Customer Reviews

Fallout 3 Collector's Edition

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Fallout 3 only appears to use the disc validation aspects of SecuROM 7.36.0006. I used System Mechanic to perform some "before and after" system scans to ensure nothing sinister was happening with the install. All I could find was the usual license and CD / DVD entries in the Registry. There were no activations or installation hiccups. The installation does take quite some time though, so I advise people to de-clutter and defrag before they install.

I don't want to issue any spoilers, but what I will say is that the graphics are revolutionary! The world feels very immersing and the character interactions are very realistic. The controls are very similar to Oblivion too, so it wasn't hard to dive in. The game is very, very polished and when you exit Vault 101 for the first time, the scenery that greets you is astounding! You can see objects in full clarity right out to the horizon and the environment looks very much like a post-apocalyptic wasteland, albeit under a very gray palette. I maxed out the in-game detail settings and my single slot GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB handled it perfectly. This is first class!

My biggest gripe with DRM is limited activations, which also infer spying on your machine. This game does indeed use the "evil" SecuROM, but it's just the usual SecuROM disc-checking that we have in tonnes of games prior to this. There are NO LIMITED ACTIVATIONS. I'm a big anti-DRM person, just look at my posts for Spore, but this, in my opinion, is an acceptable use of DRM and I recommend people get the game.

I am old enough to have played the original game when it first came out in 1997. I was a great fan of the series that followed and, thus, was very eager to get my hands on this latest installment. In a short sentence: FALLOUT-3 is A DREAM COME TRUE!

It is a cRPG game in which the player can alternate between the First and Third person perspective roaming a world comparable in size with OBLIVION. The action has moved from Vault 13 and Southern California to Vault 101 and Washington, D.C. and the story brakes away from the previous bloodlines. However, the atmosphere of the original has been maintained and its scents sharpened: veterans will find it fitting like and old glove - whereas the new gamers are in store for a bag of pleasant surprises.

The graphics are wonderful, the guns detailed and the environments highly interactive. Short of a screenshot, imagine what would HalfLife-2 would look if released today. And similar to HL2, FALLOUT-3 does not require an...ubercomputer to run smoothly. Once you see a NPC move though, you understand where the corners were cut.

Character customization is carried out in great style using the new and improved PIP-BOY at the beginning. You exit the vault and the harsh reality of a world that barely survived annihilation slaps you on the face. Adapt or perish.

The main storyline is there to be followed but FALLOUT-3 offers the greatest number of alternative choices I have ever encountered in a game! There is always a great number of paths to follow in order to achieve any goal - but every choice comes with a consequences tag. This is common feature of most classic cRPGs but in FALLOUT-3 I saw it implemented like never before. If nothing else, this sends replayability through the roof.

Side-quests offer little besides distraction and experience points (XP) to be spend on character improvement. XP are gained solely by completing quests, emerging victorious from fights, finding locations, picking locks and hacking terminals - and they are not limited by the action they were earned. Leveling up is based on 7 basic attributes [Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility & Luck - acronym?;)] that, in turn, affect your (13) specific skills. Since leveling up is capped at Level-20, the game designers wanted to encourage replaying the game. On the other hand, it also means that your character will never realize its full potential (in case you are wondering why I withheld a star from FUN, that's the second half of it).

The game is violent and gory but well within tasteful limits. Not so with the language - but it is tradeoff with realism. In a radioactive world, Sunday-school niceties are bound to go out the window.
What deserves a special mention is V.A.T.S. (:Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) which opens new vistas in cRPG design. It is an ingenious system which lets you pause the game and target specific body parts of your opponents. The success of your attack still depends on your skills but the end effect is cinematic and amazing (remember SWORDFISH?).

After the nuclear summer of 2008 (with all the LimitedInstallation-defective EA releases), this seems like a postapocalyptic dawn indeed! BETHESDA decided to listen to the gaming community and did NOT cripple this beautiful game with any idiotic DRM scheme. Inputting a serial number and a DVD-check is more than reasonable.
The publishers of FALLOUT-3 understand that there is a fine balance between "protecting the product" and..."insulting your own customers". And they obviously view respect as the two way street that it is - and for this they deserve our support: buy this game, today.

