Game you should buy this week:Fallout 3

The light up ahead is blinding. I push the tatters of what tries to be a door open and light overwhelms me. It takes a good 30 seconds for my eyes to adjust to the blazing globe in the sky. Behind me the vault door snaps shut. I am outside. My pipboy wrist computer starts to crackle and hiss with static. Through the static I can hear music, someone going on about the presidency or such. My Father is out there somewhere…

Fallout 3 is the spiritual successor of the popular Fallout series from the nineties. Bethesda has given us an offering on their collective “take” of the Fallout world. I find it hard to attribute Fallout 3 a direct lineage since it is so radically different from the original 2. That is not to say it is bad, quite the contrary it is, thus far, as entertaining if not more engrossing than the originals.

Many review articles have covered the unique start, and tutorial levels. They are well done and unique and I for one am happy to have played through them. I am however not certain what their replay value will be. The first 30 minutes of gaming are all about fleshing out who you will be, and every last one of those 30 minutes gets thrown out the minute you leave the vault.

I like the game over all however. There is humor of the off-sort, you may have to go looking for it. In other words it may require reading. There are also moments that will catch you off guard. A small skeleton on a dock by a river of irradiated water, a teddy-bear clutched in one arm, an empty bottle and a rusty gun in the other hand. Real and visceral emotions produced by a video game? I have been floored more than once by this games use of props to set scenes that are very human and very real.

The Combat system, which has been covered over and over again, is good. I like the ability to slow things down and use the VATS system to coordinate attacks strategically. However I have found that even with my 23% in energy weapons I can still take out someone at 100 yards with my laser pistol in FPS mode. That is slightly disappointing. Skills are for people that want to play a strategic game, twitch will triumph over all.

I would definitely put this one in the BUY column. The caveat there is I seriously recommend the PC version. I am a big fan of Bethsoft. I also know as a fan that often their games need to be finished by their fans. Morrowind and Oblivion were both excellent games, that were made better by the fans. SO for the longevity of the game I would recommend the PC version. Hey it took them ten years to make a sequel to Fallout, who knows when the next one will be.