Customer Reviews

Fallout 3: Game of The Year Edition (Xbox 360)

5 star:		(90)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

This is the 3rd time I've tried Fallout 3, and I must say, the third time's a charm.

I didn't like this game the first or the second time, but granted I gave it only a couple of hours each time. I last bought this game in June, but returned it when I heard about the GOTY edition a few days later.

The GOTY does come with 2 discs, Disc One is the gameplay for Fallout 3, which looks virtually unchanged, except on the actual disc itself where it says "Fallout 3 Game of the Year edition". Besides that, there's little to no difference. Disc 2 has all the DLC, including the last installment; Mothership Zeta.

The instruction manual is a new one for GOTY, and instructs you to install disc 2 to your hard drive, before playing if you've never played Fallout 3, or do not have a current save file. However I didn't read it, and played about 3 hours of disc one before I noticed. I installed disc 2 (About 10 minutes, give or take), and everything was fine. I got the messages in-game letting me know that I have all 5 DLC's unlocked, that my level cap was raised to 30 etc.

After playing this game a good 10 hours, and not even completing half of the storyline, I feel like an idiot for not liking this game the first or second time. I think I was completly hooked when I saw the Washington Monument. It's just an amazing experience.

It gives you the option to choose what DLC you install. You don't have to install all 5, you can pick just one, or two, or all 5.

Here are the requirements.
Broken Steel = 620 MB
Mothership Zeta = 324 MB
Operation Anchorage = 369MB
Point Lookout = 413 MB
The Pitt = 492 MB

Total of 2.2 Gigs. (2218MB)

Go buy this now. If you haven't bought any of the DLC, go trade in your old Fallout 3 disc, and get the GOTY edition.

In 2007, I purchased Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Game of the Year Edition) after finally jumping into this generations gaming systems. Close to 400 hours later, I decided that game was the best value for my money in terms of content, quality, and overall fun that I would ever play.

I was wrong.

My wife purchased me Fallout 3 in 2008 as an anniversary gift; she knew I'd played the original Fallout games and really enjoyed Oblivion with me, so it was a great gift. To say that I was stunned and enraptured with Fallout 3 would be an understatement; I've played this game with regularity for over a year. It is a huge, expansive, detailed, life-like world with so much to do and see that each time through you can find more and more surprises that you may have missed previously. Toss in all 5 DLCs at a mere $60, and this game is pushing 150 hours of game time just for one play through.

This is an incredibly involved game and isn't for everyone; its the kind of game that takes hold of your imagination and won't let go, so if you have the time to play a game of this depth, I recommend purchasing it immediately, its worth every penny.

I played through Fallout 3 and beat it and reached level 20 back when it first came out. It was well worth my time then. I got hours and hours of fun gameplay out of it then.

I eventually auctioned it and got half my money back but I'll buy this version, and STILL feel like I'm getting a good deal. There's fifty-dollars worth of DLC included in this package. If you consider that, along with another 10 bucks for the standalone game, this might very well be the best video game deal since "The Orange Box." Compared to Oblivion, which only came with two expansions--and how about Left 4 Dead, which included the FREE DLC for their "GOTY" edition.

As for the game? It's stellar. I enjoyed it a lot more than Oblivion. I'm not a huge RPG fan but great action RPGs like this and Mass Effect are first rate. If you haven't played Fallout 3, you should get this copy. It's a one-of-a-kind experience.

I knew little about the fallout series before I played this game. Since Fallout series was popular and this game received great reviews , I decided to give it a shot. After finishing it (60+ hrs w/o DLCs; 80+ hrs with all 5 DLCs), here is what I thought.

**********PROS.**********

LONG, JUST VERY LONG AND ENTERTAINING RPG: These days when most of the games (even RPGs) are 10hrs, it was a rejuvenating experience to play this long RPG. Just like other RPGs and games in general, while some elements were redundant, it has plenty of variety to offer as you progress in the game. Even after playing 50+ hrs (not even touching the awesome DLCs), there were always exciting and unexpected events in the game. Great job Bathesda, great job.

CHOICES, CHOICES, CHOICES: In this game, just like Mass Effect and Bioshock, you will have to make choices, lots and lots of them. And each choice you make will have major consequence on the outcome your missions and game all together. Again wonderful job. There will be time you will make a choice, finish the mission, get the results and out of curiosity replay the same mission again (assuming you saved before the mission), to see what outcome you might have gotten if you were to make a different choice.

