Fallout 3 is great, if you approach it the right way
Fallout 3 can be a fun or extremely boring and stupid experience, depending on how you approach it. I would argue that it’s no better or worse than Fallout 2, a delightful game that ultimately disappoints, while still remaining a good game.
Fallout 3 is flawed: The main story line is painfully bad. Many zones are full of room after room of painstakingly designed rooms full of uninteresting junk (like Fallout 2), and most of the side quests feel shallow or pointless (unlike Fallout 2 where they were simply incomplete). The game’s misuse use of existing critters and lore profanes the Fallout universe (like Fallout 2). The game simply crashes on some systems, which are usually high end gaming systems with 8800 series video cards (whereas Fallout 2 crashed on *all* systems). Like in Fallout 2, you have to restart your game from scratch after installing the patch to stop the crashing. So, if you consider F2 a true Fallout game, the ways that it’s flawed also make F3 more of a true Fallout game, not less.
Do I wish it was really a turn-based third-person game? Of course I do.
But there’s a lot of fun to be had, because this is a wonderfully immersive Fallout-esque experience to be had. Most of the mods available at this time are pretty lame, but it’s still quite fun in vanilla form. My suggestions for a good F3 experience are about attitude and immersion:
- Turn off the in-game music. The game music is lame ass movie music like you get in every new first-person game, written by some aspiring movie-music composer who does not belong in the game industry.
- Don’t play your own music. Instead put on headphones or use good speakers. The sound design is excellent, and make the world feel more real.
- Pick a character personality and stick to it–keep your character in character. Sometimes this will get you in trouble–go with it.
- Don’t sweat the “main quest”. If your character is driven to find daddy asap, fine, but remember that’s the least interesting part of the game.
- Choose perks you want. Perks are supposed to be fun. You’ll find a way to get by. Choose perks that go with your character’s personality, not those that make the character as powerful as possible.
It’s too easy to build a character without any weaknesses. My approach boils down to two things: turn off the in-game music, and let your character have weaknesses.
I know what you’re thinking: the super mutants look like orcs with machine guns. There’s not much you can do about that. Sorry
