What hasn't already been said? No need for a long strung out rant, or even a huge article praising Bethesda. Fallout 3 is here, it kicks mutant ass, and you've probably already read all that there is on every aspect of the game. Honestly, I'm kind of glad that it took this long too. If we had received what was originally promised as Fallout 3 from Interplay and Black Isle (codenamed Van Buren), I'm not sure it would have been nearly as good--if Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel of was anything to go by. I played the unfinished tech demo they released and it seemed like their heart was in the right place, but it was cartoony and exactly Fallout 2 forced into a 3D world. Bethesda just has a knack for immersion and great art direction, so what we see here is more of a reinvention of the series, rather than a true sequel.

Sure, everyone has their gripes, myself included, but you have to admit they did a pretty damn good job on the game. It's more than just Oblivion with guns and really carries much of the early Fallout mantra. It's all there; that 1950's music, the happy run for your life themes, the classic Orwellian robots and gadgets. Bethesda honestly did an amazing job pulling from the series and keeping in tune with the original feel of the game. Fallout 3 simply looks great, is a lot of fun to explore, and gives you that long awaited return to the Fallout world.

With that being said, I have to lay the smack down on a few things. This isn't a rant exactly, but it does require some bitching. The game is definitely my favorite of the year and it's hard to criticize, but there are some things that I wish they had spent more time on. For instance, what the fuck is up with the soundtrack? Sure it's beautifully orchestrated and is what I would expect from the Bethesda music department, but it doesn't fit worth a shit! Don't believe me? Who else reading this can't say that they didn't recognize a melody or two from Oblivion? The themes are just waaaay to fantasy based and try to make you feel like you're a knight going out to redeem yourself and find your princess. Granted, all Bethesda has known how to make up until this point is fantasy RPG's, so I'm not shocked by this, but come on. Where's the spooky industrial music and creepy techno-ish theme songs? I utterly loved the Fallout 2 soundtrack, it was perfect. This game seems to be confused on where to hype you up for fighting the dragon or exploring a brave new world. Ok, so I'm making a big deal out of nothing, but it did bother me and I was pissed more than once at the odd musical choices.

Next up, level capping. Ok, Bethesda. WHAT THE FUCK. If the point of this was to keep you from creating an uber character, you utterly failed. By level 16 I was blowing everything away like no tomorrow. I start focusing on my skills in order to max out things like lock picking... and then suddenly I'm not gaining experience anymore! It turns out that the game is capped at level twenty and once you reach it the enemies don't give experience anymore. I can't understand the logic for this at all and it really pissed me off. This isn't the case in any prior Bethesda game OR Fallout game, so why now? I loved in the earlier Fallout games that I could train a new skill like melee after maxing out one of the gun skills. Suddenly I was able to run around and start pummeling people instead. It really let you get the full extent of the game. But no, you're stuck with whatever your first choices were. The game doesn't even warn you! Experience just stops coming in. Ok, so maybe this makes for "replay value," pffffft. So much for the extra experience perks I got. They would have been better used elsewhere.

Which leads me into the next shitty aspect. THE GAME KILLS YOU OFF. Yeah, it's a spoiler and no I don't care if you didn't know, but seriously I wish I had known this earlier. I had done about 75% of the side quests when I finished the main story line... and suddenly I'm dead! That's it. No chance for continuation. Reload or replay. WTF? Fallout 1 and 2 were great that you could keep exploring and killing. There is a choice to not die, but you don't see any added benefit from this and the game still ends. Worse yet, you die by a flood of radiation poisoning when YOU'RE WEARING RADIATION RESISTANT POWER ARMOR and you've popped tons of Rad-X... oh and one of your party members is a mutant and specifically goes into irradiated areas to get you shit. Naturally, myself and others thought "Hey! Let's send Fawkes in to turn on the water purifier and then we won't die!" DENIED. Stupid.

So, of course now it's time to rant about the thing that pissed me off the most and was the single worst design choice in the entire game. You may have heard "OMGZ Fallout 3 has 200+ endings! Holy Shitzors Batman!" FAIL. FAIL. FAIL. Not only does the game come no where near that, it only has four as far as I can tell... and the difference between them aren't anything more than a back drop screen shot or horrible one liner by Ron Perlman. Unlike the earlier games, there is absolutely no reason to go do all of the quests. You never find out what happens to people in the game. The ending makes a bunch of esoteric and generic statements that had nothing to do with you killing or saving everyone. Why?! Such a waste of Ron Perlman and a good ending in general. Fallout 2 had an immensely better ending compared to this waste of time. Definitely my single biggest bitch about the game.

Ok, so there are other things I could nitpick, but honestly those were the main issues that I found myself cursing about after a play through. Honestly, the game is really good and you should definitely check it out. I know I just ripped into it heavy, but those were points that they did fuck up and needed to be brought to light. Overall though, Fallout 3 owns and is a great time. Shooting the legs off of a raider never got old and is a shit ton of fun. With all of the side quests you can probably spend 60-70 hours playing in order to get every single area cleared.... and for that they definitely deserve some praise. This game is huge, expansive, detailed, and fucking cool to be back in after so many years. Rock on Bethesda! Sorry for the harsh words, but some of that had to be said. Fallout 3 was an awesome game and although not perfect, was a great way to get back into the series after so many years. I'm definitely hoping for for an expansion.