KARMA METER: The choices you make will give you extremely positive to extremely negative karma. And different karma will change behavior of people of wasteland towards you allowing you to do different missions, unlock different achievements and different rewards. Depending on the choices you make, you will turn certain groups into your friends and others into enemies. Words simply can't describe the experience. You have to play it get the feel for what I am saying.

OPEN WORLD: Yes you are free to roam in wasteland and go wherever you want to go. I personally loved it. While to progress in the story you have to go to specific places on the map. You can take whatever route you can take and complete whichever missions you like.

SURPRISES WHILE ROAMING IN OPEN WORLD: This was one of the strongest aspect of the game. While roaming in open world and exploring new areas and wastleland towns, you never know what you are going to encounter. While a lot of open world games have the same type of enemies and areas in open world, this game will introduce to plenty of varieties. Can't tell more without spoiling.

RPG ELEMENT: As you defeat enemies, complete missions, solve conflicts and progress through game, you gain experience and level up. Leveling up will allow you to enhance your traits and unique abilities (for example, your aiming, your melee power, unique abilities like your conversation skills, atomic explosion when you are damaged enough etc.)

COMBAT MECHANICS: The game is First Person Shooter for most part, but it has unique combat mechanic. While playing FPS, you can freeze time so do speak and target specific enemies part for higher damage of decapitate them. This can make game very strategic as some enemies faster or bigger than others and sometime enemies can have devastating weapons. So if you use this time freezing and aiming trait well you can target specific body parts or their weapons and slow them down.

VARIETY IN ENEMIES: A lot of long games becoming boring in short time as they have the same enemies over and over again. But that is not the case for this game. As you explore the wastleland, you will come across plenty of different enemies ranging from thugs and little creatures to heavily armored soldiers and super mutants. LOVED IT JUST LOVED IT.

DECENT STORY: While it is not the strongest aspect of the game, it does have decent story with somewhat of a suspense and oh depending on the choices you make, story and ending changes.

DIALOGUE TREE AND GOOD VOICE ACTING: If you played Mass Effect than you know what I am referring to. While talking to different characters, you can choose what you want to tell them. You can be charismatic and friendly or you can be rude. You choose. Again what you choose affects the end result of the game. To me what was nice was these dialogue were well designed and voice acting of hundreds of people you talk to was much better than what I expected. This truly makes gaming experience more rewarding.

(IF YOU HAVE GOTY)

FIVE DLCS = 10+ MORE HOURS OF GAMEPLAY: The five DLCs will add to the main story of the game, but in addition it will take to you to a hidden slave town, alient space ship, pre-nuclear explosion war era and on a mystic island. I loved all five of them especially the island and story+ dlcs.

INCREASE LEVEL CAP TO 30. If you don't have these dlcs, you can level up only to lv 20, but if you have these dlcs you can level up all the way up to lv 30. That means more traits, more choices and more unique powers.

******************CONS******************

GLITCHES: This is simply unacceptable. There are glitches in the game that can make you go crazy. For example for me I completed a mission and I didn't get achievement unlocked for that particular mission. Fortunately for 360 version a lot of these are fixed by patches. Nevertheless you will still encounter some.

LEVEL CAP: I also didn't like you can only level up 20 or 30 depending on which version you have. I wish they would at least let you level up to lv 50 and get all the traits possible.


****************CONCLUSION*****************

I truly wish they would have worked hard to fix the glitches, but contrary to those glitches this game has a lot to offer. 80+ hr of gameplay paid me back every single cent I spent to buy this game. I highly recommend this game to RPG and FPS lovers. If you can get GOTY (9.5/10), if not then at least give normal edition a shot (9/10).

The first time I played Fallout 3 was as a rental. That was a mistake as I felt pressured to get through a game of such magnitude in 5 days, leaving me overwhelmed and frustrated. There was simply too much to do. So recently I thought I should give it another chance, and I'm glad I did. Even after a couple months of playing, I'm nowhere near finished exploring every area, or finishing every mission. Particularly with the bonus content, which is also massive. The main drawback I had was how super-glitchy it could be. It freezes, buildings disappear, you walk in a house and the door locks, forcing you to reset. Endlessly frustrating, but the excellent gameplay outweighs every negative, tenfold. My advice for saving time and sanity: save often.

