Review The Life-Affirming Smell of Fallout 3

[Jason]

Tags: Bethesda Softworks; Fallout 3

To mark the <a href="http://fallout.bethsoft.com/eng/home/pr-102708.php" target="blank">midnight release</a> of <b>Fallout 3</b> across North America, Eurogamer has posted one of the <a href="http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=270173" target="blank">first English reviews</a>, scoring it 10/10 and describing it as "life-affirming".
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<blockquote>It isn't, however, all that difficult, and there's no option to crank up the challenge, other than making things difficult by heading off to areas that are too dangerous. If you even vaguely follow the main storyline, there's rarely anything that feels beyond you. This worked for me - it's more than big enough without the game bashing me over the head every five minutes - but it'll be understandable if others hanker for more brutality.
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And when you get all the way up to level 20, you simply become a bit too good for the game. With your abilities capped, you're generally such a badass that the tension is reduced as you explode every head you aim for. With no more levelling possible (at least until the DLC, perhaps), there's no longer the same sense of reward, and it turns into a bit of a victory march. This is a problem specific only to truly committed players, but in a series that attracts an unusually large proportion of hardcore gamers, the endgame is relevant.</blockquote>
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Shack News joined the party with their <a href="http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=1037" target="blank">own review</a>.
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<blockquote>But despite its flaws, the game more often surprised me with its polish. Every time I tried to creatively "break" Fallout 3, it defied me. When I jumped into a slave pen from above, trapping myself inside, a guard was triggered that opened the door from the outside before attacking me. When a quest took me deep into a dungeon, and then left me wandering all the way back out after completing it, the game interjected with a scripted sequence that whisked me off to another location--one of, if not the only time this happens in the game.
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And yes, the ending of Fallout 3 is an abrupt, unsatisfying halt to a fantastic experience. But as with all good things, the journey is the important part, and it simply should not be missed. This is a game that can be played and replayed. Even the plodding nature of your character's movement speed seems to be Bethesda's way of telling us to slow down and smell the Brahmin.</blockquote>
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Be sure to check out Ausir's <a href="http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Across_the_Wastes" target="blank">Across the Wastes Contest</a> to take a whiff yourself without spending any cash.

 

[Drakron]

Eurogamer was decent, then after they started Eurogamer.de and after that Eurogamer.pt (they gone mad at that point) and now ... its more EuroWHORE.

They given 10/10 to Fable II ... 10 OUT of 10 to bug ridden CONSOLE GAME! that should not even fly on a PC game but on a console game? HELL NO!

The only thing I can affirm is this ... HITLER WAS RIGHT!!!

 

[Konjad]

Why not 11/10? I was expecting 11... :\

 

[Barrow_Bug]

Nothing is perfect in this world. Least of all fucking video games. 10/10? Christ allmighty.

 

[Data4]

Nothing is perfect in this world. Least of all fucking video games. 10/10? Christ allmighty.

Anyone can get a 10/10 if they pay the right price. Bethesda knows how to wheel and deal.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Since when does 10/10 mean perfect? It means that it is upto very high standards, but nobody ever said it means it is perfect.

The reasoning that "10/10 = Perfect" is based on the idea that there is an exact systematic translation of any subjective opinion into mathematics. Hell no.

Besides, every website has different standards. 10/10 from different critics will mean different things.

 

[St. Toxic]

10/10 is the new 2.8.

 

[Murk]

10/10 is what st. toxic looks like after i've had a few of the brew 8)

 

[themadhatter]

Originally posted by Wyrmlord
Since when does 10/10 mean perfect? It means that it is upto very high standards, but nobody ever said it means it is perfect.
The reasoning that "10/10 = Perfect" is based on the idea that there is an exact systematic translation of any subjective opinion into mathematics. Hell no.

You're either a complete fool or simply misguided. 10 of 10 means perfect in every case, every time. Why? Because we're not discussing a "subjective opinion" here. The score is not a summation of the review, but rather, a separate perspective on the game. It's akin to assessing anything else. For instance, a car. You can say, that's a 10 of 10 star car, which anyone would take as your acceptance of the vehicle as perfectly suited to your tastes. Then again, you could review it, talk about the aerodynamics and engine or whatnot.
Even so, should you desire to debate that, we are still discussing a very distinctive, fixed scale. It's not being presented as "10" with no upper limit on the scale or with a tag such as "Good," but a simple, un-ambiguous 10/10. You can argue about the levels between 1 and 10, however, each polar aspect of the scale encompasses the absolute best and worst. That, mate, is undeniable.

