Let the Fallout commence
Filed under Love Your Geek on July 20, 2007
Keywords: Bethesda Softworks, Fallout, Oblivion
I recently renewed my VIP membership at Game Crazy. (I traded some computer parts to a friend for his GameCube and purchased MarioKart for my son.) Part of that membership fee included a subscription to PC Gamer. The last two issues of the magazine have had articles about the upcoming Fallout 3 by Bethesda.
For those who don’t know, Bethesda Softworks is the company behind Oblivion, the fourth title in the Elder Scrolls crpg series. I’ve played Oblivion a little on the Xbox 360, and have plans to purchase it for the PC now that I have a machine capable of running it.
What does this have to do with Fallout 3? Well, the first two installments of the franchise used a turn-based, isometric engine. Bethesda is using the Oblivion engine for Fallout 3. Oblivion uses both a first-person and third-person view (first is better), and is real-time. Of course, the immediate reaction from the fans was full of doom and vitriol.
I like the Oblivion engine, and based on the articles I’ve read in PC Gamer, Bethesda is adding features that will keep the gameplay faithful to the prequels. They’re using Fallout’s S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system of character building (think G.U.R.P.S.) instead of Oblivion’s “use-based” skills. The third-person view is “vastly improved” from Oblivion, so while it’s not isometric, it provides an option for those who don’t want an FPS feel to their RPGs.
The biggest outcry is the change from turn-based to real-time. The Action Points system of the prequels and the ability to make called shots to specific areas of the body was a big part of what made Fallout fun. Bethesda has included V.A.T.S., a turn-based combat mode that uses action points. Players can choose to switch back and forth between V.A.T.S. and real-time at their leisure.
Fallout 3 is due out in Fall 2008. It will be rated “M” for violence and language. I still own the prequels, which were rated “M”. (The prequels included a profanity filter and a slider that allowed the user to set the level of gore. I’m hoping Betheseda includes the same for Fallout 3.) I never finished Fallout 2. Perhaps I’ll go back and play both in anticipation.
July 23rd, 2007 at 10:22 am
I was reading up a bit on Fallout 3 the other day. I also own both Fallout and Fallout 2, still sitting on my shelf covered in shrink wrap. I guess at that time I was too busy trying to finish Baldur’s Gate (which I never got around to doing), and other newer games (Starcraft, Diablo, Dungeon Keeper, etc etc) kept popping up that I never have gotten around to going back to play the Fallout games.
With the announcement of Fallout 3, I considered for nearly a day if I would go back and play them… then decided maybe after I finished the other shrinkwrap games I still have - Guild Wars Factions and Nightfall, Star Wars:Empire at War, Age of Empires 3, Myst: End of Ages… hmm, hopefully by the time I get around to it, I’ll still have a computer that can run it.
July 23rd, 2007 at 11:37 am
Ha. I have a similar laundry list of unplayed games. Started Baldur’s Gate, but never finished and I own the sequel and its expansion. Never finished Icewind Dale, either. I own the expansion (Heart of Winter), but not the sequel. I bought Morrowind (GotY edition with both expansions) after playing Oblivion on the 360, but never got very far. I never finished the first NWN expansion (got stuck on a boss in the Plane of Shadows) and never started the Underdark. I figure I’ll get around to them after I retire.
July 31st, 2007 at 10:13 pm
I’m pretty pumped about Fallout 3 as well. Unfortunately, I was unable to play the first two in the series (even tho I owned Fallout 1), but I knew some folks that did and loved it. Another RPG to check for the Xbox360 is Mass Effect; a BioWare joint. I’m pretty excited about Mass Effect, and will definitely kill hours of time playing it.