Before getting into the meat of the review it is important to note that this is an RPG and very little of an action packed shooter. Despite the beautiful graphics, option of real time game play similar to an FPS, the game is an RPG at its core with even real time damages based on roll of dice.

Players not familiar with RPGs will face a steep learning curve. Placing points and choosing the right perks go a long way and are complete game changers. Therefore we highly recommend players to read up on some general guides to get a better understanding. This is important as there is no option later in the game to re-allocate past points spent and the player will have to live with their poor decisions.

Post apocalyptic world never looked so good

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the graphics of the out door environment are the best that I’ve seen on the Xbox 360 thus far. The draw distance is so large it feels it is not limited in any form. The out door environment consists of large wastelands with dying vegetarian with towns and houses built from scavenged materials.

In addition there are creatures, super mutants, human raiders and everything in between that roam around the land marking their territory. Often different sides will be fighting amongst each other. This gives the feeling of living and breathing world that is large and you represent only a small part of it. The whole environment with its theme of survival in posft apocalyptic world is done really well and is easily the strongest area of the game.

Unfortunately beauty is only skin deep. The indoors, with few exceptions, do not match up to the outdoor environments. This is particularly sad because most of the missions and objectives happen indoors.

Main story line

The game starts of with you being born. In a very interesting manner you select your name and what you would look like when you grow up. You grow up in Vault 101. Due to nuclear warfare some people have chosen to live in vaults that are basically deep underground cities secluded from the outside world. In vault 101 there is particular emphasis on gates never being opened. The mono is, “no one leaves and no one comes in.”

You find yourself waking up to a ruckus one day. It turns out your dad has escaped the vault and the overseer has gone berserk and has even killed one of your dad’s friend. Your friend, the overseer’s daughter, helps you escape vault 101. This particular moment has a special feeling to it as the character sees the outside world for the first time. This is helped with the large draw distance and strong graphics.

Early on in the main quest, you are required to grab a mini nuke are required to use it to fight of a wave of super mutants. This sets a strong tone for the rest of the quest line however unfortunately the rest of the main quest line is rather disappointing. Over half of it has you chasing your father across the lands while you gain information on what is going on and where your father might be next. The main quest line fails in giving epic moments like the one it had when you started. Story telling is definitely not one of the game’s strong points. In fact towards the end the player fights for people that want to purify water, against those that also want to purify water. This made me question why I was fighting in the first place.

It’s not the destination, but the journey in getting there

The above quote can best describe the quest situation in the game. There are numerous optional quest lines that make the main quest line seem small. It is these quests that help deliver those epic moments that the main quest line fails in delivery. It is these quests where the player has more influence on the outcomes. For example there is a nuclear bomb that failed to be triggered. Players have the option of disarming it or blowing it up along with most of its inhabitants. However a lot of the secondary quests are mundane as they require you to get to some destination to either pick up an item or kill some mobs and come back.

In order to get most of the optional quests, players will be required to randomly explore different towns and areas within the capital wasteland. By having varied groups from different towns to raiders, super mutants and even a town consisting solely of children, exploration is a true treat.  This can loosely translated as players having to search for “fun”. This in turn means that players who can afford to play at least a few hours at a time are those that will truly enjoy this game. This game is not meant for those that only have time to play for an hour at a time.

The combat system

The game gives the player the ability to use VATs. This is something that players will want to use more than real time shooting. Using VATs pauses the game and lets the player choose body parts of an enemy. VATs provides the chance of successful hits and the rest is up to the roll of dice. The chance of hitting varies by the gun you are using, where you placed your points and how close you are to an enemy. Focusing on different sections of an enemy’s body has its own strategic elements. Shooting the head gives twice the damage, shooting the weapon or arms disables the enemy’s use of weapon and shooting the legs stops them from running away.

Players can choose to play real time like a normal fps but even the damage then is based on roll of dice. Add that to the fact that the controls feel clunky and would be sub par for an fps, players will be better of using VATs except when sniping or out of VAT points.

The enemy AI is very poor in the game. If you get their attention you can run behind an object and wait for the enemy to come to you before blowing them up. Hence the two most effective combat options will be to (a) run as close to the enemy and select VATs with the shotgun equipped and aim for the head or (b) get enemy’s attention, run behind object, wait for enemy to come, use VATs and with the shotgun aim for the enemy’s head. Rinse & repeat. The combat system feels like it lacks depth despite the options for strategy.

Furthermore the enemies that you meet throughout your journey, with the exception at the very end, will be the same you encountered from the start. They do not increase in level or difficulty so as you level and get better access to weaponry the game becomes significantly easier.

The other things

Players will come across characters that are unique and have distinct and very interesting characters.

You can listen to the radio and have an option of two stations. Enclave radio is the government trying to spread propaganda. Galaxy News Radio is run by Three Dog (another very interesting character). He follows your worldly progress and describes the player as the new hope from vault 101. Its always interesting to tune in and see what he has to say once you do something major.

As time passes so does night and day. If you don’t like playing at a certain time you can choose to wait it out. Although day light is clearer and can spot enemies easily, it becomes harder to sneak behind them. Sneaking is an important element as it guarantees a critical hit when attacked while hidden.

To hide you have to crouch. No matter if you are out of line of sight, if you are standing the enemies will spot you if you are in their range. This also means it’s also impossible to sneak up behind someone while standing, no matter how slowly you walk. This is a strong RPG element regardless of the situation being practical or not.

Final wordsss (hey it’s a large game)

The game should be perceived as game with RPG elements at its core being bought to life in full 3d. Gamers that like RPGs, fans of previous fallout titles or have a lot of times on their hands are the ones that will absolutely love this game. Gamers can easily spend 25 to 30 hours in the game. Most of the others that do not have long streaks of free time in their hands and want something more action oriented should be better of getting other games in this blockbuster November line-up.

On the one hand the game provides an exceptional environment. Having to search for objectives and explore such vast areas of land and meeting interesting and distinct characters are a treat. And if time is spent searching around with epic moments spaced out, this resembles real life in that not every moment is a shock and awe. On the other hand what are games if they don’t provide constant epic moments? That is the reason a lot of people play games and therefore this will not be their cup of tea.

My main beef with the game is that the second half of my play time that included completing the main quest line was a bit of a let down. Maybe that was because it raised its own expectations at the start so much that the next half didn’t match up to it.

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