Fallout 3 Review Part 3: A Journey of Self Discovery and Survival

Thrust into the wasteland as the “Lone Wander from Vault 101” and ending up “The Last, Best Hope for Humanity” was a long, and at times, trying journey. If you missed the first two parts of my review you can check them out here and here. Following your fathers trail requires a lot of back and forth through the wastelands and they are anything but safe. Constantly having to defend yourself against on coming attacks from Raiders, Super Mutants, Feral Ghouls, Mole Rats, Vicious Dogs, Deathclaws, Mercs, and more, isn’t always an easy task. No place outside of the fortified walls of wasteland settlements scattered across the D.C. Area are safe. Weapons are the key to staying alive while moving from place to place, lots of weapons. Weapons aren’t any good without ammo and decent armor compliments the pair nicely. Combat in Fallout 3 is based on real-time action from the first person perspective while firing a gun or swinging a blunt object at your enemy. Fallout 3 is not a first person shooter no matter how much it has the appearance of being a FPS. The shooting mechanics are serviceable, but do not expect the quality of a Call of Duty or Gears of War game. This is why the V.A.T.S. mechanic is so important to making the combat fun in Fallout 3. Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.) allows you to step back, pause the real-time combat and enter into a turned-based attack mode. While inside V.A.T.S. players are able to select which enemy and body part they would like to attack. While targeting a body part , the on-screen display offers a percentage of how likely the attack will hit the area you have targeted based off visibility of the body part, combat skill, the type of weapon you are using, and your distance from the target. The targets health and a potential damage meter are also displayed on screen while in V.A.T.S. Your AP (attack power) determines how many times you are able to attack an enemy while using V.A.T.S. The amount of AP used for each attack varies from weapon to weapon. AP is regenerated over a short period of time so if you use up your AP before an enemy is dead you will have to finish them off in real-time. There are many things in the world that affect how much AP is at your disposal such as certain foods, armor, level perks, and jet (drug).

View in V.A.T.S.

Plenty of weapons, ammo, decent armor, and a solid supply of stimpaks (health packs) may add to your chances of survival, but skill management and perks are the keys to keeping the playing field even. In Fallout 3, experience points are rewarded for every action taken in the game. Picking a lock, completing a mission, killing an enemy, hacking a computer, speech successes, and discovering locations all give you experience points. Level progression is based on the amount of experience points earned and leveling your character caps at twenty in Fallout 3. Each time you reach a new level, depending on your character, you will be able to add fifteen to twenty-five skill points to categories of your choice. The skill categories include Barter, Big Guns, Energy Weapons, Explosives, Lockpick, Medicine, Melee Weapons, Repair, Science, Small Guns, Sneak, Speech, and Unarmed. With each level you can also add a perk to boost your stats even further. Perks are little bonus packages that can be added each time your character gains a new level of experience. Different Perks add different options and abilities for your character. As an example, Perks can add 10% more damage when attacking with a specific weapon. They can increase your health, add to the amount of skill points available each time your level is increased, open dialog options not normally available when talking with children, one will add more gore to the game. Some of these Perks can be used multiple times, increasing their effect while others are only applicable once. Perks are one more example of how Fallout 3 offers every player a wide variety of customization, making every ones experience in the game a little different. Managing skill assignments and perks help increase the odds of survival but there are other ways to improve your characters performance outside the leveling system.

Defeating Enemies

Specialized items in your inventory, when equipped, can make all the difference. The items are obtained through exploration, bartering with merchants, and completing quests. Sometimes, the ability to pick a lock or repair a damaged weapon might not be available, but throwing on a Vault 101 jump suite or similar item might add the skill points needed to get the job done. As your characters skill level improves venturing from one place to another may become less daunting, but a solid arsenal at your disposal still goes a long way. Weapons and armor become worn after being used and will eventually break is they are not repaired. To repair weapons in Fallout 3 you have two options, pay someone else to fix them up, or take care of it yourself. I chose the latter during the game because I don’t like shelling out hard earned money (caps, in this case) for something I could do myself. Keeping weapons in a working order requires having a backup of that weapon in your inventory. Then you “mash” the two together in your inventory menu combining their parts to make make one solid weapon. Of course, the higher your Repair skills, the higher percentage of repair you can complete on your weapons. Collecting your fallen enemies weapons and exploring the ruins is the cheapest way to keep your inventory full and weapons in working order. If you are raiding a building and come upon a nice stash that has you overburdened, tucking them in a safe spot so you can retrieve them later is not a bad idea.

D.C. Area Map (click to Enlarge)

Good weapons, armor, stimpaks, and experience will all make your traveling a little bit easier than it was in the beginning. The D.C. Area is is very large. Learning the lay of the lands is just as important to survival as your inventory and skill level. Discovering a location opens the ability to fast travel to that location in future. This is done by accessing the map on your Pip-boy, picking your location, and selecting travel. The less encounters with Super Mutants and Death Claws on the way to your destination means more health and ammo still in your inventory upon your arrival. Discovering locations, story related or not, unlocks the magic of Fallout 3. Exploring new locations means finding new items, meeting new characters, and gaining experience points by doing so. One of my favorite off-the-beaten path discoveries was a place called the Republic of Dave. This area consists of nothing more than a couple ram shackled buildings surrounded by an iron fence on the outskirts the D.C. Area. The place is full of dirty, shoeless kids, a couple teenagers, President Dave, and his two wives. Talking with these characters allows you to learn the history behind the Republic of Dave and gives a you glimpse into the bizarre lives of irradiated life in the wastelands. As with any place, you can befriend these people and make a few caps or you always have the option of killing them and taking whatever you want. The decision is always yours in Fallout 3.

Republic of Dave

Now that you are prepared to face the hardships of traveling the wasteland you can choose to explore the unknown or follow your fathers trail to find what happened down in Vault 101 the night you left. Learning about your father and his ambitions, unlocking the truth of your own past, and deciding whether or not to help people in need is what Fallout 3 is all about. The story is not only a test of survival, but a journey of personal discovery for your character. Who will you be at the end of your travels? Will you contribute to rebuilding a fallen society or will you seek out person fortune and power? Creating your character from birth, making decisions affecting the world around you, tailoring your skills to suite your play style, and the discovery of the unknown around every corner is why Fallout 3 is one of the best games that has been released this generation. Bethesda offers a deep experience and a journey through a world that is hard to forget. The game is packed full of mutated sensations and choosing your own destiny allows for plenty of re-playability making Fallout 3 a must have title for any gamer.

Click to read Part 1 and Part 2 of Fallout 3 Review