Voting with our wallets is the only argument the gaming industry cannot afford to ignore. And it is about time to cast some well deserved positive votes.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Many people were worried that the Fallout series would not be translated well from a 2D, turn based RPG to a 3D, Strategic First Person Shooter. Others worried that the new IP owner wouldn't get the feeling right.

Fallout 3 was released yesterday, and we can all lay our worries to rest.

From the opening splash screens, to Ron Perlman's narrative, to the interactive birthing of your character, Fallout 3 hits the nail on the head.

Graphically the game is awe inspiring. No, it's no Crysis, but when you first leave the vault and step out into the wasteland you are greeted with a post-apocalyptic vision stretching away for miles in all directions that sends chills down your spine. Yes, some of the textures are lower resolution due to Fallout 3 being developed for consoles as well as PC, but I honestly took a long time to notice since I was so caught up in the game.

Action wise, it's great to be able to run around and shoot like it was a FPS, but it's even better to be able to hit a button and go into V.A.T.S. mode and aim at specific body parts. The first time you make someone's head explode or cause a mutant dog to disintegrate in slow-motion you will appreciate it even more.

Role-playing wise, it's fantastic to not be limited in your choices. You can help people, rob them, or kill them, it's up to you. Steal or buy, run or fight, be nice or be naughty, play the game the way you want to.
And then go back and play it all over a different way. It also helps immensly that - unlike Far Cry 2 - the voice acting is top notch. You beleive these are people, rather than poor actors reading lines as fast as they can to collect the check and get home. (Not to mention that the cast includes famous actors as well: Ron Perlman and Liam Neeson to mention two.)

As far as the Collector's Edition goes, the Making Of DVD is interesting, the Lunch Box looks cool on my shelf, the book was an interesting flip through, and the Bobble Head is now stuck to the dash of my Jeep. Don't expect to fit much more than a child size lunch in that lunch box, if you actually want to use it, however. (But why would you?)

I highly recommend this game to fans of the originals - like me - and newcomers to the series. You'll be enjoying it for months to come.

War never changes but `Fallout' has, for the better.

What `Bethesda Softworks' has created here is something more than just a video game of the year in the days of pseudo-journalism bombarded by the floods of video game magazines that has more commercials than actual substance, websites plagued by flaming fanboys armed to the teeth with ignorance beyond repair, big corporations running rampant trying to take our hard-earned money on a regular basis for what used to be free of hassle hobby without creating anything of substance, ...I could go on and on. The landscape of the video game has changed drastically for the worse during the past decade. It's now a much bigger industry than the movie industry. The production cost has increased astronomically, in parts due to publishers going overboard with the marketing to build the hype rather than developers speak for themselves with quality of games. Generally for sixty dollars, you get to play around 5-12 hours single player campaign on console. The media keep chanting mantra of `Multiplayer' and `Online' but that's a copout to squeeze more out of bare minimum. Some games even require you to pay additional money for some features in the very game you paid to play for these days. What happened to the good old days when you build your own PC, install your game without any installation limit, and just enjoy your game at your own leisure for a long long time? Well, now you can take the nostalgic trip back into the good ol' time once again with a brand new game that features all the advantages of the current technology. Bethesda has always focused on making single player only game that offers you so many different ways for players to choose and play. And the contents of the game are once again gigantic as any of TES series.

Who better than Bethesda, the maker of the renowned TES series to pick up the torch where `Fallout' series, two of the most nonlinear open-ended RPG ever created, left off?
`Bethesda Softworks', the new SSI of the decade, the Interplay / Black Isle / Troika Trinity of the 21st century, has now become a formidable CRPG game studio, and made a successful and proven blueprint for the future TES series, the very game that started the long and quite often difficult journey for the studio to obtain the holy grail of CRPG.

