I was hoping to see a construction set from Bethesda. I could just see our top modders having a go at Fallout 3!
Fallout 3 First Look - A Classic Series is Resurrected and Reimagined
After years of secrecy, we finally get a first look at the next big role-playing game from the makers of Morrowind and Oblivion.
Fallout. That name may not mean much to console gamers, but fans of PC role-playing games revere it. Published a decade ago by Interplay, Fallout became an instant classic by blending excellent role playing with a memorable setting and an ironic sense of humor. Fallout was followed by the equally popular and critically adored Fallout 2, but the series almost died along with Interplay's fortunes. That's when Bethesda Softworks, maker of the highly successful The Elder Scrolls series, swooped in to purchase the Fallout name and property. The result of that is Fallout 3, an incredibly promising and beautiful RPG that's set to arrive on the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 next year. Bethesda has actually been working quietly on Fallout 3 for years, but the company finally opened its doors to show off the game, and we were there for a very first look.
The combination of Bethesda and Fallout may seem a bit strange. After all, Bethesda is known for first-person fantasy RPGs, such as the blockbuster hit Oblivion, which let you roam around pastoral lands armed with swords and sorcery. The Fallout games were top-down RPGs where you go around a nuclear wasteland armed with shotguns and assault rifles. However, Bethesda does have a history with postnuclear war games featuring guns (1995's Terminator: Future Shock was one of the very first first-person shooters with mouse-look), and executive producer Todd Howard explained that the folks at Bethesda have always been huge fans of Fallout. "It's the kind of game that we really love, in terms of [how] you make the kind of character that you want and then you do whatever the hell you want," he said. In fact, Howard said that the company had toyed with the idea of offering to make a new Fallout game when the sequels stalled at Interplay. When the opportunity to purchase the rights for Fallout came, Bethesda leapt at it.
First, here are some key basics about Fallout 3. Yes, it's a first-person game, but it also has a third-person camera if you like to play that way, and the camera can be moved so that it almost mimics the perspective of the original Fallout games. No, it's not a pure action shooter, though it can be played like a shooter in some ways, if you want. However, the game does rely on role-playing statistics to determine whether you hit or miss. More intriguingly, you can pause the combat at any time and target specific parts of an enemy's body, just like you could in the original Fallout games. And, yes, it's very much a role-playing game with hundreds of quests. While it only has a few hundred characters as opposed to the 1,500 in Oblivion, each of the characters in Fallout 3 will have his or her or its own distinct identity and dialogue. But we'll cover all of this in a bit.
Fallout 3 is set approximately 30 years after the events in Fallout 2, though knowledge of the first two games is not required. The world of Fallout isn't based on our own. Instead, it's the world of 2050 as envisioned by those in the 1950s and then blown up in a nuclear war with China. Your character's ancestors sought shelter in Vault 101, one of the many high-tech bomb shelters built by the Vault-Tec Corporation, which has the grinning Vault Boy mascot that doubles as the mascot for the game. Over the course of the next 200 years, the huge blast door to Vault 101 never opened. And it is into this underground city that your character is literally born. That's because character creation is cleverly tied into various childhood scenes, such as your birth, your 10th birthday party when you are given your Pip Boy (a computer that you wear on your wrist), and your 16th year, when you have to take the vault aptitude test to find out where your talents lie. When you determine the look for your character (you can play as either gender), you determine the look for your in-game father, voiced by Liam Neeson himself. He's the main scientist of Vault 101, and his mysterious disappearance will lead you to escape to the outside world in search of him.
When you reach the outside world, you'll find yourself in the blasted wasteland in and around Washington D.C., a departure from the American West seen in the first two games. This is an area teeming with wild creatures and rival factions, such as the Brotherhood of Steel, which defends the remnants the capital; the Slavers who occupy Paradise Falls, a converted strip mall; and the super mutants, tough-as-nails humanoids looking to take over. This world will be slightly smaller than the one in Oblivion, but that's still big. Where you go and who you ally with will be up to you because the game will have multiple endings. And yes, there will be a definitive end to the game, at which point you can start over to explore the many other choices. And Bethesda really wants to make choices count in this game, much more than it did in Oblivion. After all, in Oblivion you could pursue every quest in the game and be all things to all people. In Fallout 3, the choices will be much more binary, and they will have far-reaching consequences.
