Fallout 3 Delivers

I’m an American. As an American, I’m incapable of delaying my gratification.

Case in point: I ordered Fallout 3 online so I wouldn’t have to talk to the drooling simpletons at Gamestop. I thought my will steeled enough to wait a few more days to role-play within a radioactive wasteland. But my iron-wrought discipline crumpled like that bridge in Minnesota last year and yesterday I found myself talking to the cross-eyed hucksters at Best Buy, Fallout 3 well in hand. Because of my weakness, I now have to return the Gamestop copy, whenever it arrives. This serves as a valuable lesson not to order online when I have so numerous retail outlets available.

And so little patience.

I played the first part of the game last night, even made it to the tiny town outside the Vault, Megatron. I played and finished Oblivion, Bethesda’s penultimate title, and I can testify that Fallout 3 uses many of that game’s design conventions with an obvious graphic overhaul. Character creation is as original as it is creative. I won’t spoil it, other than to comment that your character begins with blood splattering the monitor screen.

I tagged small arms, science, and repair as my primary skills. These start at higher levels than the rest of my skills. If the game is like Oblivion, they also increase more easily. I also buffed up my charisma because as I discovered in Mass Effect, you can get some satisfying dialogue options with diplomacy abilities cranked up. I’ve only used the V.A.T.S system (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) once or twice, but I like what I’ve seen so far. With a weapon equipped, hitting the V key pauses the game, zooms into a target, and lets you select what body part you want to focus your shot on. Head shots have a lower percentage chance than torso shots, but once you approve your focused target, the game resumes in slow motion and reap the rewards of your weapon skills. I plan on taking the perk Messy Kill, so V.A.T.S should serve me well later in the game.

I’ve got a crazy week and weekend shaping up, but I plan to play Fallout 3 as much as I can. Look for me to dribble out more observations in the days to come.