Fallout 3 (Xbox 360)

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Description

After World War II, rapid technology development carried humans towards a supposedly bright future, fulfilling their eternal dream. But eventually war raged again and in the year 2077, the dream suddenly came to a halt and mushroom clouds dominated the sky. A few communities survived in their underground bunkers called "Vaults"; others mutated heavily. Overall, what was left of the world was nothing more than a nuclear wasteland filled with ruins of a once great civilization. Two hundred years later, the human kind slowly but surely leaves the vaults and reclaims the lands of Earth.

The protagonist is one of them. As a member of Vault 101 in the wasteland surrounding the city formerly known as Washington D.C. and now called "Capital Wasteland", raised under the tight rule of the Overseer and the watchful eye of his father, he doesn't know anything about what is outside. But on his nineteenth birthday, his father unexpectedly leaves the vault. The hero's goal is to find him, learning part of the truth about what the Overseer concealed all these years on the way.

Fallout 3 is a role-playing game with elements of a 3D shooter. It retains many elements of the previous games in the series, while somewhat shifting the emphasis from social interaction and ethical role-playing to exploration of an open, continuous 3D world and combat. The player is free to explore the game's world from the beginning, visiting many optional locations, talking to characters and completing side quests. The main quest line, however, is largely linear, posing moral choices to the player only during its final phase.

Character creation and customization are similar to those of the previous games. The player shapes the main character by allocating points into the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck) attributes. The skill system has been mostly carried over from the preceding installments, including weapon specializations (small and big guns, energy weapons, etc.), and active skills such as Science, Repair, Lockpick, and others. Passive skills, particularly Speech, play a lesser role than in earlier Fallout games. A few skills have been removed completely. Skill points and perks are acquired when the protagonist levels up.

Combat system has undergone a major overhaul. Tactical turn-based battles from the previous games have been replaced with two different combat modes; the player is able to switch between them at any time. The simpler system of these two is action-oriented, nearly indistinguishable from traditional 3D shooter combat. The player character equips a weapon (ranging from a baseball bat to the destructive mini-nuke-launcher) and attacks enemies with it; damage calculation is based on the participants' statistics more than on the player's dexterity, though the latter plays a role as well. In addition, the player can opt to switch to Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.) combat mode, a real-time system that allows the player to pause the game at any time and target specific regions of one or more enemies until the available action points are used. After all the actions have been assigned, the game plays them out in a slow motion.

The Karma system from the previous installments is back, keeping track of the main character's actions and decisions made by the player throughout the course of the game. Ethically unacceptable actions reduce the player character's Karma points.

Screenshots

There are no Xbox 360 screenshots for this game.

There are 67 other screenshots on file for other versions of this game.

Alternate Titles

• "辐射3" -- Chinese spelling (simplified)
• "異塵餘生3" -- Chinese spelling (traditional)

Part of the Following Groups

• BPjS / BPjM indexed games
• Fallout games
• Gameplay feature: Auto-mapping
• Gameplay feature: Burden / Encumbrance
• Gameplay feature: Cannibalism
• Gameplay feature: Character development - Skill distribution
• Gameplay feature: Lock picking
• Gameplay feature: Multiple endings
• Gameplay feature: Slavery
• Middleware: FaceFX
• Middleware: Gamebryo/Lightspeed/NetImmerse
• Middleware: SpeedTree
• Physics Engine: Havok
• Premium Games label
• Setting: City - Washington, D.C.
• Technology: amBX
• Technology: FaceGen
• Wasteland universe

User Reviews

Prepare For The Future	MasterMegid (897)
Brilliant But Not Black Isle.	Scott Monster (922)
Fallout 3 is a great post-nuclear sandbox experience.	Droog (463)
If you like oblivion and sci-fi, you'll like this.	havoc of smeg (13034)

The Press Says

Eurogamer.net (UK)	Oct 30, 2008	10 out of 10	100
Game Couch	Dec 03, 2008		100
Game Vortex	Nov, 2008	98 out of 100	98
GamingHeaven / DriverHeaven	Oct 29, 2008	97 out of 100	97
Gameplayer	Oct 28, 2008	9.5 out of 10	95
RewiredMind	Nov, 2008		90
Video Games Daily	Oct 28, 2008	9 out of 10	90
Jeuxvideo.fr	Oct 30, 2008	8 out of 10	80
JeuxVideoPC.com	Oct 29, 2008	15 out of 20	75
Console Obsession	May 30, 2010	6 out of 10	60