The first and second TES `Arena' and `Daggerfall', impossibly gigantic-humongous sandbox RPG even by today's standard, were so ambitious in a time when technology was not even available. It was a tremendous undertaking and ultimately noble failures of sort in terms of the end result compared to the goal they set out to achieve. They were also so ridden with so much bugs, `Daggerfall' was actually dubbed as `Buggerfall'. After numerous patches, Bethesda abandoned the second game altogether forever. Any other game studio would have gone under at that point, but `Bethesda Softworks' was acquired by a media mogul `Zanimax', which directly results in, for all intents and purpose, unlimited resources. The studio no longer has to worry about the financial part of the game making, solely concentrate on making game. After couple of TES spin-offs `Battlespire' and `Redguard', Bethesda released the third entry `Morrowind' and its two expansion packs `Tribunal' and `Bloodmoon'. For CRPG stand point of view, it was bona fide runaway hit. Although shrunken in scale of the landmass, everything was individually created with more depth than its predecessors and it was at this point we witnessed not just a great video game but the glimpse of possibility of the future in virtual reality. Bethesda fixed many problems that plagued `Arena' and `Daggerfall' and redeemed itself.

The fourth entry, `Oblivion' proved to be something more than what was expected. Of course it was even bigger financial success than `Morrowind', but more importantly it is the game that paved the way for this game I am about to review, `Fallout 3'.

I can already hear some of the die-hard old school fans crying foul for ruining their beloved game. Hey, I too am an old school who owns just about every single PC games one way or another, especially CRPG. And I loved first two. What is amazing about the game is, despite the fact this is not a direct sequel related to any previous storyline, it really feels like a sequel to the seminal game. Wasteland, Vault-Tec, dark blue Vault uniform, brotherhood of steel, dogmeat, pip-boy right down to the cheesy green monochrome color, every iconic element all return. Character creation, perks, karma, NPC interaction, quest progress, you feel instantly home if you ever played any previous entry. Although more people will play this game as a FPS when it comes to combat, VATS is back too. Remember anything you want to do in the previous games, you must have enough action point? Anytime during combat, you can pause to queue up your action using action point. You can play as a real-time action FPS or more cinematic battle using your action point. However, `Fallout 3' being RPG, your shooting skill is directly related with your stats, so playing this game like any conventional FPS is not the ideal approach, especially when your character is at a lower level. To Bethesda's credit, the kinetic feeling of FPS is nicely incorporated here. Once your stats are improved, you can play like FPS to a certain degree. Profanity, dark humors, violence, explosion, dismemberment, you name it, just about all the atmospheric quality of the previous entries is back. It is a perfect jump from 2D to 3D that rivals Zelda, Metroid, and MGS.

Part of the reason Bethesda was able to capture just about everything from the previous entries, beside its passion for the genre and obviously talented team at their disposal, is that classic `Fallout' entries were so ahead of its time, and shares so many aspects Bethesda has been trying for since the inception of TES. Voice-acting all the dialogue in 1st person interface was pretty much unprecedented at the time, the feat few even dared to achieve long after 1997.

There are fewer NPCs in this game than `Oblivion' but they are governed by the improved version of Radiant A.I, bringing out more depth and realism. Each NPC offers you more detail conversation choices and branching options this time. Different conversation choices result in different reactions. Your conversation and action will result in many different endings in this game. Furthermore, you will get some extra conversation options or even totally different ones depending on your karma, perks, and skills. This was very possible in `Oblivion' too as some of the user mods have proven, but they had to tone it down due to its immense scope. `Fallout 3' was created by slightly modified and more refined version of TES construction set. Although you have less NPCs, there are plenty of hostile humanoids and creatures for you to kill in a game world slightly smaller (approx. 15 square mile) than `Cyrodiil' (16 square mile) but even more jam-packed with places to go and things to do.

Environment comes into play much more than it was in `Oblivion', now fully utilizing havoc engine because of various projectile, explosive and range weapons. Many things in environment are destructible.

Character animation is smoother, little more fluid and varied than `Oblivion'. I guess various excellent animation mods released by fans for `Oblivion' using TES construction set gave them better ideas about how they should handle animation.

You can play in either 1st person or 3rd person view, but just like `Oblivion', 3rd person view is not as effective as 1st person. It's just a mere vanity mode like `Oblivion'.

