors that broke the illusion that the world of Fallout is real. Fallout 3 uses a version of the same Gamebryo engine as Oblivion,^[23] and was developed by the team responsible for that game.^[24] Liam Neeson was cast as the voice of the player's father.^[25]

In February 2007, Bethesda stated that the game was "a fairly good ways away" from release, but that detailed information and previews would be available later in the year.^[24] Following a statement made by Pete Hines that the team wanted to make the game a "multiple platform title",^[23] the game was announced by Game Informer to be in development for Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.^[26] A teaser site for the game appeared on May 2, 2007, featuring music from the game and concept art, along with a timer counting down to June 5, 2007. The artists and developers involved later confirmed that the concept art, commissioned before Oblivion had been released, did not reveal anything from the actual game.^[27] When the countdown finished, the site hosted the first teaser trailer for the game, and unveiled a release date of "Fall 2008".^[28] Fallout 3 went gold on October 9, 2008.^[29]

During a March 21, 2008 Official Xbox Magazine podcast interview, Todd Howard revealed that the game had expanded to nearly the same scope as Oblivion. There were originally at least 12 versions of the final cutscene, but with further development this expanded to over 200 possible permutations in the final release, all of which are determined by the actions taken by the player.^[13]

Bethesda Softworks attended E3 2008 to showcase Fallout 3. The first live demo of the Xbox 360 version of the game was shown and demonstrated by Todd Howard, taking place in downtown Washington, D.C. The demo showcased various weapons such as the Fat Man nuclear catapult, the VATS system, the functions of the PIP-Boy 3000, as well as combat with several enemies. The demo concluded as the player neared the Brotherhood of Steel-controlled Pentagon and was attacked by an Enclave patrol.^[30] Todd Howard also confirmed that downloadable content would be prepared exclusively for Fallout 3 on the Xbox 360 and Windows; there is no downloadable content planned for the PlayStation 3 version of the game.^[31]^[32]

Voice actors

Voice actors for the game include:^[33]

Liam Neeson as James
Malcolm McDowell as President John Henry Eden
Ron Perlman as Narrator
Odette Yustman as Amata
Jeff Baker as Stanley / Hannibal Hamlin"/ "Sergeant RL-3
Erik Dellums as Three Dog
Shari Elliker as Beatrice / Reilly / Star Paladin Cross
Wes Johnson as Mr. Burke / Fawkes
Stephen Russell as Andy / Minister Buckingham / The Great One
Craig Sechler as Butch / Harkness

Marketing and release

Trailers

On June 5, 2007, Bethesda released the ''Fallout 3'' teaser trailer. The press kit released with the trailer indicated that Ron Perlman would be on-board with the project, and cited a release date of Fall 2008. The trailer features The Ink Spots song "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire", which the previous Fallout developer Black Isle Studios originally intended to license for use in the first Fallout game.^[34] The trailer, which was completely done with in-engine assets, closed with Ron Perlman saying his trademark line as the narrator of the first two Fallout games: "War. War never changes." The trailer shows a devastated Washington, D.C., evidenced by the partially damaged Washington Monument in the background as well as the crumbling buildings surrounding a rubble-choked city thoroughfare.^[35]

A second trailer was first shown during a GameTrailers TV E3 special on July 12, 2008. The trailer zooms out from a ruined house in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, providing a wider view of the capital's skyline including the Capitol Building and Washington Monument in the distance.^[36] On July 14, 2008, an extended version of this trailer was made available, which besides the original content, includes a Vault-Tec advertisement and actual gameplay. Both versions of the trailer feature the song "Dear Hearts and Gentle People" as recorded by Bob Crosby and the Bobcats.^[37]

Film festival

On July 11, 2008, as a part of promoting Fallout 3, Bethesda Softworks partnered with American Cinematheque and Geek Monthly magazine to sponsor "A Post-Apocalyptic Film Festival Presented by Fallout 3." The festival took place on August 22-23 at Santa Monica's Aero Theater. Six post-apocalyptic movies made over the past 40 years were shown which depict life and events that could occur after a world-changing disaster, including Wizards, Damnation Alley, A Boy and His Dog, The Last Man on Earth, The Omega Man, and Twelve Monkeys.^[38]

Leaks

One month before Fallout 3s release, the Xbox 360 version of the game was leaked to various file-sharing websites. The leaked version was speculated to be a copy of a review version of the game rather than the retail version. Bethesda Softworks was aware of the situation, but made no public comments concerning the leak.^[39]

Versions and related media

Fallout 3 is released in four separate versions, only two of which are made available worldwide:

The Standard Edition includes only the game disc and manual with no extras.
The Collector's Edition includes the game disc, manual, a bonus "making of" DVD, a concept artbook, and a 5" Vault Boy Bobblehead, all of which contained in a Vault-Tec lunchbox.^[40]^[41] In Australia, the Collector's Edition is exclusive to EB Games.^[42]
The Limited Edition includes the game disc and manual, as well as a Brotherhood of Steel Power Armor figurine. This edition is available only in the U.K. through the retailer GAME.^[43]
The Survival Edition includes everything from the Collector's Edition, as well as a model of the PIP-Boy 3000 from the game which functions as a digital clock.^[41] The Survival Edition is available exclusively from Amazon.com to U.S. customers only.^[44]

Soundtrack and score

The Fallout 3 soundtrack continued the series' convention of featuring sentimental 1940s American popular music, in addition to a foreboding, menacing score.^[45] The score was written by noted composer Inon Zur. In a review of the game for Kotaku, Mike Fahey commented that "[w]hile Inon Zur's score is filled with epic goodness, the real star of Fallout 3's music is the vintage songs from the 1940s."^[46]

The following is a list of the 20 licensed songs that appear in Fallout 3.

