Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 16-20 of 294
 All-time best August 31, 2009
N. Ford (Hot Springs Village, AR USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Fallout 3, Bioshock, GTA4, Mass Effect, and Crackdown are similar to each other in that they are not just constant, mindless shooting against waves of enemies, as are Halo 3, Left 4 Dead, etc. If you prefer (or just like equally) games with more to them than just constant shooting, then you will love F3.
F3 has just the right amount of difficulty to it, which is what makes it a somewhat better game than Bioshock, which is just way too easy.
F3 has almost endless variety in the way in which it can be played. I just restarted it for maybe the dozenth time and found myself doing things and making choices which I had never done before. I've also found new elements in the game each time I've played it.
If you play F3 the first time without ever having read a walkthrough or a WIKI online, you will have a lot more difficulties just due to lack of knowledge of just the basic strategies of the game. In addition, there are specifics which you have no way of knowing in advance, such as which found items can be sold/traded and which need to be held for later use, or which side quests you should tackle first. You can learn all of this on your own -- it will just take a lot more playthroughs.
Even after a dozen times through F3, I still have to get help online once in a while when looking for something or for getting around an area. Use your favorite online search engine to look for "Fallout 3 WIKI" to get such help.
I gave F3 4 stars overall because getting around in buildings, tunnels, and debris-blocked streets takes up way too much time and is too frustrating and doesn't add any fun whatsoever to the game (IMO). The map system in F3 (for inside buildings or other specific areas) is only slightly better than none at all. On a scale of 1-10, I give F3's map system a 1 and Bioshock's a 10.
Despite this, F3 is the best game of its type, in my opinion.
 Never seen a game quite like this August 30, 2009
G. Martinez (Lancaster, CA USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Sure some can compare this game to Bethesda's previous attempt The Elder Scrolls IV, but at the end of the day I have never seen such a damn convincing world of a post apocalypse . Almost everything succeeds in this game, the story of the Lone Wanderer is not wholly original but what makes the the gamer interested is the mythology of the Capital Wasteland, you will find dozens of interesting characters that will make you care deeply for, may it be a Super Mutant Poet warrior named Fawkes, a loyal canine companion by the name of Dogmeat, or even a Super Patriotic Fascist news-casting president by the name of John Henry Eden. The music is eerily perfect for the atmosphere of Fallout 3, the happy upbeat music from the 30s give you a sense of hope and comfort even after your being attacked by a pack of Deathclaws or Ghouls (avoid the Deathclaws if possible). The gameplay is standard FPS or Third Person(in whichever way you want), but with RPG mixed into the gameplay. But what makes it stand out is the V.A.T.S system which allows you to slow time and aim for you enemies extremity parts, some may feel it takes away the challenge but if your a casual gamer you will heavily depend on it to fight packs of large creatures or humans with guns. But what makes the game really stand out is the open world you can explore, and oh boy is it huge. If you play a game 24/7 it might take you days to find every single city, landmark, and settlement. But if you play casually you spend weeks finding every single pace from basement to roof, the architecture of the buildings have elements of steampunk, and a lot of the building themselves have some character of their own may it be the city Megaton, or Oasis, or to the ever creepy Dunwich Building. Fallout 3 is one of the games that come every couple of years that gives us so much replay value that after 10 or 15 years later you will still be playing even after the PS3 and Xbox 360 are long gone. Don't hesitate in buying it, it is worth the price.
 Help! August 24, 2009
The Doctor (The TARDIS)
1 out of 12 found this review helpful
Fallout 3 is quite simply one of the absolute best games I have ever had the pleasure of playing. Every generation of consoles has its "all-time best." With the Gamecube, for instance, Resident Evil 4 and Eternal Darkness were it. With the Xbox 360, Fallout 3 is going to be hard to beat. Yes, it's better than Resident Evil 5 and may even be better than Dead Rising.
It effectively creates an entire world that one easily loses oneself in. It revolutionizes gameplay by eliminating the linear, stacked in time progression of storyline that most games are trapped in. Here, not only can you create how you look and the nature of your character (whether you're good or bad), an entire gaming world is opened up to you to explore in a totally nonlinear fashion. Every time you play this game, small causes early one will have large effects later on, resulting in an entirely different story and gaming experience. Fallout 3 very effectively weds together several genres that my wife and I both adore: post-apocalyptic fiction, science fiction, horror and survival. Like Resident Evil 4 before it, Fallout 3 presents a rich and very fun tapestry to the player by borrowing tremendous amounts of material from these genres. Here are few fun appropriations/resemblances that I've noticed:
-The Family's "saying of the law" is from H. G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau."