The game starts like `Oblivion'. You create your character anyway you see pleased with all the traits, sex, looks, go through tutorial while you are told about your main quest. This initial tutorial section is arguably the most memorable tutorial presented in any game in the history. Right before you leave the underground lair, you are given another chance to fix your character traits, then to the great wide open. The same feeling you get when you first came out from the prison dungeon in `Oblivion'.

One thing that strikes me is that just like the previous games, you are not bound by the main quest if you can call it. Once you step outside the vault, you are to do whatever you like to do. The main quest to locate your lost father is so much less immediate than the typical whole world going to perish main quest variations from other RPGs. But this is the very reason the game feels so much more open-ended than every other CRPGs ever released barring `TES' series. Since leveling is governed by experience points, the points you gain and use are limited and the game ends upon completion of the main quest, you cannot possibly experience everything by playing just once. This is perhaps the strongest point of this game. Many games claimed to be non-linear, open-ended CRPG in the past, but very few actually delivered and the rest were merely linear but partially free-formed games like `Mass Effect' or `Fable'.

I've already read many posts about bugs and instability of the game along with `secuROM' issue. To the best of my knowledge, I installed this game with Internet disconnected. I've encountered a few issues with later versions of `secuROM' before but nothing so far and I have `Nero Ultra 9' installed on my PC. No installation problem and no bugs encountered so far into 15 hours. There's no key code that needs to be entered, no Internet connection required, and no installation limit. Instead of using 'fallout launcher', use 'fallout.exe' to install your game. No secuROM, no DVD required once installed. My now ancient, 6 years old customized PC with 3 GHz P4 HT with 2 GB of RAM and NVIDIA 7800 GS runs this game surprisingly well with high setting and the game runs quite well most of the time both indoor and outdoor. The loading time is on par with `Oblivion'. I get some frame rate stutters during combat with multiple foes but using VATS really offset the problem. I cannot run this game very well with the ultra high setting, everything maxed up. It stutters too much with frame rate dipping well below 10. But high setting is more than enough for my old PC. Any graphic card below 7800 series (even 7600, 7300 are not ideal) and less than 2 GB of RAM is definitely not recommended. Minimum system requirement is barely good enough for medium to low setting.

Fallout 3 can appeal to many different groups of gamers, old school CRPG fans, both `Oblivion' fans and classic `Fallout' fans all alike, but if you are fast-paced FPS fans, you might be disappointed. Casual gamers will be overwhelmed at first with mountains of contents but Bethesda did wonderful job to make it easier to follow the quest line but it's done in subtler way than `Oblivion' due to monochromic nature of `Pip-Boy' screen so hard-core fans won't be bothered.

This is not a game made by programmers and art designers who work for the big company set out to make a profitable project rather than great game. This is a labor of love created out of passion for the genre by same old school CRPG geeks like you and I, headed by Todd Howards, who knows why people play CRPG, set out to one day make a truly living, breathing virtual world.

Morrowind, Oblivion, and now Fallout 3, Bethesda scored a hat trick. I am disappointed that no construction set for the PC version has been released at this time. TES series became what they became partly because of the construction sets, which were utilized by hordes of dedicated fans to create tons of mods. TES has arguably the most dedicated fan support for any game out there ever with several thousand mods already available for free download. If you don't like something about the game, chances are, you can find some mod to fix it. If you ran out of quest, you can have plenty more. Bethesda diligently listens to the fans who made `Bethesda' who they are now at the official forum. I hope they soon release the construction set for `Fallout 3'.

But even without the construction set available yet, this is not a game you breeze through for a few hours, have blast with your cronies, claim it as the best game ever, then discard for good never to touch it again and move on to the next hype and repeat. Minimum 100 is a given as in all Bethesda games or old school CRPG for that matter. Pete Hines claims that it has 200 different ending. If that is really the case, then I don't think I'll ever see even half of them, but so good to have such freedom and choice.

`Fallout 3' combines the best elements from both `Morrowind' and `Oblivion' in the world of `Fallout' tradition, no easy feat.

Now one last thing, unlike `Arena' and `Daggerfall', which are hopelessly outdated, `Fallout' 1 and 2 has aged surprisingly well. Since `Fallout 3' manages to make several things better than `Oblivion', does that mean `Fallout' series are now my most favorite CRPG over my beloved TES series? Don't answer that. Just thinking about the world of Tamriel with branching conversation and many different endings, I am already in pain waiting for TES V.

