Posted October 01, 2008
I have only heard of Fallout from friends, and have never had the chance to play it. My review is going to be colored by this. I hope diehard fans can forgive my few criticisms.
First, though-the freedom offered you is astounding. Constrained only by a generous time limit (and thank goodness for that! I wandered around Oblivion for three hours without motivation, only to never play it again), you can do anything logically suggested by the control scheme. The dialogue options are adaptable to your intelligence and skill levels, which really ramps up the replayability. The ability to navigate (and circumnavigate) all challenges is impressive (I really do enjoy simply using my gun to solve a complex dilemma from time to time). The story is good (though relatively straightforward...the shine is in the dialogue), the graphics have held up well. But surely you've been inundated with praise for Fallout if you've looked at the review section at all.
So my few criticisms. The open environment can allow you to deprive yourself of a satisfactory ending. After having my charismatic character struggle throughout the entire game to not get himself shot and find a diplomatic end to difficult problems, I finished the game by strolling into places unmolested and talking to people. Success tends to be black and white-As a generalist character can be hard to make work, if your main "weapon" fails (my mouth being my character's weapon), you have no back-up and are often forced to reload the game. Occasionally, the game will also allow yourself to force yourself into failure, though you won't find out for some time (I've been stuck behind locked doors with an inability to steal a key, kill a key holder, or pick the lock, while a ticking clock reminded me of my upcoming doom).
This is more advice than criticism, though. My most important piece of advice--don't follow a walkthrough, at least not for your first few times. Having looked at them, they can turn the game into a simple a-b-c affair, when left alone you'll be astounded at how much you have to figure out on your own.
First, though-the freedom offered you is astounding. Constrained only by a generous time limit (and thank goodness for that! I wandered around Oblivion for three hours without motivation, only to never play it again), you can do anything logically suggested by the control scheme. The dialogue options are adaptable to your intelligence and skill levels, which really ramps up the replayability. The ability to navigate (and circumnavigate) all challenges is impressive (I really do enjoy simply using my gun to solve a complex dilemma from time to time). The story is good (though relatively straightforward...the shine is in the dialogue), the graphics have held up well. But surely you've been inundated with praise for Fallout if you've looked at the review section at all.
So my few criticisms. The open environment can allow you to deprive yourself of a satisfactory ending. After having my charismatic character struggle throughout the entire game to not get himself shot and find a diplomatic end to difficult problems, I finished the game by strolling into places unmolested and talking to people. Success tends to be black and white-As a generalist character can be hard to make work, if your main "weapon" fails (my mouth being my character's weapon), you have no back-up and are often forced to reload the game. Occasionally, the game will also allow yourself to force yourself into failure, though you won't find out for some time (I've been stuck behind locked doors with an inability to steal a key, kill a key holder, or pick the lock, while a ticking clock reminded me of my upcoming doom).
This is more advice than criticism, though. My most important piece of advice--don't follow a walkthrough, at least not for your first few times. Having looked at them, they can turn the game into a simple a-b-c affair, when left alone you'll be astounded at how much you have to figure out on your own.