OSCAR COOPER
War never changes, but the fallout franchise certainly did
As I write this article, I have the Fallout 3 playlist whistling away in the background on youtube, I have looked forward to expressing my admiration for this game for a long time and hope you enjoy my reminiscing. The Fallout series has a strange past, I actually purchased Fallout 1 (a sequel to a game called ‘Wasteland’ GOTY 1988) many moons ago for my clapped out PC as a teenager, purely on the fact the cover had one badass looking guy on the front and turning the case over to see the screenshots I saw a mixed bag of samples, I wasn't quite sure what I was looking at. It was a RPG, a classic RPG with a detailed story and characters, back then we couldn't watch footage or read that many reviews, magazines were our only hope for a idea of what to expect and if you missed the edition you missed the review. To be honest, I didn't like it, I was young (16yrs old) and I didn't have time to ‘develop an in game character’ or read reels and reels of dialog and back story or wonder around looking for clues in a nuclear wasteland that seemed endless.The whole thing was baffling to me as a boy, I wanted to shoot things and fly around with machine guns and fight robots etc (I bought Descent later that week). I kick myself now because it’s a bit like being very into a band and not realising your saw them live at their first gig, I was there but I didn't bother listening.
Things moved on and Fallout was a bit of a sleeper hit on launch, however a lot of people raved about it and it quickly gathered cult status, one thing stuck with me and that was the environment it was set in, nuclear war and Armageddon always appeal to me and Fallout was knee deep in it. The follow up however wasn't so successful, I remember it drifting past and thinking they are really flogging a dead horse with that. The reviews proved me correct as it wasn’t the ground breaker fallout 1 had become known as. It still possessed the non linear game play but was full of bugs; the graphics hadn’t had a massive over haul and it wasn’t really doing anything Fallout 1 didn’t.
Then there was the weird Brotherhood of Steel on the PS2 and xbox, a game that got criticized for having too much swearing can you believe, its wasn’t the traditional role playing format we’d come to expect from the series and disappointed a lot of fans. So now the series is on its arse, like the kid in the playground that has exhausted all his friends and is no longer deemed as cool. Interplay sat on the IP for many years, things seemed to be doomed for our post apocalyptic franchise. Well that’s the back story done with because along came Bethesda and bought the rights, it had been winning awards for the Elder strolls series while all this was going on and must have seen a glimmer of hope in the old timer.
"Combat was something I was nervous about, remember there are no guns in Oblivion and as a FPS/TPS/RPG (acronym overload) it could all just not work out"
Oblivion (Elder Scrolls 4) was a blinding triumph; it was a flagship 360 title and blew everyone out of the water, it was a next generation RPG for a next generation console, I am not a big fan of bows, arrows and goblins (I’m a Warhammer 40’000 man at heart) but couldn’t ignore the fuss around its release and the footage of that deer running through a lush green forest that seemed alive with a map the size of a small country and a 'you chose' questing system that seemed to go on forever. In hind sight it was no brainer to carry over this format to the Fallout world and ill shake the persons hand at Bethesda who made the IP acquisition with this in mind because it was a match made in heaven. All we had to go on during the early stages of development was a screenshot of a super mutant with a gattling gun, he had these percentages all over his body, people starting speculating, we got the official word from Bethesda that it was the VATS system and my brain tossed around like a kitten with a ball of wool at the possibilities this through up. I was worried, what would the wasteland look like? Would they keep any of the characters? Would they do the series any justice?
If you aren't a gamer or haven’t played this game then you will probably still know that Bethesda answered all of the above and some to boot. Fallout 3 was truly massive in scale, Vault 101 was still there, the opening of the game was a slight mimic of Oblivion but it didn’t seem out of place, prepping you as a child contained deep in a vault and teaching you the basic’s before events transpire and you emerge from the door squinting at the daylight to the wasteland, what a moment, friends and I still talk of the jaw dropping scene as you make your way to Nuketown for the first time. The wind whipped up the sand and the sun slowly sank below a skyline of dead trees and burnt out buildings, for an apocalypse enthusiast it was a thing of pure beauty. I got that excitement in my stomach that I hadn’t had since GTA3, when it dawns on you, this whole place is yours to explore at your own pace and in the order you wish.
Combat was something I was nervous about, remember there are no guns in Oblivion and as a FPS/TPS/RPG (acronym overload) it could all just not work out. VATS was a new idea and a fucking great one, pausing things at your will (provided the meter was up) enabling a breakdown of the target and hit chances represented in percentages over the body. I loved it, I couldn't work out why it hadn't been done before, the PIT Boy was also very well preserved and done with the same relevant efficiency. Gun types, ammo, grenades and clothes all had variations that made loot searching all that more interesting, crafting also was there along with an awesome perk system and you could even buy a juke box for your house. Fallout 3 created this mind set where you had to go out and explore a section of the map that you knew nothing about and could have any number of hostiles in it, so you would prepare yourself for the journey back your at base, making sure you equip something for every possible situation. You'd set out on your own little adventure, not knowing what the hell you'd encounter and how long you would be gone. This would happen time and time again and never got boring, as you'd return triumphant and laden with new loot, added XP and guns...oh the guns.
That brings me on to the soundtrack, for me it was an education, Bing Crosby and Billy Holiday were people I knew to be greats but never took the time to listen to them, wandering the wasteland was an absolute pleasure, Fallout 3 gently pushed classic songs from the 50’s under my nose that I still listen to today. It’s a very effective tactic to blend old with new and Bioshock did this fantastically. Fallout 3 promptly followed suit, blasting away at killer robots and radioactive zombies with “butcher Pete’ playing the background may be one of my all time great moments in gaming, it reminds me of high end chiefs that put together two ingredients that you never imagined would work but do (Blumenthal, I’m looking at you).
So closing statements are, Fallout 3 could be one of the best games on the 360, the choices, the character crafting, the mind blowing scope with the massive wasteland, the brilliant humor and NPC’s, great quests, great story, Hellboys brilliant voiceover intro, crazy ruthless enemies and blinding soundtrack put this game very close to my heart. The landscape and varity of player choice coupled with crazy quests that had you doing all manor of mental stuff like wearing a ghoul mask and murdering a whole hotel of people. Not forgetting the strange black and white talking dog mission. The DLC was also not bad, new map sections and weapons and enemy types, its semi sequel 'New Vegas' wasn’t totally awful even if they did hype the dam thing to death. I was so impressed with the format that I bought Skyrim with the idea that if its anything like FO3, ill loved it. As I write this, the Twodogs voice character announces on Twitter that he may be back to work very soon, I’ll give a chopped thumbs up to that.
Yours sincerely
Oscar