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Product Description

For 200 years, Vault 101, a fallout shelter, has served the surviving residents of Washington DC and its environs, now known as the Capital Wasteland. Though the global atomic war of 2077 left the US all but destroyed, the residents of Vault 101 enjoy a life free from Giant Insects, Raiders, Slavers, and yes, even Super Mutants. Yet one morning, you awake to find that your father has left the comfort and security afforded by Vault 101 for reasons unknown. Leaving the only home you've ever known, you emerge from the Vault into the harsh Wasteland sun to search for your father. Fallout 3 is a singleplayer action role-playing game (RPG) that combines the horrific insanity of the Cold War era theory of mutually assured destruction gone terribly wrong with the kitschy naivety of American 1950s nuclear propaganda.

Mind-Blowing Artificial Intelligence - Radiant AI, America's First Choice in Human Interaction Simulation. Facial expressions, gestures, unique dialog, and lifelike behavior are brought together with stunning results Eye-Popping Prettiness - Witness the harsh realities of nuclear fallout rendered like never before in modern super-deluxe HD graphics

The third game in the Fallout series, Fallout 3 is a singleplayer action role-playing game (RPG) set in a post-apocalyptic Washington DC. Combining the horrific insanity of the Cold War era theory of mutually assured destruction gone terribly wrong, with the kitschy naivety of American 1950s nuclear propaganda, Fallout 3 will satisfy both players familiar with the popular first two games in its series as well as those coming to the franchise for the first time.

The Cold War goes Next-Gen

Welcome to the nation's capital. View larger.

The Brotherhood of Steel is a powerful ally. View larger.

Customize characters with your Pip-Boy. View larger.

The Story: Vault 101 - Jewel of the Wastes
For 200 years, Vault 101 , a fallout shelter, has faithfully served the surviving residents of Washington DC and its environs, now known as the Capital Wasteland. Though the global atomic war of 2077 left the US all but destroyed, the residents of Vault 101 enjoy a life free from the constant stress of the outside world. Giant Insects, Raiders, Slavers, and yes, even Super Mutants are all no match for superior Vault-Tec engineering. Yet one fateful morning, you awake to find that your father has defied the Overseer and left the comfort and security afforded by Vault 101 for reasons unknown. Leaving the only home you've ever known, you emerge from the Vault into the harsh Wasteland sun to search for your father, and the truth.

Key Features:

• Limitless Freedom! - Take in the sights and sounds of the vast Capital Wasteland! See the great monuments of the United States lying in post-apocalyptic ruin! You make the choices that define you and change the world. Just keep an eye on your Rad Meter!
• Experience S.P.E.C.I.A.L.! - Vault-Tec engineers bring you the latest in human ability simulation - the SPECIAL Character System! Utilizing new breakthroughs in points-based ability representation, SPECIAL affords unlimited customization of your character. Also included are dozens of unique skills and perks to choose from, each with a dazzling variety of effects!
• Fantastic New Views! - The wizards at Vault-Tec have done it again! No longer constrained to just one view, experience the world from 1st or 3rd person perspective. Customize your view with the touch of a button!
• The Power of Choice! - Feeling like a dastardly villain today, or a Good Samaritan? Pick a side or walk the line, as every situation can be dealt with in many different ways. Talk out your problems in a civilized fashion, or just flash your Plasma Rifle.
• Blast 'Em Away With V.A.T.S.! -Even the odds in combat with the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System for your Pip-Boy Model 3000! V.A.T.S. allows you to pause time in combat, target specific body parts on your target, queue up attacks, and let Vault-Tec take out your aggression for you. Rain death and destruction in an all-new cinematic presentation featuring gory dismemberments and spectacular explosions.
• Mind-Blowing Artificial Intelligence! - At Vault-Tec, we realize that the key to reviving civilization after a global nuclear war is people. Our best minds pooled their efforts to produce an advanced version of Radiant AI, America's First Choice in Human Interaction Simulation. Facial expressions, gestures, unique dialog, and lifelike behavior are brought together with stunning results by the latest in Vault-Tec technology.
• Eye-Popping Prettiness! - Witness the harsh realities of nuclear fallout rendered like never before in modern super-deluxe HD graphics. From the barren Wasteland, to the danger-filled offices and metro tunnels of DC, to the hideous rotten flesh of a mutant's face.

