Vault 101 - Jewel of the Wastes. For 200 years, Vault 101 has faithfully served the surviving residents of Washington DC and its environs, now known as the Capital Wasteland. Though the global atomic war of 2077 left the US all but destroyed, the residents of Vault 101 enjoy a life free from the constant stress of the outside world. Giant Insects, Raiders, Slavers, and yes, even Super Mutants are all no match for superior Vault-Tec engineering. Yet one fateful morning, you awake to find that your father has defied the Overseer and left the comfort and security afforded by Vault 101 for reasons unknown. Leaving the only home you've ever known, you emerge from the Vault into the harsh Wasteland sun to search for your father, and the truth...

The third game in the Fallout series, Fallout 3, is a singleplayer action role-playing game (RPG) set in a post-apocalyptic Washington DC. Combining the horrific insanity of the Cold War era theory of mutually assured destruction gone terribly wrong, with the kitschy naivety of American 1950s nuclear propaganda.

Designed by Bethesda Softworks, the creative team behind Oblivion, Fallout 3 opens with one of the best tutorials you're likely to play - it's seamlessly integrated into the story, allowing you to get to grips with the controls and get into the story at the same time.

To start with you can choose which gender you wish to be throughout the game and then you can start designing how you’re going to look when you grow up. Both of these elements are cleverly set up by starting the game off with your character's birth in a hospital and a machine that can see into the future to show your proud parents how you will look when you reach your physical peak. This machine also allows you to create a character that is any build and look that you want to give them. So if you want to make your character look like you, then you can get a fair representation of you.

The story then flashes through time, with the action stopping every now and then allowing you to witness your character growing up. Here you play as a toddler, a pre-teen, on their birthday, and a student about to sit his exams (which will decide what career he will follow within Vault 101. These timeline skips act as a tutorial to teach you the basics of moving, how to get to grips with the combat system and takes you through until the time when you leave the Vault in order to explore the massive free roaming world.

Once you're out in the real world - a post apocalyptic environment - the game starts proper. Here you can progress through the level system by killing opponents and completing quests. In this environment the enemies levels are fixed. So, if you venture too far away from where the story is set you will encounter enemies of far greater levels.

You are also given an attribute table, where you choose from several different skills. These include strength, perception, endurance, charisma, intelligence, agility and luck (S.P.E.C.I.A.L). On top of that you must choose three skills from a list which includes things like combat skills (like 'big guns' - which can increase the damage done by mini-guns and gatling-lasers). There are also none combat skills - such as 'medicine' which increase’s the effectiveness of healing items such as stimpacks and radaway’s.

You can also chose perks, which can increase your skills - such as the 'gun nut' perk which increase your small guns and repair skills by 5 points each. Or there's the 'black widow' and 'lady killer' abilities that are designed to increase your effectiveness towards the opposite sex in combat, as well as giving you extra dialogue choices in conversations.

As you traverse the environment you sometimes come across blueprints, which you can buy. These are used to make useful objects once you've collecting all of the key parts in the blueprints. One object that I found entertaining was the 'Rock-it launcher' which gives you the ability to cannon items found around D.C at your many opponents. These items can include random things such as milk bottles, roller skates and even shot glasses.

There’s a karma system which can let you gain access to certain dialogue in conversations, as well as giving you the ability to gain followers to help you in some of your quests, or even to help you just search D.C. It's fairly simple to switch your character from good to bad, or vice versa, in a couple of hours depending on your actions in quests.

Fallout 3 is a very creative RPG, which will have you playing for hours. However, at times, it can get annoying when you die and have to go back miles because the game doesn’t have an auto save function when roaming around outside. But apart from this, Fallout 3 is a very long and fun game, which is sure to bring you as much enjoyment as Oblivion.

9

Carl Simpson