Fallout 3

Fallout 3 is an action role playing game with shooter elements and allows for players to decide to either play in first-person or third-person. It is the third installment in the Fallout series and is the first by another publisher and developer other than Interplay Entertainment and Black Isle Studios respectively. It was released in 2008 for Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
== Plot ==
After an explanation by a narrator that explains what happened when the atomic bombs, the Lone Wanderer is born to James and Catherine on July 13, 2258. Catherine dies of cardiac arrest shortly after the birth of the Lone Wanderer. Nineteen years later, Amata, a close friend to the Lone Wanderer wakes up to learn that his father has left their home in Vault 101, one of the many vaults made by Vault-Tec to withstand the power of atomic bombs, which has been sealed for 200 years.
After escaping from the vault due to the Overseer of Vault 101 ordering the guards to kill the Lone Wanderer, the Lone Wanderer heads to the small settlement of Megaton, which is built around an inactive atomic bomb that still has the power to go off, in search of James. He learns that James had spoken to Colin Moriarty, owner of Megaton's saloon, who heads him towards Galaxy News Radio in the D.C. Ruins.
Disc jockey for Galaxy News Radio, Three Dog explains to the Lone Wanderer that James left after a short conversation to Rivet City, a settlement built from the remains of a boat, to meet Dr. Li. In Rivet City, Dr. Li tells the Lone Wanderer that James had headed to the Jefferson Memorial. Learning from an investigation in the Jefferson Memorial, the Lone Wanderer heads to Vault 112. The Lone Wanderer enters a virtual reality program that was installed with the vault. After freeing James from the virtual reality program, James heads to Rivet City again to recruit Dr. Li in starting up "Project Purity" again. James initially explains that Project Purity was a project revolving around purifying the irradiated water of the Capital Wasteland, the remainder of the D.C. Ruins and the area surrounding it.
Dr. Li agrees and, with help from the Lone Wanderer, members from the science team head to the Jefferson Memorial to work on the project. However, the Enclave, the remnants of the United States government, arrives and attempts to take control of Project Purity for their own reasons. James sacrifices himself for the project. The Lone Wanderer takes the remaining members of Project Purity to the Citadel, the Brotherhood of Steel's, an organization based around protecting the citizens of the Capital Wasteland, base. Dr. Li pleads the Lone Wanderer to find the G.E.C.K., the Garden of Eden Creation Kit, to finish James' work.
The Lone Wanderer soon learns the whereabouts of the G.E.C.K. in Vault 87. The Lone Wanderer acquires the G.E.C.K., but is ambushed and captured by the Enclave on the way out. The Lone Wanderer is taken to Raven Rock, the base of operations of the Enclave. During the escape from Raven Rock, the Lone Wanderer learns that the leader of the Enclave in the Capital Wasteland is President Eden, a supercomputer, who asks the Lone Wanderer to plant the F.E.V., the Forced Evolution Virus, in Project Purity to kill any of the mutated citizens of the Capital Wasteland, even if it is a small amount.
After returning to the Citadel, the Lone Wanderer is enlisted into the Lyon's Pride squad of the Brotherhood of Steel, an elite squad of Brotherhood Knights. Aiding in the assault on Project Purity is a large robot known as Liberty Prime. The Lone Wanderer encounters Colonel Autumns, an Enclave colonel, who must be persuaded or killed. Dr. Li then informs the Lone Wanderer that Project Purity is about to explode and the G.E.C.K. must be installed and activate Project Purity. However, due to the high levels of radiation inside, the person who activates it must sacrifice themselves.
If the Broken Steel add-on is installed, the Lone Wanderer awakens to find out that Project Purity had either worked or not depending on the action taken. The Brotherhood of Steel has located the remaining members of the Enclave. A devastating, unseen attack destroys Liberty Prime and the Lone Wanderer is tasked with locating the origin of the attack. The Lone Wanderer finds a code inside the Enclave base that the Brotherhood of Steel was attacking. However, the Brotherhood Scribes are confused by the code, so they task the Lone Wanderer with locating a Tesla coil to create a Tesla Cannon in the meantime. Upon arrival back at the Citadel, the Lone Wanderer learns that the origin of the attack was an orbital strike commanded from Adam's Air Force Base. The Lone Wanderer enters the Enclave Mobile Crawler, a large movable base that had activated the orbital strike and reaches the central computer. The central computer has many targets primed and the Lone Wanderer must choose to either fire on the Mobile Crawler itself and the Citadel.
== Gameplay ==
Fallout 3 includes many aspects of a basic role-playing game, such as speaking with the non-player characters to learn information about different settlements or objects as well as the certain non-player characters that activate the quests. Fallout 3 uses the role-playing system called S.P.E.C.I.A.L., which stands for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck respectively.
Fallout 3's core gameplay, however, is based around the premises of basic first-person or third-person shooter. The Lone Wanderer can pick up an assortment of weapons, ranging from a 9mm pistol to the experimental MIRV, which can launch eight mini-nuclear bombs. Fallout 3 also uses a new tactic of attacking enemies, not seen in any previous Fallout, called "V.A.T.S." or "Vault-Tec Assistant Targeting System", which allows the Lone Wanderer to aim at specific locations on an enemy and shoot at the targeted area.
As the Lone Wanderer levels up, new perks can be collected which either directly affect the current or have a progressive effect, such as the "Escalator to Heaven" perk grants an immediate shift in karma to good, while the "Bloody Mess" perk continually allows the Lone Wanderer to have a higher critical bonus and occasionally separating limbs. Also upon leveling up, players can choose to grant points to certain sections that improve the Lone Wanderer's qualities and expertise, such as "Explosives" or "Speech".
== Downloadable Content ==
Fallout 3 featured five pieces of downloadable content: Operation: Anchorage, The Pitt, the aforementioned Broken Steel, Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta. Each add-on adds three new quests, new weapons and new equipment.
* Operation: Anchorage - Operation: Anchorage enters the Lone Wanderer into a virtual reality program to fight in the liberation of Anchorage, Alaska against the Chinese Communist invaders. The liberation of Anchorage is generally regarded as one of the largest battles in the Fallout universe.
* The Pitt - The Pitt allows the Lone Wanderer to visit the devastated ruins of post-apocalyptic Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Lone Wanderer visits the sprawling city which has become embroiled in a conflict between slaves and their Raider masters.
* Broken Steel - Broken Steel continues the traditional ending of Fallout 3 and upgrades the level cap from twenty to thirty. The Lone Wanderer is tasked with destroying the remaining remnants of the Enclave.
* Point Lookout - Point Lookout offers a murky swamp area, located along the coast of Maryland. Point Lookout offers an area of the Fallout universe, which had remained untouched from the atomic bombs. 
* Mothership Zeta - Mothership Zeta has the Lone Wanderer abducted by aliens onto their mothership, which is orbiting the Capital Wasteland. The Lone Wanderer must escape from the grasp of the aliens and can acquire new alien weapons along the way.
== Reception ==
Fallout 3 was received with many positive reviews. The Xbox 360 version had received a 93% and the PlayStation 3 and PC versions scored a 91% on GameRankings. 1UP.com praised the leveling up system, however, they did not like real-time combat, which had lack of precision and little variety of enemy types. The review concluded saying it is a "hugely ambitious game that doesn't come around very often".
IGN praised the game's minimal sound design, stating, "you might find yourself with nothing but the sound of wind rustling through decaying trees and blowing dust across the barren plains ... Fallout 3 proves that less can be more".
Category:Games released on the Xbox 360
Category:Games released on the PlayStation 3
Category:Games released for PC
Category:Games that are rated M
Category:Games released in 2008