Originally posted by Wyrmlord
Besides, every website has different standards. 10/10 from different critics will mean different things.

That much I can agree with, however, even then it does not excuse such a high score. Nothing is perfect.

 

[bozia2012]

It isn't, however, all that difficult, and there's no option to crank up the challenge, other than making things difficult by heading off to areas that are too dangerous.

I thought that way too low (or way too high) difficulty is game-breaking. And what about that thrill of sneaking into "high-level" areas to get phat loot and an XP boost?[/naive]

Every time I tried to creatively "break" Fallout 3, it defied me. When I jumped into a slave pen from above, trapping myself inside, a guard was triggered that opened the door from the outside before attacking me.

WAT

When a quest took me deep into a dungeon, and then left me wandering all the way back out after completing it, the game interjected with a scripted sequence that whisked me off to another location--one of, if not the only time this happens in the game.

Truly a game for Casual Joe.

Well, fuck this shit - I ain't touchin' it.

 

[Herbert West]

Oh.. what a surprise those reviews are.

 

[Micmu]

When a quest took me deep into a dungeon, and then left me wandering all the way back out after completing it, the game interjected with a scripted sequence that whisked me off to another location--one of, if not the only time this happens in the game.

Auto-instant tavel for the win.

 

[Cynicus]

FFS! Life-affirming? Where do they get these geeks?

As for the numerical scores, I think it's arguable that a score of 10/10 does not necessarily imply total perfection, but it does imply that something is at the top of its class and that there is no room for improvement within the state-of-the-art; that every aspect of something is not just good but stellar. Only gushing fanbois or dishonest, on-the-take "journalists" would dare to score a game 10/10. I've played some very good games over the years (not many developed in this millenium, unfortunately), and I've never seen one that was worthy of a 10/10. None have even been close, and sure as shit none from Bethesda have been.

How did Bethesda get its reputation as a great dev, anyway? TES had potential, but all iterations of it have been flawed--often deeply and on multiple levels. Let's not talk about the mess they made out of the Terminator property. I can't think of anything else they ever did that warranted serious attention much less accolades. I'm pretty much preaching to the choir here, I know, but I just find crap like this so disgustingly amazing that I have to purge it from my psyche once in a while.

 

[Micmu]

How did Bethesda get its reputation as a great dev, anyway?

Why do you people keep asking the obvious? Huge investments in PR and marketing (rich owner).

 

[BethesdaLove]

FFS! Life-affirming? Where do they get these geeks?

Xbox live

 

[Mr. Teatime]

IGN UK has an interesting review. They gave it 8.8 but that's kind of meaningless when you read the review, which is basically three pages of criticism.

http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/924/924158p1.html

 

[HanoverF]

Life-affirming? Their life must suck, and Fallout 3 shows it's ok to suck?

 

[VonVentrue]

Sellout 3 receiving near-perfect reviews, who would have guessed...
The IGN UK editors found the courage to pick Bethesda's next-generationy magnum opus apart, at least - the only problem is the score doesn't reflect the actual review.

 

[Mr. Teatime]

I reckon the score is there to appease the publisher, to make up the Metacritic rating. Either way, it's apparently unrelated to the review, so I'd ignore it.

 

[Wyrmlord]

How did Bethesda get its reputation as a great dev, anyway? TES had potential, but all iterations of it have been flawed--often deeply and on multiple levels. Let's not talk about the mess they made out of the Terminator property. I can't think of anything else they ever did that warranted serious attention much less accolades. I'm pretty much preaching to the choir here, I know, but I just find crap like this so disgustingly amazing that I have to purge it from my psyche once in a while.

Well, actually the Terminator games from Bethesda are supposed to be popular. I suppose different people have different opinions, but I have heard from several people who really liked the old Terminator stuff like Future Shock and Skynet.

As for TES, well, how many good or great first-person action RPGs do you know? Outside of TES, I can already name you Ultima Underworld and Arx Fatalis. And no, I don't mean RPG shooter hybrids. Interplay's Descent To Undermountain was a notoriously bad game, and being released around the time between Daggerfall and Morrowind, the general consensus would probably be that the latter two are much better.

