Wasteland Survival 101

Welcome to the Capital Wastelands, stranger. Here's a gun, here's some irradiated water, and here's a futuristic wristwatch/PDA that can stop time so you can aim at specific parts of your enemies body. Good luck.

So here's the deal with Fallout 3. It's probably the best game I've ever played, hands down. It's atmospheric, it's open-ended, it's brutally realistic (except VATS, but VATS is excellent anyway) it's visually astounding and it's compelling. I know this is an year-old game, but I would say to anyone that hasn't played yet to buy/rent/steal/pickpocket a copy and give it a go.

In terms of genre, Fallout 3 is a survival RPG with some light first person shooter elements. This suits me just fine, because my FPS skills are lackluster at best. VATS is also a brilliant tool for me as it makes aiming, and killing, makes more satisfying. Admittedly, the stats might be off, but nine times out of ten it hits the mark (bad pun alarm)

But what makes Fallout 3 so brilliant (I hear you cry)? The survival aspect of the game is so well implemented, it creates a whole new level of gameplay. Because you have a limit of how much you can carry, your weapon and healing items are limited to only what you carry. Weapons steadily degrade meaqning you have to find, scavenge or buy new ones to keep them in good condition. And almost all healing items you can find give you radiation, which steadily builds up to do damage to your stats.

There are so many things I could talk about in Fallout 3, but a lot of it has been said before. I'm currently at Level 19, and I realise I'm soon going to hit my peak at Level 20, but I'm already looking into getting the DLCs. I'm also on a mission to collect all the bobbleheads, as well as some of the unique weapons, so wish me luck...

What I am trying to say is that Fallout 3 is one of the best games I have ever played, and anyone he thinks otherwise is a FOOL (obscure reference). I'm sure there'll be more posts in the future about F3, especially considering the aforementioned DLCs. But right now I've got a sniper rifle and a violin to find...

See ya at the top of the Washington Monument, y'all!