First off, I just wanted to say that I'm a collector's edition addict. I got the Survival Edition, no less, but before you read anything about this game do NOT, I repeat, do NOT get the Survival Edition. All you get that's different from the CE is a Pip-Boy Replica clock that others have said is hit or miss when it comes to getting it working (I didn't bother with mine as I didn't really care). The CE comes with a bunch of extras and a snazzy lunch box to carry it all in. If you're like me and like that crazy crap, then by all means shell out the extra $20-30. Otherwise, you'll do just fine with the regular edition.

Back to the review. I won't go into incredible detail...instead, let's just break it down:

--- All Players ---
I hate to start on a bad note but I feel this is important enough for it to be front and center. This game is a great game but it has its flaws. It's got a slew of bugs that will cause you grief at times and wish you weren't so addicted to it. There are plenty of crashes to desktop (I was running this on XP SP2/SP3 Quad Core 2.4Ghz, 2GB RAM, GeForce 8800 GT with 512MB) and a few in-game bugs like creatures flying into space, NPCs you really needed (not random ones) stuck in the middle of buildings, scripted NPCs that wouldn't let you finish missions/quests because they just didn't want to move, and a VATS system that shoots from the hip even if that means you're firing into a wall). It's because of these bugs, I downed the rating. Bethesda spent plenty of time working on this game and are using an existing engine so it's not like they couldn't have found/corrected these issues. Maybe not. Still, this is a AAA-title and there's no call for these sorts of critical issues.

With that out of the way, read on for some reasons it's worth dealing with the above.

--- Fallout 1/2 Players ---
If you've played this series before, this game is going to be very different. There are similarities (the world, the Pip-Boy, to some extent, the VATS, etc.) but this is not your traditional iso-turn-based clicker. This is FPS-style RPG all the way. Now, if you played Oblivion and liked it, then stop reading this and click the Add to Cart button up top. It's Oblivion with Fallout painted over. And that's a good thing. The environments really invoke the atmosphere that sucked you in before. Combat is different but you can always hit the V key and bring up the VATS you know and love. All the perks and skills are here as are the characters and dialog trees you'd expect (Dogmeat even shows up!). Trust me, you'll get a kick out of it.

--- Oblivion/Morrowind Fans ---
Surprise! Your favorite game discovered a time machine hidden in a cave and flew into the future! Bethesda used their Oblivion game engine (even the background music when you're out in the middle of the wasteland and not in combat is the same) but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Wide open spaces, NPCs on schedules, dialog trees varying based on skill or your reputation, FPS-like combat with plenty of RPG thrown in...it's all here. Sure it's in the future but with all the similarities, do you really care that the person in front of you isn't a catwoman but is instead a mutant? Better yet, all those random locations on the map? They have meaning now! Instead of a bunch of caves and portals, you get a handful of people living in a mini-democracy (so what if they're crazy) and random encounters with people trying to eek out a living in the wastes of Washington D.C. Unless you've sworn never to play in the future and really love trolls, you're getting a whole new world with tons of exploration potential. Definitely worth the buy.

--- FPS Shooter Fan ---
Okay, maybe not EVERYONE will like the game. But for you, I think it's worth a try. Think of this as a deeper Call of Duty with less accuracy. You can definitely try to aim and pull off some nice shots but shooting with a bolt-action is not the same as pulling the trigger on the Lee-Enfield in CoD. Sniping with the sniper rifle is not the same as using the Dragunov in CoD4. This is more like the PPSh transition from CoD UO to CoD2. Sure you're still firing at the same rate of fire, but you sure will miss more often. There is a cheat...it's call the VATS system and it lets you pause the game so you can tell the computer where you want to target (head, arm, torso, weapon, you name it). It doesn't sound like fun but after a while, it is. Sure, you'll still grab your hunting rifle and really wish that aimed shot wasn't be randomly diverted to add some "realism" or something. In the end, though, this is Fallout. Where else do you get to toss a mini-nuke on baddies (okay, UT doesn't not count)? Where else can you actually see the consequences of your actions? In CoD, you kill your buddy sitting next to you, it just means you'll have to start over again or load a save. In UT, you can't even kill your buddy if he's on your team. Here, in Fallout 3, you shoot that one guy, you lose karma, people will either be pissed or fear you. It's called consequences. Something CoD couldn't offer because of the rails you were riding on.