This is the best way to experience Fallout 3. The game originally sold (retail) for $59.99 and each of the DLCs are $10...and there are 5 of them. So in total, if you buy the regular version of the game and purchase all the DLCs separately, you're spending over $100. If you savor the game and explore all of the content, you'll clock at least 150 hours of gameplay. The graphics, sound, and atmosphere in this game are brilliant. The only drawback is that the game is slightly glitchy, in that sometimes your game may freeze or the game character may get stuck in a rock or something to that effect. While it doesn't diminish the 5 star ratings I gave this game, it can be a bit frustrating especially if you've completed a significant quest and didn't save right after. My solution is to always keep a current save file you can revert to if you experience a rare glitch...the game creates an autosave file and while it has never happened to me, I have read how some auto-save files have become corrupt and therefore unusable. Don't let this dissuade you from playing the game...you'll miss out on a fantastic adventure with multiple paths and plot twists.

Somehow I missed the bandwagon on Fallout 3 when it came out a year ago, but while the DLC slowly poured out my interest started to pique again as the game's promises were finally seeking my curiosity. But, the game cost $50, and the 5 DLC packs were $10 a pop, totalling at $100. No way it was worth that. But at $50 for the total package, how can anybody pass it up. The result was one of the most conflicting feelings of brilliance and joylessness ever conceived with a game and its gameplay.

The biggest strength of Fallout 3 is its setting. The mix of retro-50s and futurism is a brilliant mix, and while the story of the apocalypse is more or less pieced together by the viewer if they so choose, it's all very compelling and it's frankly hard to take your eyes off of it. And while the setting does offer many questions, it offers so many pleasant distractions to keep you occupied, you're just so enthralled with it all. From your time in the Vault, to when you first enter the outside world, to putting a dish on top of the Washington Monument, you're loving every moment of taking in the sights and the details. And while the story is interesting, it's more or less a path to take you across the world the game has created, even if that means placing very deliberate obstacles to lead you in one direction or another. Then of course, you can wander off the path and take on all these different sidequests that range in worth and interest, but there are still a few interesting diversions to find in the Wastes.

But perhaps the most memorable sequence in the entire game is a little place called "Tranquility Lane." You see, it's actually a simulation, but it's a simulation of a little circle of houses run by a madman scientist that has taken the form of a little girl. The atmosphere is a direct copy of a 50s sitcom ala Leave It To Beaver, complete with friendly neighbors and background music. You can leave the simulation and complete your quest here one of two ways, simply investigate and activate items in a creepy abandoned house, or cause mayhem. The mayhem is especially fun. Your first task will be to make a boy at a lemonade stand cry. You can do this by killing his mother... That'll bring some tears. You must then break up a marriage. Convincing the wife that the husband is a cross-dresser by planting ladies underwear on his workbench should do the trick. Then, kill everybody left on Tranquility Lane. A large knife and a hockey mask should do the trick. So sick, but so twistedly brilliant. The game certainly makes it more rewarding, and easier to play as an evil character. But also interesting, you can kill any character in the game at any point. Sure, it may disrupt the course of the game and how much you get done, but the option is always there.

But then again, the combat is annoying and not fun in the least. In my experience at least, there simply isn't enough health packs and ammo to go around, and even though it is a true RPG, I felt myself managing the whole experience too much, to the point it just wasn't fun anymore. Especially when you are carrying too many items, you walk at an incredibly slow pace, making transportation utter torture. Then upon looking around, I found a cheat called "God Mode." Problem solved. I don't have to worry about dying, or managing my inventory too much. However, it's pretty sad when you need a cheat to make a game playable, much less fun.

And if the main story wasn't enough, you have the DLC.

Operation Anchorage: While it could have been more detailed on the setting, since it is pre-war, the location is nice and the combat situations are decent.

The Pitt: Didn't interest me as you were dealing with slavers and raiders the whole time, which I didn't find interesting during the main storyline.

Broken Steel: It serves as a continuation to the story more than anything else. You essentially get to the see the consequences of your actions from the ending of the main game, which is very satisfying. And while the combat situations don't work, or any of the main quests, this works on story, and it gives you a very interesting choice at the end

Point Lookout: I didn't love the atmosphere, but it's certainly the interesting in its setting and story. It even gets pretty trippy in spots.

Mothership Zeta: Yeah, they kind of jumped the shark here. Aliens? Really? The weapons are good, but that's pretty much it.

Also, if you played the game with GNR Radio on as much as I did, then you probably got a heavy overload of the 30s/40s/50s soundtrack. All of the songs fit the game, and frankly, they gave me a better appreciation for their genre of music. Certainly not what you'd expect. I mean, I found myself getting songs by The Ink Spots and Danny Kaye stuck in my head! So, well-played for such a tiny aspect of the game.