Reception

Reviews

In a review from 1UP.com, Fallout 3 was praised for its open-ended gameplay and flexible character-levelling system. Its memorable setting prompted a favorable comparison to the 2007 game BioShock. While the V.A.T.S. system was called "fun", enemy encounters were said to suffer from a lack of precision in real-time combat and little variety in enemy types. The review concluded that despite the game's shortcomings, Fallout 3 is a "hugely ambitious game that doesn't come around very often," and one would "be a fool not to play it and enjoy the hell out of it."^[5] GameZone gave the PS3 verison a 9.5, the 360 version a 9.4 and the PC version a 9.2.

Some reviews have criticized the bugs in regards to the physics, crashes, and some that broke quests and prevented progression,^[47] the latter of which fixable by reloading from an earlier state.^[48] The AI and stiff character animations are another common point of criticism.^[49]^[50]^[51] It has also been noted that the PC version is "the most fully featured, best looking, and best running version of Fallout 3,"^[48] and that the PS3 version looks worse than the Xbox 360 version.^[48]^[51]

Sales for Fallout 3 have thus far been very high, and figures suggest that the game has outsold all previous Fallout games (including spin-offs) in its first week.^[52]

Fallout 3 won several awards following its showcasing at E3 2007. IGN gave it the Game of E3 2007 award, and GameSpot gave it the Best Role-Playing Game of E3 2007 award.^[53]^[54] Following the game's demonstration at E3 2008, IGN also gave it Best Overall RPG, Best Overall Console Game, and Overall Game of the Show for E3 2008.^[55] Game Critics Awards gave the game Best Role-Playing Game and Best of Show for E3 2008.^[56]

Drug reference controversy in Australia

On July 4, 2008, Fallout 3 was refused classification by the OFLC in Australia, thus making it illegal to distribute or purchase the game in the country. In order for the game to be reclassified, the offending content in the Australian version of the game would have had to be removed by Bethesda Softworks and the game resubmitted to the OFLC.^[57]^[58] According to the OFLC board report, the game was refused classification due to the "realistic visual representations of drugs and their delivery method [bringing] the 'science-fiction' drugs in line with 'real-world' drugs."^[59] A revised version of the game was resubmitted to the OFLC and reclassified as MA 15+ on August 7, 2008, or not suitable for people under the age of 15; this new rating ensured that the game could retail legally in Australia.^[60] According to the OFLC board report, the drug content was not removed entirely from the revised version of the game, but the animation showing the actual usage of the drugs was removed; the minority view on the decision stated that the drug content was still enough to warrant a refused classification rating, despite the admission that the portrayal of the drugs was appropriate within the context of the game.^[61] In a later interview with Edge, Bethesda Softworks revealed that there would be only one version of Fallout 3 released worldwide, and that this version would have all real world drug references removed.^[62] It was later clarified that the only change made would be that morphine, a real world drug that would have appeared in the game, would instead be renamed to the more generic "Med-X".^[63]

Indian release controversy

On 23 October 2008, Microsoft announced that the game would not be released in India on the Xbox 360 platform. Religious and cultural sentiments were cited as the reason. Microsoft said- "Microsoft constantly endeavors to bring the best games to Indian consumers in sync with their international release. However, in light of cultural sensitivities in India, we have made the business decision to not bring Fallout 3 into the country."^[64] Although the specific reason was not revealed in public, most people guessed it was because the game contains two-headed mutated cows called Brahmins, which is also a class of religious scholars in India, as well as the fact that the cow is considered a sacred animal to Hindus.^[65] The Brahmin were named after the Brahman cattle breed.

That the Karma system was inextricably implemented into a significant percentage of quests may also have been a factor. Karma, as a belief in the overall destiny of the souls of human beings in a cycle of reincarnation, is part of the Indian Hindu, Jain, Sikh, and Buddhist belief systems. Fallout 3 features a more mundane system of Karma point allocations for completing quests.

Censorship in Japan

Bethesda Softworks made changes to the Japanese version of the game, changing the side-quest "The Power of the Atom", in which players in the non-Japanese version of the game are given the option of either defusing or detonating a dormant atomic bomb in a certain city. Non-playable-character Mr. Burke has been taken out of this side-quest, rendering it impossible to detonate the bomb and leaving the player with only the choice of defusing or ignoring it. Also, the name of the mini-nuke weapon Fat Man was changed as it was a reference to the bomb dropped on Nagasaki.