System Requirements:

Customer Reviews:

• Fallout 3
  oh man..bethesda did a great job on this even though this is my first intro into the fallout series, and for all of you vet fallouts it clearly states this doesn't really follow off of the last chapter. instead another story in the wastes of america and focusing on a certain character. im 8+ hours into the game and have just begun on the 2nd part of main story! last 7 was doing sidequests and getting higher lvl. exploring the wastes of D.C. is insane! was overwhelmed on the options of what to do....and intimidated cause anything above 3 raiders and i was owned xD. im runnin this on a c2d e8XXX proc with a 8600gt 512mb card so i cant really do much pertaining to graphical specs on this game although what ive experienced even for these spec areas is unbelievable! windows xp seems to have a problem loading the client for me to download the latest expansion, liberation anchorage...says i need a hotfix but just forwards me to a troubleshoot page..wtf is up with this? no problems considering bugs as of yet..though had one switching out of my pip-boy one time fighting some mutants..might of been cause i was testing out high settings on my gfx...whether if your an rpg person or just curious this is worth the buy. i seemed to have gotten this while it wes 39.99 ^^. lucky me as well with the super save shipping. refer to other reviews for more thorough input as this is my first take on the fallout happenings. i will say this is well worth the 40bucks unlike some others ive bought which turned out to be 10hr sitdowns......more info
• Fun Game but constant crashing really stinks
  A lot of fun to play, but only when it works, which ain't often. It crashes every hour or so and once it does it many times will not load up again and you have to back up some number of saves to find a working starting point.
  
  I am a die hard Fallout fan. I was ticked when I heard that Bethesda was going to do the game because I knew that meant FPS and not the fallout I wanted. But I found a good deal online on the game so I got it anyway. WOW! I feel sorry for any Fallout fan that does not try it. Yes, it feels a lot like a FPS but I do not get the "motion sickness" I remember from the DOOM days. Boy is it fun too. As I contemplate it, I find that this is a most appropriate sequel. Here is a summary of the good, the bad, and the ugly.
  
  The GOOD:
  
  1) plenty of questing and subplots, many quests have depth to them. Its both quality and quantity. There is easily two orders of magnitude in questing and game locations as compared to Fallout and Fallout 2.
  
  2) good visuals, VATS is great, IT IS NOT what some were calling a "half baked attempt at turned based combat". It is an integral part of the experience. And the physics engine (gravity/motion etc.) works pretty well too. There is nothing like decapitating an enemy and then watching the head take 15 seconds to roll and bounce down a big hill (cool!). You will also like it when you get a critical kill, and three or four seconds later you hear "kaplunk". You think "what was that" then realize it was the body parts you blasted off the mutant, falling into the water around you (hehe).
  
  3) new badguy types introduced into the game over time. Yes, I know, go for the head shot critical. But this only works 50% of the time. The rest of the time you will need a strategy other than or in addition to "combat shotgun to the head". To survive, you will have to use cover a lot (don't underplay SNEAK skill, it makes a difference in this game). Also consider shooting to disarm your apponent when they have you way out gunned.
  
  4) nice balance of weaponry: not all weapons are equally effective against all foes. You will have to conserve your ammo for though you can always find ammo, not all ammo types are plentiful at all times. You won't feel good when you hear the "click click" of an empty cartridge in the middle of combat. This means you will need skills with multiple weapons types and multiple strategies to go with them. Do not underestimate the value of a good solid club against the right opponents. Besides, don't you want to see what the Abraham Lincoln Repeater can do? After all, trying each different weapon type to see what it kills and how it kills it, is part of the fun.
  
  5) skills and perks have changed emphasis a little: this is actually good, because it means some skills and perks that were ignored in Fallout and Fallout 2 can actually impact gameplay and character development in Fallout 3. There will always be plenty of killing (this is a FPS in many respects after all), but you can't kill if your gun don't work so you will be using REPAIR skill often, and you get an guaranteed critical if your first shot is in SNEAK mode plus your aim is better, so why not use it. There are clearly two alternate aspects to character development, combat ability, and NPC interaction. It is just not clear how different the dialog and hence the game would be if someone put more into the second rather than the first. I will wager for example that few will take "Child at Heart" perk. I haven't. I wonder what kind of conversations I am missing.
  
