Fallout 3
Review
2/6/2022
So odd writing this review in 2022 after replaying the whole thing because I was sure I never finished the main campaign. And of course while playing it I realized I remembered every single main story beat the occurred. I even remembered the part at the end where you need to sacrifice yourself. Except since I played it they patched it so you can instead just send in your super mutie buddy to save the day with no risk to anyone. El oh el.
Anyway, it's a phenomenal game. I replayed it after playing Fallout 76 and it created such a clear distinction about why this game is great. You start off as a nobody with no skills and gradually scavenge and claw your way up fighting raiders and ghouls to become a hero. The thrill of walking through the DC filled with super mutants that can just: Fuck. Your. Day. Up. And then coming back with a sniper rifle and max Small Guns skill and absolutely housing them.
VATS is just still such an incredible system. I guess a lot of people hate it but I absolutely adore it. Partially because the shooting is so mediocre it's crazy. But also because it really makes you feel your character get stronger. It feels like an old school turn based RPG. Except no one else can do that so it kind of makes you like Neo.
I love the skill and experience system. Where you can really choose how your character develops with little limitations. Perks are a delightful concept of course, though a lot of them are pretty weak in this one compared to New Vegas or Skyrim.
Why do I ding it from a 10? The story is pretty mediocre. The writing is pretty meh. Sure there are great side quests to be found like freeing a companion from basically a slave contract to the whole Tenpenny Tower bit. But the main quest is largely boring, outside of watching Liberty Prime fuck shit up.
It's also an incredibly repetitive and gray/brown landscape. There's like 3 types of buildings all laid out in similar ways. There's basically 2 types of enemies: animals and humanoids, and they all behave similarly.
But while those mar it from greatness, it's still a classic that replaying it even in 2022 I enjoyed SO much.