Should you, the shooer fan, buy this game? Maybe. If you've played RPGs like Oblivion, Two Worlds, The Witcher, etc., then yes, go for it. If you steer clear of RPGs like the plague ("The only stat I care about is Kill Ratio), then I wouldn't bother. It's just not your cup o' tea.


--- Final World (For All Players) ---
So, in general, I highly recommend this game. It's deep, fun, atmospheric, and really offers opportunities to replay it (you can play the evil contract killer who likes to collect teddy bears). Bugs aside, you can bury yourself in to the Fallout Universe so well (I actually started listening to the one radio station because I liked the music after a while), you almost don't want to leave...(Just one more satellite array). Sure, it's got SecureROM but I've never had a problem with the software and it's current craze so you're going to be playing a lot less games if you don't play SecureROM games.

And PARENTS, I don't want to hear about another parent buying this game for their teen (below the age of 17) and discovering later what's contained herein. The ESRB exists for a reason. And Mature means mature. No, there isn't a lot of sex (actually, there isn't any, it's more implied than anything else) but there is a whole lot of violence and gore (this is a post-apocalyptic world for crying out loud). If you wouldn't let your kid watch Mad Max (no not Thunderdome, the original Mad Max), you shouldn't let them play this.

For everyone else, enjoy the game!

I just picked up the Fallout 3 Collectors edition and it is completely worth it. Some people are complaining that it contains SecuROM, and while it does, it is only used as a CD check. The Activation and Installation limits that are causing the controversy with BioShock, Spore, Red Alert 3, etc. are not used here. I have seen people complain that the developers lied when they said "there will be no DRM", "only a cd check just like Oblivion", etc. Well, Oblivion used SecuROM as well, and just like fallout 3, is was only used for the cd check.

No installation limits, no activations, just pop in the disc, install and play, reinstall to your hearts content with only a CD Check like just about every other game until the recent rash of activation.

It has a nice way of walking the player through character creation, by playing through a select set of events during the characters birth, childhood, and eventual escape from Vault 101, making it approachable even for people who are not familiar with RPG's. What each skill set and bonuses do is cleanly explained and laid out. As the game progresses your character continues to develop. Decisions made early on impact what sorts of quests are available later on. This is definately a game that should be played several times through to explore all the different paths and options with virtually infinate replayability.

Being from the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area, it is interesting, if a bit creepy, to explore the bombed out ruins of the area I live and work.

Fallout 3 has lived up the the promises and anticipation, both in terms of minimal DRM/Copy Protection, as well as the game itself with it's wonderful graphics that can still scale down, infinite replayability, good game mechanics, etc.

I am a big fan of the Fallout series. I can remember playing the first one way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

First lets start with who should NOT buy this game. This game is made for adults. If you are looking for something for your 9 year old grandson or your 6 year old daughter - this is not the game for you.

Read the warning... adult language, adult content. That translates to tons of cursing, heads and other body parts being blown off, drug use, violence... the list goes on and on. But hey, this is post-apocalypse ... what did you expect?

The great news for those who are interested in this game is that you do not need to know a single thing about any of the previous games. This baby is ready to roll on its own merits.

FIRST WARNING: INSTALL IT ON THE DEFAULT DRIVE!!!! (IE: C:) Why? If you ever want to get future add on material to work correctly quickly and easily, you need to install on the default drive. I keep all my games on drive D: and this apparently confused Fallout and it took some googling and finagling to get the Anchorage Alaska add-on to work. Trust me, just install it on the dang default drive!

You should also know that while this is a primary quest or goal running through the whole game, the content contained in that goal is really just a small percentage of the overall gaming goodness to be had by wandering the wastelands. I have finished the game... but I am still playing the dang thing! There are towns to find, errands to run. Once I finished the game, I was amazed at how much left there was to do if I wanted.