It's all relative.

 

[Claw]

The worst thing about this "review" is that there is no new content whatsoever. Old screenshots, old examples, old arguments.

It's a preview with score.



PS: Actually, I was wrong. There is something new: A pathetic excuse for why the bad realtime combat is ok. No, fantastic!


Also, the Terminator games were great for their time. A free-roaming Terminator shooter would be teh awesome.

 

[Data4]

When did Half Life 2 and Bloodlines come out? Despite what you may think of the games (I'm talking HL2, here, since VtM:B is a Codex favorite), the presentation of the NPCs stands out as inarguably well done. The characters all have personality, supported by an engine that's robust enough to convey it.

Bethesda now has 2 games that have been released since the above, and STILL they can't figure out how to bring their characters to life. Do they honestly suck that much? Hell, even FC2's various characters are more interesting.

 

[Grifman]

You're either a complete fool or simply misguided.

You really should use those words to describe yourself.

10 of 10 means perfect in every case, every time.

Nope.

You can argue about the levels between 1 and 10, however, each polar aspect of the scale encompasses the absolute best and worst.

Nope, not at all. In fact common sense (perhaps that is your problem?) tells us that nothing is perfect - every game has bugs for example. And since that is true, that tells us if someone is using a 10 point scale, they do not mean for 10 to imply perfection. In fact, it most likely is an entirely relative ranking. Some games are 1's, some are 4's, others are 7's and finally some are 10's. But that does not mean that 10 implies perfect by any means. It just means that this is one of the best games they've played and ranks up with other games they have ranked as a 10.

Who's misguided now?

 

[Herbert West]

From the IGN UK Xbawks 360 review:

ven though Fallout 3 is more about shooting than anything else, VATS ensures it remains a role-playing game rather than ever devolving into meatheaded action.

but then:

VATS is great but having it show every enemy death as slow-motion somersaults and (usually) gratuitously exploding limbs and skulls gets old fast. The game's overall trouble with character animations means these death scenes just look really clumsy, and conceptually it's really puerile – like a Saw-obsessed 14 year-old's idea of cool. If only there was an option to turn it off completely.

Throughout, an upsettingly unfocused teenage veneer threatens to undo all the great work of the world-building.

as expected:

Aaaaaand deep breath. Bethesda can certainly do bigger-picture game worlds par excellence, but as was the case with Oblivion, they stumble badly when it comes to details and production values. Many of the problems have directly carried over, in fact – most specifically the voice acting and NPC interaction.

The content of the dialogue is similarly lacklustre; a few of the more outlandish characters get some choice phrases, but generally it's a toss-up between deadly earnest exposition, not-quite-there humour and the occasional pantomime villain. Fallout's strength is really not its writing – which is a shame, as in a game like this, there's a lot of writing.

If you want Fallout 3, buy Stalker:

Of course, it does ultimately live on it, thanks mostly to the look, which is comfortably Fallout 3's greatest achievement.

Again, as was to be expected:
Score 8.8 and IGN Editor Choice Award

I can't get rid of the impression that this score and the award are not in accord with the text of the review itself.

 

[Kthan75]

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/fallout3?q=fallout 3

The metacritic grade so far is 93 for the PC version, based on 10 reviews (Eurogamer and IGN UK not included yet).

Interesting how the bigger sites like Gamepsy, IGN, 1UP have awarded grades of 95+ and the smaller sites have placed it around 80...

I've been discussing with some people who played the Xbox version and they were satisfied with the game, they actually found it enjoyable (they are not Fallout fans, though). I guess the game will appeal to people who have no specific interest in Fallout (or rpgs, for that matter)...

I'm curious to see more reviews, especially from the smaller sites.
I'll try the game myself tonight on PC.

 

[Azael]

This was expected. The blowjob circus must continue. The only thing that will be amusing is reading how Bethesda has improved or fixed the flaws in Oblivion with this game, you know the flaws that didn't exist when Oblivion was released.

I'm also in the camp that believes that 10/10 is not the same as a "perfect" game (what the hell is a perfect game anyway?), just that it is very, very good, a kind of game that doesn't get released every day. Can't really think of any game deserving a 10/10 though.