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
BOS-in-a-BOX	5	bubbleman1987 Dec 09, 2012
	1	bubbleman1987 Sep 05, 2012
Minor complaint time! *spoilers*	5	Patrick Bregger (111703) Feb 19, 2011
Melee character?	5	Dr. M. "Schadenfreude" Von Katze (590) Jan 08, 2011
Teh Ultimate Fallout 3 Mod Guides!	2	Indra is here (19702) May 13, 2010
GamingAhead	1	Roger Damm Aug 18, 2009
Ey, ye like dags?	4	Dr. M. "Schadenfreude" Von Katze (590) Mar 02, 2009
Where's Moriarty?	14	Ash Ligast II (1651) Feb 22, 2009
Yeh like mads?	3	hydra9 (3851) Jan 06, 2009
How come we're not talking about this yet?	70	Ash Ligast II (1651) Dec 07, 2008

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Fallout 3 appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Australian release

Fallout 3 was originally banned in Australia in July 2008, but an edited version was re-submitted to the country's Classification Board. Funnily enough, this is also the version that was released in all regions.

German version

In the German version all blood and removed limbs were removed. This includes robot parts, e.g. the arms of Mister Gutsy.

References to the game

Fallout 3 was parodied in an episode of "Die Redaktion" (The Editorial Team), a monthly comedy video produced by the German gaming magazine GameStar. It was published on the DVD of issue 02/2009.

Awards

• 1UP
  • 2009 - "Digital Delivarence" Award for Best DLC in 2009 (Editor's Choice)
  • 2009 - "Digital Delivarence" Award for Best DLC in 2009 (Reader's Choice)
• GamePro
  • February 2009 (issue 245) - PC Game of the Year 2008
• GamePro (Germany)
  • February 26, 2009 - Best Console RPG in 2008 (Readers Voting)
• GameStar (Germany)
  • February 26, 2009 - Best PC Game in 2008 (Reader's Voting)
  • February 26, 2009 - Best PC RPG in 2008 (Reader's Voting)
• Gamespot
  • 2009 - Best Downloadable Content/Expansion in 2009 (Reader's Choice; for the DLCs)
• GameSpy
  • 2008 – Game of the Year
  • 2008 – PC Game of the Year
  • 2008 – Xbox 360 Game of the Year
  • 2008 – PC Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
  • 2008 – Xbox 360 Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
  • 2008 – #2 PS3 Game of the Year
  • 2008 – PC RPG of the Year
  • 2008 – Xbox 360 RPG of the Year
  • 2008 – PS3 RPG of the Year
  • 2012 – #10 Top PC Gaming Intro
• GameTrailers
  • December 25, 2009 - Best Expansion/DLC in 2009 (for the DLCs)
• Golden Joystick Awards
  • 2009 - Ultimate Game of the Year
  • 2009 - PC Game of the Year
• IGN
  • 2009 - Best Xbox 360 Aftermarket Support in 2009 (Reader's Awards; for the DLCs)
• Machinima
  2009 - Best DLC in 2009 (for the DLCs)

Information was also provided by Big John WV, PCGamer77 and piltdown man

Related Web Sites

• Bobblehead Locations (Locations of all Bobbleheads in Fallout 3, which increase the player's stats permanently.)
• Fallout 3 Hints from UHS (Game guide using a question and answer format. Includes all of the quests, a world map, plus gameplay tips and strategies.)
• Fallout: Welcome to the Official Site (Bethesda's official site for "Fallout 3.")
• Mac Gamer Review (A review of Fallout 3 by The Mac Gamer's Alex McLarty, who makes use of Apple's Boot Camp utility in order to play the PC version on his Macintosh (Nov 16th, 2008).)
• No Mutants Allowed (An unofficial site about the Fallout series.)
• The Vault (Wiki based encyclopedia about the Fallout series.)
• Wikipedia: Fallout 3 (Article in the open encyclopedia.)
• X360A achievement guide (X360A's achievement guide for Fallout 3.)