Fallout 3 Preview

A belated preview of Fallout 3 comes from GamingExcellence, who balances the game’s pros and cons.

I was also privy to the lockpicking and computer hacking mini-games. While both were challenging, I found neither particularly fun in comparison to the main game, and likely would have been happier with a simple skill roll. The lock picking game used the two thumbsticks on the controller as the lockpick and screwdriver, where each has to be turned at precisely the right moment to succeed. The hacking game was basically mastermind, which means your mileage will vary depending on you love of old-school board games. Search through some computer code for a password, and the computer would tell you how many letters of the password you got correct. I yearned for an opprtunity to shoot something.

Despite it’s flaws and differences over the previous entries, this is a significant departure from the Elder Scrolls universe, and “Oblivion with guns” is a disgusting simplification of this promising game. While on the surface, it’s easy to marginalize a game like this as re-invented to a flaw. I’m sure many people were aching for an overhead perspective and turn-based combat. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that at some point, I was one of them.

Still, as much as I tried to dislike Fallout 3, I would start playing to find how many of the old audio cues are pulled from the first games and think “this is Fallout”. I would score a critical on a bandit, blowing his head clean off and think “this is Fallout”. I would come across a Brotherhood of Steel outpost, see a hulking set of power armor and think “this is Fallout”.