Fallout 3: Radioactive Bugs and Mutant Pirates? This is not Oblivion!

The year is 2237, a couple hundred years after civilization as we know it was wiped out by a nuclear holocaust. Survivors of the long nuclear winter emerge from their underground vaults to be welcomed by a post-apocalyptic hellscape replete with murderous mutants, giant bloodthirsty bugs and a burgeoning Mad Max-esque society. The slavers, pirates and bandits wandering the wastes make the feral kid with the bladed boomerang from Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior look like an innocent trick-or-treater.



Yes. This is Fallout 3. Our Cold War paranoia wasn't nearly severe enough. Things are way worse than Khrushchev or Kennedy could've expected. Mutually Assured Destruction would've been preferable to the infernal radioactive States of America in Fallout 3.

Fallout 3's engine will be familiar to all of you that played Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. Just don't expect to see lush green forests or cute Thomas Kinkade villages with square-dancing high elf townsfolk. The environs of Fallout 3 are depressingly bleak at times. I find myself fondly drifting off into daydreams of strolling the lovely hills of Cyrodil, chatting with the rustic peasant folk, and finishing the day with a flagon of honey mead. Ahh, those were the days, I think, while wandering through the vacant cities that make S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s Chernobyl look as charming as Salzburg.

Fallout 3 doesn't give you much time to submit to the post apocalyptic blues. Fending off cow-sized, mutant scorpions will keep the despair at bay. The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System gives combat a welcome edge over your typical first person RPG. If you can suspend your disbelief for a moment and accept that shooting a giant radioactive rat in the leg will do more damage than aiming for the face, you'll have a lot of fun with Fallout 3's combat system. I mean, these are mutants after all, maybe its brain or heart is in its knee. Realism aside, the combat is fun, and it's only a matter of time before user mods allow us PC users to customize elements of the game to our liking (Ha ha! Suckers on consoles! Enjoy weapon degradation!).

The leveling system is pretty standard. The most noted improvement here vis-