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Fallout 3
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Fallout 3 is an action role-playing game released by Bethesda Game Studios, and is the third major game in the Fallout series. 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. The video game is available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 video game consoles as well as the Windows operating system.
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 in an alternate post-World War II timeline.
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Encyclopedia
Fallout 3 is an action role-playing game released by Bethesda Game Studios, and is the third major game in the Fallout series. 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. The video game is available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 video game consoles as well as the Windows operating system.
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 in an alternate post-World War II timeline. 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 under 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.
Following its release, Fallout 3 has received very positive responses from critics who praised in particular the game's open-ended gameplay and flexible character-levelling system. The NPD Group estimated that Fallout 3 sold over 610,000 units during its initial month of release in October 2008, outselling Bethesda Softworks' previous game, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which sold nearly 500,000 units in its first month.
Gameplay
Attributes and karma
Main character creation occurs in the character's childhood. The character reads a book titled "You're SPECIAL," where upon reading the player can set the character's seven primary attributes or "Special Stats," (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck). Skills and Perks are similar to those in previous games: Skills can be gradually assigned up to 100 points and give players increasing degrees of ability, for instance increasing the Lockpick Skill grants the player access to harder doors to unlock. The maximum overall level the player can achieve is level 20; every level up, a new Perk can be selected, each offering advantages of varying quality and form.
Another important statistic tracked in the game is karma. Each player has a total amount of karma which can be affected by his/her decisions or actions, which can be positive and add karma, or be negative and subtract karma. Beyond acting as flavor for the game's events, karma can have tangible effects to the player, primarily affecting the game's ending. Other effects include altered dialogue with NPCs, or unique conflicts with evil or good characters. Actions vary in extremes of karma; pickpocketing receives less negative karma than the killing of a good character, for example. The player's relationships with the game's factions are distinct, so any two groups or settlements may view the player in contrasting ways, depending on the player's conduct.
Health and weapons
Health is diminished when damage is taken through combat, and can be replenished by sleeping, using medical equipment, or eating food. There are secondary health factors such as radiation poisoning from the environment or contaminated food and water, and addiction to drugs, both of which can blur the player's vision. Exploring the game's world is difficult as there is no medical equipment and little cover between settlements; therefore the player must take care in carrying useful equipment when travelling.
Another game mechanic is item degradation. The more weapons and armor are used and damaged in combat, the more they lose their effectiveness. Firearms slow their rate of fire and do less damage, and apparel becomes gradually less protective. 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. The Repair skill must be at a certain level to repair an item beyond a certain level of degradation.
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, and if the player also possesses the necessary schematics. These weapons include melee, ranged or explosive devices. There are 3 versions for each Schematic. Multiple copies will result in a better starting condition for the related weapon or, in the case of custom-built mines, multiple mines for the same materials. These Schematics are only found in certain locations, either on the ground, sold by some vendors or offered as quest rewards.
V.A.T.S.
The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S., plays an important part in combat. 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. Headshots will bring down an enemy more quickly, but the player can also select to slow enemies' movements by crippling their legs, or disarm them by shooting at their weapons.
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; it is possible to not encounter Dogmeat at all depending on how the game is played. 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 or die in combat.
Plot
Setting
Fallout 3 takes place in a post-apocalyptic, retro-futurist Washington D.C. and parts of Maryland and Virginia in the year 2277. The player character (who can be either male or female according to the player's choice) lives in Vault 101, a fallout shelter situated close to the ruins of Washington, D.C. Vault 101 is different from the many other vaults like it. At some point, all the other vaults opened up, except Vault 101. The player character lives with his/her widowed father James (voiced by Liam Neeson) until, one day, the player wakes up to find that his or her father has left the vault and ventured into the wasteland for unknown reasons. The Vault Overseer becomes suspicious and orders his men to kill the player, forcing him/her to go out into the Capital Wasteland where they must follow their father's footsteps. Along the way, the player will encounter various factions, including the Brotherhood of Steel, a group of technology-coveting survivors from the American west coast; the Outcasts, a group of Brotherhood of Steel exiles; and the Enclave, the elitist and genocidal remnant of the U.S. government.
Story
The main quest begins after the player character is forced to escape Vault 101 at age 19, having become a target of suspicion following his/her father's disappearance. The search for James, the player's father, then takes them on a journey through the wasteland, first to the nearby town of Megaton, named for the unexploded nuclear bomb at its center, 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 Vault's corrupt 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 in 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, a supercomputer given control of the East Coast of the United States, gives the player a modified form of the FEV virus, which once used will not only purify the water but kill all individuals with any level of mutation. The player must eventually choose 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, the leader of an elite squad of Brotherhood Knights. 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.
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. 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.
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, but principal development did not begin until after The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and its related extras and plugins were completed. 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 pursue an ESRB rating of M (for mature) by including adult themes, violence, and depravity 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, and was developed by the team responsible for that game. Liam Neeson was cast as the voice of the player's father.
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. Following a statement made by Pete Hines that the team wanted to make the game a "multiple platform title", the game was announced by Game Informer to be in development for Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. 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. When the countdown finished, the site hosted the first teaser trailer for the game, and unveiled a release date of "Fall 2008". Fallout 3 went gold on October 9, 2008.
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.
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.