  The BAD:
  
  1) Perks are somewhat unbalanced: for example, the Explorer perk should come early on (maybe as a reward for some big quest?) so that we can explore the game more fully during regular game play. I suspect this comes at the end of the perk list because developers did not want to have quests end early because the player did them out of sequence somehow? Not sure. Just seems a shame that we have to wait till the end of the game for it.
  
  2) Character looks to be limited to 20 levels: This means that you can't have all level 20 perks. You get only one of them. Everyone takes Grim Reaper's Sprint so why bother with the others. I would like to have access to the other perks too and as I said before, earlier in the game. I don't want an invincible character, just an interesting one.
  
  3) At times the dialog is unsatisfying. There are neat extras in places "like the disc of you dad getting frisky with your mom", but many have complained about transparent plot and obvious answers during dialog with NPCs. I for one have never written this dialog for a game so I hesitate to make such judgements. Still as I said, in places it is unsatisfying.
  
  All in all though, not much bad to talk about.
  
  The Ugly
  
  1) Crash Crash Crash: what is there to say. This is a "game of the year" game. I should be giving it five stars. But I can't. No matter how fun a game is, if it crashes to your desktop, or hangs your machine, every fifteen minutes, then how can the game be enjoyed. Someone at Bethesda really screwed up. I write software for a living too, and if I released software with the severity and number of bugs as this software product has, I'd be fired and even sued for it. Shame on Bethesda Softworks. I really hope you guys make a Fallout 4, but if you aren't able or willing to make sure most bugs are out, then your are fired. Don't bother us with the frustrations please. We can find something else to play instead.
  
  Hail Flavius....more info
• It's another Oblivion!
  This is just another Oblivion with some sci-fi make over. big chunk of conversation makes me falling to sleep. Not my type of game....more info
• Greatest Game Ever in Comparison to other releases?
  I am shocked by the 3 star rating this game currently has - but its all due to all of these people with crash problems relating to their garbage computers - they didn't even play the game.
  
  Okay... So I'm typically a first person shooter type guy... maybe some strategy games... cod's, battlefield, halo, c&c etc... never really liked rpg's.. although I guess this is much different... more like a fps/rpg combo... anyways... I feel that this is perhaps one of the greatest video game releases ever - I've never had so much fun playing a game before.
  
  The graphics are great...the story...creativity...the environments...the attention to detail - amazing. It seems like the people put double or probably more time into the making of this game in comparison to others. ...So anyways... the game starts off with this story and you get out into this huge map with tons of places to explore/clear out bad guys and a looot of quests to do for people.. the game is different for everybody... sort of Spoiler - I lived in this one town whereas my friend destroyed it and lived somewhere else...later to rebuild that town and make a strip club there...haha. I've had slave followers... a dog.. certain friends...my friend has had completely different experiences. I may even consider playing it again sometime... the scope of this game is huge ...huge map...Lots of quests to perform while attempting to complete a main goal then finally it gets back to that original story and you get into places you never thought you could and whew. Its just awesome. Trust me - just buy it.
  
  Of note - it did crash on me a few times during gameplay...but do as i did.... just hit F5 every 10ish min..and its no problem at all. ...more info
• Fallout 3
  Excellent RPG and I have played all the stellar ones... The Witcher, Elder Scrolls Oblivion... Neverwinter Nights... etc. Excellent graphics and the atmospherics for a post-nuclear Washington DC are are exceptional. Combat system rocks as well....more info
• F for Fallout 3
  I enjoyed both Fallout and Fallout 2. I'll pass on Fallout 3. I refuse to believe a game has to be laced with foul language to make it gritty or more realistic....more info
• Awsome RPGFFS
  This game is really lots of fun, and lets the play play the game however he likes, you can run and gun, like a First Person shooter, or you can talk your way through thing, steal, use your computer knowledge, or etc. more like an rpg. this game has hours upon hours of game play and even more with the expansions that are now available through Microsoft Live....more info
• Doing the Fallout series Proud
  I actually want catastrophic nuclear war to happen if the results end up being like Fallout 3. Sure, the loss of 90% of the world's population would be bad, but the Fallout series is just so darn entertaining!
  
  It isn't anything like the originals except for its unique, retro style and cute lil' Vault Boy illustrations. But this isn't a bad thing, as the first person perspective let's you see the ugly, twisted world with crisp, beautiful graphics. You can practically feel the radiation (probably because you are sitting two close to your dual monitors).
  
