I'd seen FO3 at Leipzig not this year but last year in a demonstration on Microsoft's console only, given by the estimable Peter Hines. At the time I was mildly intrigued, playing as I have both RPGs (all the way back to paper beasties such as Bushido) and first-cum-third-person shooters... as well as Fallout.
Plot? Right, it's a 'Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Future' (PADF). It uses the Vault scenario set up in the earlier parts of the Fallout series. “Vault scenario? WTF are you on about?” Well, see, back in what might have been the 1950s, the world (or a world) was nuclear benighted. In advance of this event Americans (well North Americans) were sent underground into vaults for safety. Some of these vaults – such as Vault 101, which appears in this game – evolved into micro-civilizations of their very own. Others did other things. Others again appear to be rammed with mental cases – but that's another story... or is it?
At the core of this game is the very real ability to play it using all sorts of strategies and approaches. Unlike, for example, GTA IV, which locks you into a character and demands that you follow its side-missions, FO3 feels more open.
Before we exit Vault 101 and get into the big, wide game world, let me get Liam Neeson out of the way. The lad phoned this in. I mean, it's not that he has a great deal to do. Patrick Stewart realised this when asked to play the king in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. He was there for a few brief scenes but the old stager gave it his all. Neeson nearly destroyed the game for me with his “I do not give a flying attack monkey's phlegm for this, why can't my agent get me a real film?” attitude and ham acting. (For legal reasons obviously Mr Neeson gave his absolute all in his portrayal. Just like he did in Taken.)
