Stop Making Excuses!Before I start into the actual post, let me first apologize for completely slacking last week.  I didn't put up either of my usual 2-a-week text posts, or my video post on the weekend.  Honestly I don't know what happened.  Monday night (when I usually write Tuesday's post) I was busy, same thing on Wednesday night when I write Thursday's post, etc. etc.  Like those excuses?  Anyways, it seems like there's been a drought when it comes to tech news lately, unless you consider layoffs as news, so I might start focusing on the gaming scene a little more.  After all, there's a ton of games to talk about.  There's been a blockbuster title every week for the past month, so I figured I'd do some quick-fire reviews of some of them.  As always, no spoilers.

Fallout 3 box artI'm going to start with Fallout 3.  Fallout 3 was a game that I was a little concerned about when going into it.  I remember even remarking to a friend that it had the biggest potential to be the "letdown of the season" - it seemed like there was a hell of a lot of hype devoted to it and, for whatever reason, I couldn't justify it.  The hype must have worked though because when I was in GameStop preordering my holiday games it slipped out of my mouth despite not really intending to play it.  It definitely wasn't on my must-play list.  Thta being said, and this may be because I had somewhat low expectations, Fallout 3 turned into my surprise game of the year.  Keep in mind that when I say that I literally mean the game that has surprised the most, not necessarily the best game of the year.

My main concern about Fallout 3 was the combat system.  To me, the V.A.T.S. system seemed really gimmicky, and although it was labeled as an additional feature I was concerned about it being required rather than optional to use.  As it turns out, V.A.T.S. (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) is really cool.  If you haven't played Fallout 3 yet, I'll run it down for you.  Basically it's a targeting system which lets you freeze the game, pick the points on the enemy you wish to attack (each is labeled with a percentage, this is your chance of hitting whatever body part) and then you effectively play again and you watch your character shoot at the enemy in the places you chose.  It's surprisingly hard to describe despite the system's simplicity, but needless to say it's pretty fun to use.

Fallout 3 V.A.T.S. targeting systemI started out very hesitant to use V.A.T.S., but eventually I solely relied upon it to take down the enemies.  Still, even though it's cool, I can't help but think that it's a band-aid on a larger issue.  Fallout 3's engine (the same as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion) isn't really built for ranged combat.  Even in Oblivion I had some issues using a bow instead of the standard sword and shield setup.  The same thing carries over into Fallout 3, but because the game is almost implicitly centered around gunplay the problem is much more accentuated.  For that reason I can't help but think that Bethesda put int V.A.T.S. not as a cool feature, but as a fix for the problematic in-engine combat.

As expected the game world is fantastic.  It's the closest experience from an atmospheric standpoint to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. that I've ever had.  It's not quite as good as S.T.A.L.K.E.R., but it's damn and given the game's size that's a huge accomplishment.  Without going into too much detail the game takes place in Washington D.C. after it has been decimated by a nuclear war.  Some time has past since the bombs fell, and the world is appropriately desolate and devastated.  Along with that the story is very good, which is essential.  A lot of people has criticized the game's ending but, given the wealth of side quests available, I appreciated the story being concise and somewhat short.  I played all but one of the quests (including side-quests) and it took me over 80 hours to complete this game, so if you're concerned about the length of the game you shouldn't be.

So overall, without having played Gears of War 2 or Call of Duty: World at War to completion, I can say that Fallout 3 is one of my games of the year.  It's almost a shame that it came out during the busiest time of the year because I would have loved to devoted more time to exploring the world of Fallout 3.  I have to highly recommend this game.  Go pick it up!

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