  The PC version loads significantly faster than the console versions (at least the PS3 version) depending on your system. The game does use some sort of securom technology, but this never once affected my game in terms of installation, gameplay, or anything else I do with my computer. I didn't even know it was there until someone told me. I'd say that's about the definition of unobtrusive.
  
  The game is NOT "oblivion with guns" as some people might claim. Oblivion sucked, Fallout doesn't. Do you actually know anyone that finished oblivion's long, boring, and dull main quest? If you do, they probably don't have much of a life or are one of those obsessive people that just has to finish what they start. Regardless, there's no reason to compare Fallout to oblivion; Fallout has a great main quest and tons of impressive side-quests, characters that you actually remember (Mr. Burke is my hero?) and combat that is actually exciting. The only thing I remember about Oblivion is going to hell more times in a row than a satanic reincarnating cigarette smoker (okay, it's a bit of a stretch as similes go).
  
  My opinion is that Fallout 3 is a great 3rd installment to a brilliant series and is perhaps one of the best games to come out in the past few years.
  
  I could go on and on about why Fallout is so great, but with the number of reviews already posted for this game...well, I'll assume some other geek with lots of free time covers it (thanks, I owe you a beer!) ...more info
• Third Times the Charm
  As incredible as Fallout 3 is, I only wish is that they re-make Fallout, Fallout 2, Combat Tactics with the newer format. ...more info
• More of a new game then a sequel
  The game play of this game has the same feel as Fable 2; its role playing but from a first person perspective. ...more info
• Addicting
  GREAT GRAPHICS. Good storyline. Love the Nuclear Hollocaust theme. V.A.T.S. mode is the coolest. Addicting game, Spent over a month on it doing different things and beating it different ways. Big waste of time. It was really fun for the 1st week or 2 but then it just got boring. Cool like Bioshock in a RPG way. I'm more of a multiplayer shooter person than a RGP type of game player FYI....more info
• Great game
  Of all the games I've bought over the years, Fallout 3 has provided me the most of what I look for in a game. I've run through the game many times now, without getting bored, with each time being different than the last due to different choices made throughout the game. Though it's lots of fun being a truly evil character, being a good character is enjoyable too once in a while. I've only finished the game once, completing the major storyline, but that's not the end; just restart and don't complete the storyline, and you've got many more hours of fun as you can just keep on going as long as you like. Many mods are available too, to change things up and keep things interesting. Plus, DLCs are now available to extend the game even further. Now, if they'd just make an MMO out of it so I can play against other characters, not just NPCs ... that would really shake things up....more info
• What's the use of a 5 star game if you can't play it?
  The game is a crap-shoot. You might be able to play the game in its entirety without a crash. If so, count yourself lucky.
  
  From the ten minutes of the game I did manage to play, the game seems fun and the story seems interesting. However, I can't seem to get any farther than that without the game crashing. In addition, if I try to load a saved game, the game crashes my PC.
  
  You may have the best game in the world, but if you can't play it, what's the point?...more info
• Games for Windows Live should be Illegal
  Awesome game and you can play just fine until you load patch 1.1. If you load this patch and if you get lured into loading Games for Windows Live on your PC you will lose all your save games for other games that use GfW Live. GfW Live is causing major head-aches and disruptions on the PC. It should not be installed on any of your computers. You have been warned!!! ...more info
• The best game I have ever played...
  This is the first time I have been COMPLETELY wrapped up in a game. The graphics are amazing, and I found myself staring in awe at the ruins of D.C. And it has some great humor in it. I found myself giggling like a gossiping girl at some of the dialogue. The controls are the standard, basically, this is Oblivion with guns. And shooting raider's heads off at point blank range never gets old. I beat the game in 3 days, but that is only because I COULD NOT STOP PLAYING! Seriously, you need this game. I can't play the originals (turn based, you understand, right?), but this is bar none my favorite game of all time. If you are a boycotter because of securom, all it requires is a disk check. Or, buy the game and download a ripped copy. The developers get payed, and you are happy, physically and morally....more info
• Can't Play This Game
  I bought this for my husband for Christmas (at his suggestion) and wish I hadn't. What a huge waste of good money.
  
  He installed the game just fine, went online to register it, and then could not play it. When he tries to launch the game it simply takes him back to the desktop.
  
  He has a brand new computer as of last year with a nvidia geforce video card that is up to the game specs. He also has 2G of RAM, so I think the computer he is using should be gold for playing this game.
  