-The idea of the people worshipping an undetonated nuclear bomb is straight out of Beneath the Planet of the Apes.
-The Raiders are, of course, from Mad Max and Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.
-The Protrectrons' appearance is taken from the iconic robot from Forbidden Planet, who later appeared in Lost in Space as Robby the Robot.
-The giant ants remind me of Them.
-The story in the Dunwich building in the Southwestern corner of the map contains numerous references to the work of H.P. Lovecraft. These include, of course, the name Dunwich, the names of returning powerful beings such as Ug-Qualtoth--referencing Lovecraft's Yog-Sothoth, a radioactive stone that causes mutations, a book that drives its readers mad (Lovecraft's Necronomicon), and, of course Alhazred, Lovecraft's Abdul Alhazred, author of the Necronomicon.
-The mission about an android hunter who may not know he's an android is the plot of Bladerunner.
-The device that produces life on the planet is highly reminiscing of Project Genesis from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
-Tranquility Lane is basically a holodeck, such as the one in Star Trek the Next Generation.
With that said, Bethesda should not have been allowed to release a game that simply does NOT work. It has way too many bugs that don't have fixes. My wife and I played this game for weeks and completed a great many of the side quests. We then returned to the main storyline, and, cannot play any more. We are far too far into the game to start over. We are trapped inside the Jefferson Memorial with Dr. Li. The main character's Dad just killed himself to stop the Enclave. Dr. Li leaves and, we cannot follow. The game freezes every time. We've heard all the theories and tried all the alleged fixes. Starting from an earlier save point does not change anything. Clearing the cache doesn't do anything. I've read online that a great many other people have this exact same problem at this exact same spot in the game. There is even a video of this on Youtube demonstrating that a patch for it also does not fix the problem. I guess that's it for the game for us!
What an amazing work of art. August 19, 2009
Jason Lefebvre (Fort Sam Houston, TX)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm 26. I've found that as I've grown older, I've developed a greater appreciation for video games, especially since I was around from the first nintendo onward. My favorite games are the final fantasy games, mega man games, and a couple obscure ones (anyone remember "Flashback" for the SNES?). Anyway, this is where I'm coming from.
Fallout 3 is fantastic. I don't consider myself a hardcore gamer and I don't generally go into games with expectations. With this in mind I began playing Fallout 3 and was/am simply blown away. I have only completed maybe a fifth of the main story, but have logged like 30-some hours. I really don't understand why some people write that it is too short and boring and whatnot. Say what you will about the games cap and ammo economy, but this is endlessly fascinating. I just spent about 3 hours just bumming around the Museum of Natural History for the GNR quest just checking out plaques, exploring, killing dudes, reading computer entries, etc. I can't believe the attention to detail that went into this game! Sure, the trash cans all look the same, and of course there are gonna be generic items and fixtures, but it's still exciting to explore and find ammo in that 'little room off to the left' or whatever.
Like all things in life, you get out of it what you put in. If you wish to race through this game in an attempt to consume one more title and say you've beaten one more game, go for it- but you will be missing the point of a Bethesda release. But, if you're like me, and don't really give a crap about beating the game (though I certainly plan to eventually), but just enjoy the action, suspense, adventure, graphics, story, depth, attention to detail, exploration, variety, etc, you will enjoy this title immensely.
By the way, I give it a 4 in fun because though this game is "fun," that word is a gross oversimplification of how I enjoy this game. If the question was "How much do you enjoy this game?" then I would have given it a 5. Fun just doesn't do justice to the suspense you feel in the dark tunnels, the boredom of crossing large expanses of territory, the satisfaction of a good headshot, or the sense of wonder at the shear scope of the game.
I hope this review encouraged someone to get this game. But, uh, do go out and get some exercise every now and again, huh? I'm a nurse and I've heard something about exercise being good for you or something :)
Jason (xbox live ID: Lefeverbeaver hit me up if you see me!)
Loved it. August 18, 2009
Hugh Johnson (Your Heart)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
In short, I simply loved Fallout 3. It is a fun game that many gamers and non-gamers will learn to enjoy. The game has a great story and just hours of game play even once the main storyline is finished. Like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, every time you start a new game is a different adventure. There is just so many different possibilities you can turn your character into.
If you can not wait until October to play Fallout, then get it now. But if you are a patient guy then wait until October 13 to get the Game of the Year edition. The GOTY edition comes with all the download content that Bethesda has released throughout the year: Operation Anchorage, The Pitt, Broken Steel, Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta. These 5 add-ons will give you more hours of game play, quests and fun new weapons.
Showing reviews 16-20 of 294
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