The example that Bethesda gave of this involves Megaton, a shantytown built around the worship of an unexploded nuclear bomb. When you arrive at Megaton, you'll eventually have two choices. A stranger will reward you if you rearm the bomb, as he represents a developer that would like to wipe Megaton from the map to make room for a nice postnuclear suburb. Or you can inform the town sheriff of the plot and save the town. If you choose to go along with the stranger, Megaton will be wiped out of existence in a glorious nuclear blast; thus, all the quests and adventures associated with it are gone. However, by blowing up Megaton, you'll open up a new area in the game that you would not otherwise have access to, Tenpenny Towers. But if you decide to save Megaton, you won't experience the quests and adventures associated with Tenpenny Towers. Talk about a tough call.
728 comments
Looks like what S.T.A.L.K.E.R should have been... and a whole lot more :P, i cannot wait D: the wait may even kill me!
If a Bethesda sticker is slapped on the front of the game cover thats good enough for me.
If a Bethesda sticker is slapped on the front of the game cover thats good enough for me.
This game is going to warrant hundreds of playing hours. That is a good thing. So long, schoolwork, so long, girlfriend. I've found something better,
I love Bethesda. I think they are the best Game developers! They are the best! I got to know them after The Elder Scroll 4: Oblivion. I think it's the best game I have ever played of Role Playing Genre. I mean, I also love Final Fantasy XII, but these two games are different. But everything they've put in Oblivion was so much great. After playing it, I ended up wanting more and more..I downloaded all the patches and mods. Finished the game for more than 10 times and then, I started searching net for a new The Elder Scroll game. I've heard they are working on Shadow Realms. It must just be a rumour, but anyway. I have not played FallOut before, but now since there's Bethesda involved, I sure as hell will buy and play it. I was in chaos and thinking what I should buy..A console or a quad core Computer? But then, I saw Fall Out 3 and Bethesda and now, I konw what I am going to buy. PlayStation3 and X-Box 360 have got to wait...Yay, baby! Bring it on!!! Bethesda!!! Come and say,"BEHOLD FALLOUT 3!!!!" Long Live Bethesda.
"The creatures in this game also look impressive, like the super mutant behemoth, a gargantuan foe that could have been ripped out of the postapocalyptic sci-fi shooter Gears of War for the Xbox 360." RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE!!!!!!!!! Aaaah!! That is a horrible comparison!!!!!. Gears is cool and all but should not EVER be compared to Fallout. They to entirely different things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ohhhh i played the first one i hated it but i cant wait for this one it will beat oblivion
this game certainly has potential. looks very interesting and ive been hanging out for a good survival/horror game for quite a long while. ive gotta say that bethesda are definately the ones who can pull this off. by the way, for those people haven't heard of it, Dead Space is another upcoming game that looks like its gonna be pretty sweet as well
I never played the old games - they didn't really look like my kind of thing, as I've never been big on role playing games. But this looks ace, kind of looks like it's going to be everything STALKER should have been. I don't know if this, or Starcraft2 is my most look-forwardeded to game now!
Looking forward to this. REALLY looking forward to this. Fans with talent CAN make the best software developers ;)
Arghhh!! I hate the 'gun stuck to your back' thing, they had that in oblivion. He should either be holding it or have it over the shoulder, ANYTHING but stuck to back. I know it's a small thing but it is huge thing to me!
this game is going to be sick. i hope to god they allow us to preorder the game. sorry to all you halo lovers, but this could be bigger than halo.
i cant wait for this game to come out, have been a big role play fan for many years and have loved every fall out game to date including fallout tactics, am just hoping that the brotherhood of steel make a return in this game. please please dont mess this up!!!