  Ah, well, in a couple of years, on an even newer computer, maybe he will get to play it eventually. Meanwhile, what a waste of his time and my money....more info
• Great Game, but some problems
  I found this game to be amazing in many ways. One thing to keep in mind while you read this is that I have not played the first or second fallout. Lets just do the typical Pros and Cons since it is clear and easy.
  
  Pros:
  1) Graphics: Everyone knows the graphics are amazing. And with mods you can even make it 10 times better. You have to have an amazing computer to handle max settings, though. I can put literally everything in Oblivion to the max and mod it to make the graphics even better and it hardly slows down. Fallout, on the other hand, my comp can barely handle half settings. They even state that this game is made to incorporate bleeding edge technology. I can only imagine how awesome it would be to spend hundreds to thousands of dollars upping your computer and then getting a game that will actually utilize your purchases to the fullest.
  
  2)Mods: This seems to be one thing reviewers haven't really talked about. Everything that you hate about this game (except bugs/crashes) can virtually all be fixed with mods. I hated the small amount of songs for one of the radio stations, so I got more. I abhored the Asteroid like night sky (all the stars look like the shots fired from your ship in the original Asteroids), so I got a better night sky. I really, really hated the weapon sounds, so I got new ones. And I thought it was stupid there were no drivable vehicles, but there is a mod that allows you to ride a motorcycle. Not only this but you can add all sorts of funny crazy cool things. This helped make the games at least 100 times better, especially after you have beaten the game.
  
  2) Length: This game is so freaking long, especially with the downloadable content. There is literally at least 100 hours worth of play, as well as all sorts of secret things that you can find. One example being a gun called the Alien Blaster.
  
  3) Music: Contrary to what many people think, I enjoyed the music. I thought it definitely fit the atmosphere, and even added to it. The radio stations are limited in amount of songs (but as I said this can be fixed with mods) but I think it is a brilliant idea and makes the game exponentially better. My favorite radio station is Agathas Station who plays creepy violin songs. These songs, I feel, fit Fallout so perfectly that I can't think of a metaphore/analogy for another perfect thing to make it more clear. . . XD
  
  4) Humor: Again, contrary to what many people think, I think this game is abundant in awesome humor, "dark humor" as its called. I laugh hysterically a lot of the time, and many times I get at least a chuckle out o' me body. Even as your installing the game there is a banner thats completely filled with this dark humor. Its all over the game in many different forms and presented differently to keep it constantly fresh. Granted, there are times it is executed poorly, as it is every movie, game, book, TV show, etc that conatains and focuses on humor. . . I think I'm just easily amused.
  
  5) VATS: VATS is a way to essentially stop time and pick body parts to specifically shoot at. It sort of becomes matrix like after you chose the parts and began shooting, but its purpose is to have awesome camera angles and close ups of your shots and the dead bodies. Regardless, I know many people dislike this because there were times that your view was obstructed due to these camera angles. While this is true, it is not obstructed 100% of the time, nor even close to 25% of the time, so I really don't know why people complain. Even when the view gets obstructed it changes the camera angles as you shoot (seemingly randomly, sometimes changing every time you shoot, sometimes not). There are many, many times that you got a great view of a rocket or a bullet smashing into people and blowing them up. I've seen a lot of views that even follow the bullet, which is really cool as well. Watching body parts explode close up is also awesome.
  
  6) Story: I don't know what other people thought of the story, but I found it incredibly enjoyable. I haven't fully played Broken Steel which continues the story but I still feel this is an interesting story with interesting characters. The main story isn't all that complex and I wouldn't be surprised if many people could predict what was going to happen in many instances. However, the story was intriguing and it kept me interested. If any of you have played Oblivion, this story was way more complex I think. Also like Oblivion, the side stories themselves are incredibly humorous, fun, exciting, interesting, etc. . .
  
  Cons:
  1) Bugs/Crashes: This is the biggest bone I have with this game. I haven't had any problem installing the game even though I use vista (as many users have complained about not being able to install with vista) and I have had it installed in 64 and 32 bit with no problems. However, there are many, many bugs within the game. This is pretty universal with every review I've read, so I think you can consider this truth. There are minor things that I don't care about, one example being a blown off part of someone body jumping around and spazzing out, its actually entertaining to see body parts flying through the room. But there are other bugs that piss me off, one quest I couldn't finish (even though I had done half of it) and so I had to reload way before, only to find out it was still broken. This kind of thing happens a lot to me; it seems a lot of quests get screwed up for no apparent reason and stay screwed up, and it's really hard to work around these (despite what other viewers say). I guess I have crappy luck. . . I've fallen into the world, I've been blown inside a rock (and have seen many NPC's also stuck in some object), and occasionally the game just simply crashes and you have no clue why.
  