Overall, getting through the main story and the DLC took me under 40 hours to complete, with the DLC taking up about half of that time. Now certainly, the Game of the Year Edition is a great deal, and you should at least play it once for the setting, but I don't really have the urge to play it a second time. The game just doesn't give you any reason to, and it wasn't fun enough to discover the world again. Not to mention, there were major issues with the combat and management of the game as a whole. I'll still check out New Vegas, but Fallout 4 certainly has a lot to improve on and fix to make the it not so disappointing, gameplay-wise at least.

Great game at a great price. You get the orginal game with all downloadable DLC available in one package. Great game play and graphics. You will have as much fun playing the 2nd time thru as the first. Be good, be evil or neutral with endless possibilities. Addictive and fun with a long campaign you will not be disappointed. Tons of guns and melee weapons to choose from. Bethsda has done it again.

Ever wondered how humanity would survive after the fallout of nuclear war? How seemingly normal people would react if they went from a life of relative luxury to that of a hostile, radiation and violent super-mutant filled, environment? The previous 2 Fallout games explored this angle through bird's-eye view RPGs (similar to Runescape and Diablo), but Fallout 3 explores this idea through first and third-person shooter perspective in the wasteland that was once Washington DC and the surrounding metro area. You assume the role of the "lone wanderer," a survivor in Vault 101 that exits the sanctity of his/her home in search of their father. Along the way you battle super mutants, heavily mutated scorpions, crabs, bugs, and robotic remnants of the US Army. You also interact with a large variety of people (with full voice acting) and either help or hinder their efforts to survive.

You can become a bastion of hope, a harbinger of death, or play Switzerland and remain completely neutral with every choice you make. Combining dialogue features akin to Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect, you alone, determine the fate of the Capitol Wasteland.

Thus endeth the introduction.

To any of you, who have not played Fallout 3 and wanted to enjoy a great open-ended RPG with a LOT of exploring, I strongly encourage you to check out this packaging and NOT get the original version of the game. Ignore the fact that it costs less because you're getting more bang for your buck here.

Why, you ask? Well, let me explain from the perspective of someone who bought the game (at full price) when it originally came out in 2008.

For a few of us, the Fallout 3 Game of the Year package is a slap in the face since we spent full price on the game and 1/4th that for every expansion set out there (see my review on Broken Steel/Point Lookout) and then this complete package set comes out less than a year after the release of the original game.

Oh well, my heart will go on! :P

In the meantime, the Game of the Year packing has got to be the best idea Bethseda has come up with since they re-released the first two Fallout games and expansions on the PC. It includes not just the game itself but all five expansions including the new Mothership Zeta (which I am currently playing and having a blast with). This means newcomers to Fallout 3 will not have the misfortune of playing the game for 30-50 hours, beating the game and then realizing that the ending sucks and there's nothing else to do. That was the curse of the original game, however, with the Broken Steel expansion not only do you raise the level cap from 20 to 30 but you have post-ending game content with and open-ending game play as well.

While Broken Steel is probably the nicest expansion in the Game of the Year edition, the newest one not yet available for mass (offline) purchase is Mothership Zeta. Released, so far, only as a download on XBox Live, Mothership Zeta was not available for those of us who do not play online so its inclusion into this packing really makes a difference. Not to mention I have heard that many original glitches, such as audio loops causing the game to fail advance the story, have been fixed.

In fact, my Broken Steel/Point Lookout expansion caused my game to go into a dialogue loop at the very end of the game and, since I used nothing but autosave like an idiot, I could not revert and try again. What I ended up doing was erasing all the expansions I had on my Xbox hard drive and, using the expansion disk from the Game of the Year packaging, reinstalled them and the glitch was fixed. If you experience the same problem I had, try this method.

Other than that, the other expansions (such as Operation Anchorage and The Pitt), offer little more than extra quests and more gear including some slick weapons. Point Lookout, however, offers more of the same but with a massive new map for exploration and the farming of new weapons.

All in all, Fallout 3 Game of the Year packaging is a must have for any newcomers to Fallout 3. Not so much for veteran players since we've already spent waaaaay too much on everything already. I only bought it because I was using my brother's copy in the meantime. :P

Peace out!

Simply put - this is one of the best games made for the current generation of consoles. If you like SciFi, or shooters or RPG's - you'll probably love this.