Bethesda can handle this, infact they will ace it, and to anyone who doesnt think so go and play oblivion... NOW
Fallout 2 is on my top ten list, no my top 5 list of games and now they are making fallout 3... I may take time off work just to play this game. I am a little sad that it is not being developed by the original developers but it is being made by the same guys who did Oblivion so at least it will be good. I just hope they stick to the same type of campy/bloody/dirty humor. Also the original fallout was supposed to be a computer game implementation of the Generic Universal Role-playing System (GURPS). This was a pin and paper game based around flexibility you could create a character with traits like drug addiction, split personalities, sex addictions, arch nemesis... Due to licensing they couldn't officially claim it was based off of GURPS but you can definitely see the similarities in the first 2 games. For instance in GURPS you could make attacks to people?s groin/eye/hands and if you critically hit nasty things would happen. In fallout you could do the same and if you crited wile shooting at some ones eye there head would explode. You also had a slim down version of GURPS character creation the traits and skills where similar to what you could do with the pin and paper. Any way it was awesome game you could be a low tech ninja with a sword slicing people in half after you had screwed a hooker and pumped your self up on drugs or you could be a high tech heavy weapons expert in bionic armor with a fetish for lighting people on fire. This game has a lot to live up to lest hope Bethesda can pull it off.
They ended the turn based combat system, they will end with the Fallout spirit. Just like in the UFO series.
Its going to be the best of the series!! I've been waiting for more than a decade for this jewel:). http://www.bethsoft.com/games/games_fallout3.html
Darthdomain:With every single feature they said above, I'm really looking forward to all of it. I haven't touched a Fallout game before, but I will be looking for the Xbox version of Fallout 2 sometime later this week or month. This series looks nice and I might get myself drawn into it. Let's hoping it releases with everything they said it would. Fallout 2 isn't on Xbox. That's a not-so-good spin-off called Brotherhood Of Steel. Not the best intoduction to the series.
There's no doubt in my mind that Fallout will be a must -have game. I don't even dig games with no real online play but this is such a deep, unique title that I know I simply must have it. As a die-hard, old-school PC gamer, it makes me very happy to see cult classics like this hit the mainstream market. These folks asking if it'll be anything as good as Oblivion obviously didn't play the original games. Even as a top-down game, it was brilliant. Heck, I think the format was part of it's appeal. Good times on that game. It's up there with Tegel's Mercenaries in my book! =oD
With every single feature they said above, I'm really looking forward to all of it. I haven't touched a Fallout game before, but I will be looking for the Xbox version of Fallout 2 sometime later this week or month. This series looks nice and I might get myself drawn into it. Let's hoping it releases with everything they said it would.
woah!!!!! i only just got into oblivion goty edition on ps3 and then this rolls along. cant wait for this. BAH! wish i wasnt poor
I loved Oblivion. If this game is anywhere as good as Oblivion or it's gameplay similar, I'm definitely getting it.
Omg I shouldn't have read this. I WANT IT NOW, SO BAD!!! That last line didn't make me feel good though :S
Looks very promising. I like fallout especially because it was different from the usual add&d setting and because of it's humor. Impressive how Bethesda tries to mix the qualities of fallout with the qualities of oblivion. I think a wise choice. Both are tested qualities and not overused like AD&D. I hope the game will not drown in bugs and other annoying features.
Can't physically wait for this game, just started playing Fallout 2 again to try and fill my craving for fallout 3. COME ON Q4 2008!!!!!
Bethesda is indeed the only game developer worthy of the Fallout franchise. A marriage made in Cyrodil. This one will be a masterpiece, mark my words!
Bethesda!! Awesome!! You mean I might actually be able to play a non-liner game where I make my own story in an awesome world!!! Instead of being forced to play through a movie (liner) someone else?s story, with their choices!!! I can?t wait, being a long time fan of Fallout series for a resurrected, updated, graphically jaw dropping FALLOUT game!
Bethesda's ability to make amazingly expansive, visually appealing games coupled with the cool, post-apocalyptic world of Fallout should spell success and tons of fun for old fans and newcomers alike.
Why to yah'll keep comparing this to oblivion and saying i want it like oblivion. It's fallout and it's as good as oblivion by itself, it's always had alot to explore and a do whatever you want set-up. It's been that way before oblivion or morrowind where even thought of. This is one of the games oblivion creators probably looked at for inspiration, so you know this will be a great game, cause it's basically the granddaddy of the do what you want game genre.
I hope it ll be like Oblivion of the future. There should be as much freedom like in Oblivion ! --- Max
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Game Info
- Release Date: Oct 28, 2008 (US)
Fallout 3
- Publisher(s): Bethesda Softworks
- Developer(s): Bethesda Game Studios
- Genre: Role-Playing
- Release:
- MDA:
Fallout 3 Navigation