I think most folks don't understand exactly how much this game has to offer. I also purchased the game guide and was stunned to open up the folding map that came with it. It seems as if ever few feet has something new to offer any intrepid explorer.

The stories are great and the action is varied and nicely punctuated by using VATS for those aimed shots.

While I am taking off a star for the use of Securom (google it... it stinks), in every other way this is destined to become a classic game people will talk about a decade from now.

For those that describe this as Oblivion with guns, I knew Oblivion sir and this game is no Oblivion. (VP debates? Circa 1988... anyone? Anyone? Okay, sorry.). Frankly, if anyone wants to go down that road, I would describe Oblivion as the lesser achievement when compared to Fallout 3.

Wow, I got a Vault Tech lunch box! That was worth the extra. The hard back art work was well thought out and it was riviting to see all the concepts and then to play the game and actually see the costume, vehicle, or structure. I haven't got to the 'making of' DVD yet, I want to complete the game first. All of these extra's easily make this a value! Thanks Bethesda!

So this is my second review ever on Amazon.Com. Here we go.

The good:
Very nice graphics! The world of the Wasteland really comes to life! Using the Pipboy as the interface to the game world made things seems very immersive, a very nice touch that I liked very much! I liked that touch very much!

The Bad:
The game is a tad buggy. I could only read the DVD on a single player out of the 4 I have. And that player is in a laptop that will not play the game. I had to make an image of the game, and then download the NoCD crack for it. Took me 3 days to get it to install on my game system. Then many times, at random, and very VERY suddenly, the game would freeze up. Usually I was left with no alternative but to hard boot my computer.

The Ugly:
I was under the impression this game had "over 200 endings!" Strange. I couldn't find more than 6. I played EVERY side quest there was. Then I went to complete the main quest. Which was ridiculously short (like around 5 hours). Just to find out that virtually NOTHING I did in ANY of the side quests changed the ending... AT ALL!
I'm thinking maybe they didn't mean 200 DIFFERENT endings... perhaps that's it... yeah.... Every time you play the game to the end... you get... an ending... Sure, it's the SAME ending. But play it 200 times and you'll get 200 endings. Genius!
Now some people wouldn't be bothered by this. But I played Fallout II and rate it as one of the all time best RPG's ever made. From the beginning of the game my hopes for Fallout III soared. I thought Bethesda had finally managed to do it right this time. I thought they had finally listened to the customers and made a truly great game.
Then they went and screwed it all up at the end. It feels like at some point somebody lost track of time. Like they spent months and months designing all the fantastic side quests, making all these plans for alternative endings then checked their watch and realized they had run out of time. "Crap! Well just end it right there and we'll ship what we have!" There isn't even a boss at the end you have to kill! You could get thru the end sequence at level one if you wanted to.
Needless to say my entire experience was ruined in one quick flash. If the endings had truly changed I wouldn't have minded the short main quest. Or the lack of a boss dude to pound on for awhile. Or the fact that you don't get to continue exploring once that main quest is finished. Or the crashes, lockups, inability to label any of your saved games so you can tell what you were doing when you saved at that point...

Oh well. It IS Bethesda after all. We need to remember to keep our standards low for them.

Finally, I got a copy of Fallout 3 COLLECTOR'S EDITION. Whoa! Collector's edition! The game comes in a nifty little lunchbox with Vault-Boy all over it. When you open it you see the actual game, then under that is a making-or DVD sloppy put into a cardboard thing. After that there is a book full of color concept art, like weapons, enemies, and stuff like that. Then there is a sweet little bobblehead...that was broken. Yeah. The stupid thing is so poorly packaged, the bobblehead breaks. The dude broke off the stand. Then the lunchbox fell apart, literally. Luckily, I was able to exchange the game for a new one, and it wasn't broken. The game itself is awesome! You got guns and zombies and mutants and stuff like that. Best of all, you can mod it. The requirements aren't that bad, just a reasonable processor and graphics card. The graphics in the game are pretty good on ultra high setting. For people like me who couldn't get this because of the gore, you can disable it very easily. You can connect to LIVE on this game as well get achievements and send messages and stuff. Great game, Great stuff, and well worth $60.