Fallout 3 preview – From the ashes of Van Buren

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Fallout 3 received 2 Game Critics Awards from this years E3 show, Best of Show & Best RPG, which gave me a little nudge to look a bit deeper at this title.

Released in the Fall this year on PS3, XBOX360 & PC, Fallout 3 will be a reworking of the original PC Fallout series of games.

Now I’m not a veteran of the original Fallout series & so have asked a couple of other respected gamers to give me their opinions on the Fallout 3 & the previous PC series too. You can find their remarks & thoughts running through this preview, where marked.

Van Buren?

The original idea for Fallout 3 had been developed by Black Isle Studios – namely Van Buren but with the bankruptcy of Interplay Entertainment, who owned Black Isle Studios, also came the end of that vision of Fallout 3.

The license was then sold on to Bethesda Softworks, who have since used none of the original Van Buren code that was being developed by Black Isle Studios.

The tech demo for Van Buren can be downloaded here & it gives you a real impression of just how different Fallout 3 could have been under the Black Isle Studios guise.

Fallout 3 & Bethesda Softworks

Bethesda Softworks have been working on Fallout 3 now since July 2004 & it’s only recently that we have been able to see what those 4 years of work have produced. Using the same Gamebyro engine that Bethesda Softworks used on The Elder Scrolls IV:Oblivion, Fallout 3 looks to be fairly close in overall scale to Oblivion.

Fallout 3’s setting couldn’t be any different – a post atomic Washington DC wasteland(affectionately renamed Capital Wasteland) Fallout 3 is set in the year 2277 & reworks the original storyline of Fallout with promises of nods & references to the original games concept & ideas.

Combat

Third but also first person views can be chosen at a press of a button

What is noticeably different between the original Fallout series & Fallout 3 looks to be the gameplay itself. Out goes the isometric turn based combat system of Fallout & in comes the first/third person shooter style.

Devoted Fallout players may find this a step too far from the original & with this in mind I asked DolphGB if he was happy that Fallout 3 was to break from the turn based combat of Fallout:

To compare the original with Fallout 3 is going to be a hard task. One was a turn-based RPG in the most standard sense of the genre. The new Fallout 3 seems more like a gritty, gore-ridden action game than an RPG. One was isometric, the other is first or third-person. I guess I’ll be happy with the result if it is as enjoyable as Oblivion was on the PS3.

[DolphGB - PS3 Attitude]

Pip-Boy 3000 - Access V.A.T.S. for combat but also the SPECIAL character system, current Items & other data...phew!

Another area of combat that may divide players is the V.A.T.S(Vault-Tech Assisted Targeting System) which is accessible via the Pip-Boy, a device worn around the wrist. It enables the player to pause time so that they can target specific body parts of a target – it’s one area of the game that Aaron is looking forward too:

..I’m mostly looking forward to the vast world to explore, but the most innovative feature I’ve seen so far is the combat option to target an enemy and then seen it die cinematically.

[Aaron - Anyway Games]

Selecting V.A.T.S. in combat

Luckily Bethesda have chosen to make V.A.T.S a style of combat play that is optional – the player doesn’t have to watch every single kill cinematically & can switch between it or the more conventional shooter style.

RPG

Where combat may have change styles, the RPG element of the Fallout is still intact. Leveling through XP means Fallout 3 will have plenty of missions to run through before the player reaches the level cap of 20.

One warning here though – not every mission contained in Fallout 3 can be taken by the player. As you play through the game, choices must be made to how you approach certain NPCs & the missions they may have. So help given to one NPC in a mission may well mean your perception by another NPC could be changed, for the better or worse & will be a natural way of restricting which missions can be taken – call it Karma.

Here’s an example of this that we know players will have to ponder – A populated area known as Megaton can be laid to waste via a NPC mission. The consequences of this will be that the player will no longer be able to obtain the other Megaton missions. In place of Megaton, a new populated area will develop, Tenpenny Towers, which will have its own specific missions for the player to get involved in. So you can have one or the other but not both!

Will the RPG element of Fallout 3 put off some gamers? Maybe those looking for a pure shooter – I asked DolphGB if the RPG element would put him off buying Fallout 3:

Not at all. I think they’ve done well to balance out the RPG element with the action side. They kept the SPECIAL system, which is good, but not at the expense of the overall gameplay. Oblivion is the benchmark, and that sold in droves.

[DolphGB - PS3 Attitude]

Dogmeat & other NPCs

The area of Fallout 3 that I personally will be interested in seeing work, is in the selection of NPCs as companions. Dogmeat, the faithful hound from Fallout returns & can travel with the player plus up to 1 other NPC can join up on your travels through the Capital Wasteland.

Dogmeat is loyal & will follow any player, be he of evil or good playing persausion in Fallout 3 & I’ll be interested in seeing how the command system works. Dogmeat will obey commands like stay & attack but it also looks likely he will be invaluable in searching for items like ammo, radiation medicine and stimpacks.

This will make Dogmeat something to value in the game & if you treat him badly he may not survive – DolphGB explains:

Dogmeat will certainly have an influence over attitude, since if you don’t ‘use’ him properly he can die. This should foster a reasonably strategic and collaborative attitude to the gameplay, although I suspect many people will put Dogmeat into ridiculous situations ‘just to see what happens’. I’ll give you the heads-up on this if you are likely to go this route; he’ll die, you’ll lose his abilities. Just don’t do it, kids!

[DolphGB - PS3 Attitude]

Trailer & final thoughts

There’s so much information surrounding Fallout 3 that this preview can’t really do it all justice. Hopefully some of the important areas of the game have been touched upon & in closing here’s PS3 Attitude’s DolphGB most looked forward to feature of Fallout 3:

Whilst I like the good/bad karma system, just the fact that weapons wear out over time is good enough for me. To actually see your gun lose it’s accuracy, start to jam and generally get worse is going to be interesting, and it’ll keep you on your toes.

[DolphGB - PS3 Attitude]

Explore posts in the same categories: Entertainment, FPS, Fallout 3, Game preview, Gaming, PS3, RPG

Tags: Bethesda Softworks, Van Buren tech demo

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