Voice actors
Voice actors for Fallout 3 include:
Marketing and release
Trailers
On June 5, 2007, Bethesda released the . 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. 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.
A second trailer was first shown during a GameTrailers TV E3 special on July 12, 2008. 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. On July 14, 2008, an 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.
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.
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.
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. In Australia, the Collector's Edition is exclusive to EB Games.
- 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.
- 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. The Survival Edition is available exclusively from Amazon.com to U.S. customers only.
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. The score was written by noted composer Inon Zur. In a review of the game for Kotaku, Mike Fahey commented that "While Inon Zur's score is filled with epic goodness, the real star of Fallout 3's music is the vintage songs from the 1940s."
Downloadable content
Bethesda's Todd Howard confirmed during E3 2008 that downloadable content would be prepared for the Xbox 360 and Windows versions of Fallout 3; there is no downloadable content planned for the PlayStation 3 version of the game. Although Bethesda has not offered an official explanation as to why the content is not being released for PlayStation 3, Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian speculated that it may have been the result of a money deal with Bethesda by Sony's competitor, Microsoft. When asked if the PlayStation 3 version would receive an update that would enable gameplay beyond the main quest's completion, which the "Broken Steel" downloadable content expansion will do when released, Todd Howard responded, “Not at this time, no.”
The G.E.C.K.
The G.E.C.K. (Garden of Eden Creation Kit) is the official editor for Fallout 3 available only for the Windows version of the game, and was released in December 2008 as a free download on Bethesda Softworks' Fallout 3 website.
Operation: Anchorage
Operation: Anchorage is the first Fallout 3 downloadable content pack, and takes place as a virtual reality "military simulation" in the main game. The content focuses on a pivotal event in the Fallout timeline before the Great War took place, namely the attempt by the United States Army to liberate Anchorage, Alaska from its Chinese Communist invaders. The pack contains several new quests, new items, and adds four new achievements. Operation: Anchorage was released in North America on January 27, 2009 on Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live.
The Pitt
The Pitt is the second downloadable content pack, and allows the player to journey to the industrial raider town known as The Pitt, located in the remains of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Pitt will be released on March 24, 2009 on Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live.
Broken Steel
Broken Steel is the third downloadable content pack, and continues the story of Fallout 3 beyond the original ending. In the pack, the player joins the ranks of the Brotherhood of Steel and helps rid the Capital Wasteland of the Enclave once and for all. The pack will also raise the game's level cap from 20 to 30. Broken Steel will be released in April 2009 on Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live.
Reception
Reviews
Professional reviews for the game have been very positive, with an average Game Rankings score of about 91% on all 3 platforms, across 133 media outlets. 1UP.com praised its open-ended gameplay and flexible character-leveling system. 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, Fallout 3 is a "hugely ambitious game that doesn't come around very often." IGN praised the game's "minimalist" sound design, observing, "you might find yourself with nothing but the sound of wind rustling through decaying trees and blowing dust across the barren plains ... Fallout 3 proves that less can be more." The review wrote that the "unusual amount of realism" combined with the "endless conversation permutations" produces "one of the most truly interactive experiences of the generation", awarding the game a 9.6 out of 10.
GameZone gave Fallout 3 a 9.5, 9.4 and 9.2 out of 10 for the PS3, 360 and PC versions respectively.
Some criticisms were the bugs in regards to the physics, crashes, and some that broke quests and prevented progression, the latter of which are fixable by reloading from an earlier state. The AI and stiff character animations are another common point of criticism, as is the ending. It has also been noted that the PC version is "the most fully featured, best looking, and best running version of Fallout 3."
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. Since its release in October, Fallout 3 has shipped over 4.7 million units. The Xbox 360 version was the 14th best-selling game of December 2008 in the United States, while the PlayStation 3 version was the eighth best-selling PlayStation 3 game in that region and month.
Awards
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. 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. Game Critics Awards gave the game Best Role-Playing Game and Best of Show for E3 2008.
After its release, Fallout 3 won numerous awards, including:
- GameSpy Best of 2008:
- Overall Game of the Year
- Best PC Game
- Best Xbox 360 game
- Gamesradar Best of 2008:
- Game of the Year
- Best Gore
- IGN Best of 2008:
- Overall Game of the Year 2008
- Best Xbox 360 Game
- Best RPG (Xbox 360)
- Best Use of Sound
- Spike Video Game Awards 2008:
Controversies
Drug references 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. 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." 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. 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. 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. 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."
Release in India
On October 23, 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 stated, "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."
Although the specific reason was not revealed in public, most people guessed it was because the game contains two-headed mutated cows called Brahmin (which may have been an intentional misspelling of brahman), which is also a class of religious scholars in India, as well as the fact that the cow is revered by Hindus. Also possible is that Hindus would take offense to the 'karma' system in the game.
Censorship in Japan
Bethesda Softworks made changes to the side-quest "The Power of the Atom" in the Japanese version of Fallout 3. In non-Japanese versions, players are given the option of either defusing, ignoring, or detonating the dormant atomic bomb in the town of Megaton. In the Japanese version, the character Mr. Burke has been taken out of this side-quest, rendering it impossible to detonate the bomb and leaving the player with the other two options only. Another change is the name of the "Fat Man" nuclear catapult weapon being changed to the "Nuka Launcher," as the original name was a reference to the bomb used on Nagasaki.
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