  2) Digital Rights Managment: I don't care about this type of DRM as it seemingly is only for checking if you have a legit copy of Fallout in your disk drive, but you need to know this game has it, and with SecuRom you always have to be wary since it is Malware/Spyware. Just keep this in mind, you may want to get it for the 360 if you loath this junk (like me, but I didn't know it had it. . . or that I would get a 360)
  
  3) Oblivion Clone?: Yes it is. However, this game and its setting drew me way into it, so I really didn't focus on its similarity to Oblivion. It is not that the world or the nasties are the same, but it really just seems like an apocalyptic Oblivion with guns to tell you the truth.
  
  4) Choices?: Many complain that you reeeeally don't have choices. . . even though they next say you have to choose between doing something evil, or good, throwing a grenade, or hacking a terminal. . . which ARE choices. . . Regardless, there really aren't all that many of them. There are perks that you can get with levels that are suppose to increase your choices, two examples are perks that are suppose to open up more conversation dialogues with children, or with the opposite sex, but it doesn't seem to add much. But no matter what, the results are exactly the same. Many people have said this, and its true. Whats the point in having this choice between a turret and a grenade if it results in everyone dying? Shouldn't something sometime have a crazy, uninteninal result that will effect you the rest of the game??? The choices are so simple and far apart in many instances that it almost seems like a tacked on thing rather than an integral part of the game.
  
  5) Broken Steel (downloadable content): I realize that this is not part of the game I'm reviewing and you have to buy it seperately. However, Broken Steel continues this games story, so I figured it would be fine to include. But its in the cons for a reason. When this first came out Windows Live had to be fixed in order to get the game working. However, I still get some crashes while playing Steel (some say due to the newest patch). The biggest problem, though, is every time I quite the game it crashes instead of ending. I've uninstalled Steel and quite and it doesn't crash, and before Steel is loaded and your in the main menu I can quit and again doesn't crash. I've taken off every mod and these same results happen, so I'm 99% sure its Steel.
  
  Regardless of these problems this is a great game. This game has so much to it that I consider it worthy of all the proffesional reviews that give it all those amazing ratings. The length alone is comendable since games are becoming shorter and shorter every year it seems. The fun this contains lasts longer than many games as well, I've played this for hundreds of hours now yet I can still have a blast playing it and finding new things. One example of this happened with Agatha's violin songs which I mentioned previously. I played through the game twice (once evil, once good) and didn't even know Agatha existed, even though I attempted to do as many side quests as I could. Great stuff, I definitly recommend this game....more info
• Excellent Game
  This is an excellent game if you like RPG games with a FPS feel and element. It blends the two game types and puts the player into a crazy post apocalyptic world where they have the freedom to proceed in any way they wish. There are plenty of locations to explore, characters to meet, quests to complete, items to interact with, baddies to kill, and the game has many 'wow,' moments.
  
  The number of 1 star reviews of the PC version of this game is surprising, but if the 1.1 patch was truly that buggy and legitimate owners of the game had that many problems it would bother me as well.
  
  The problem with the 1 star reviews are a certain percentage are from people who got the game from torrent or other warez sites, didn't patch to 1.5, have problematic systems, etc.
  
  I bought this game one week ago and patched to 1.5 and have not had any game breaking issues. The one problem I do have is when alt-tabbing out the game will often not alt-tab back correctly, which means you have to restart and that gets annoying.
  
  I've been gaming since the PET computer, Atari days, PC gaming, XBox, etc., days and have played the range of games from terrible to excellent. Fallout 3 is in the excellent category.
  
  The main storyline is fairly short and can be rushed through. Some of the dungeon crawls are also repetitive. The level of gore and slow motion decapitations, limb amputations, and body explosions are very prominent and even excessive.
  
  The types of enemies lack variety and can be repetitive. If you are skilled at FPS games it can also be frustrating since at first no matter how good you are at aiming, your character's low skills will make it frustrating to shoot something that is 10 feet away in game and missing.
  
  Just wandering around the wasteland, seeing icons of Washington and landmarks in a blown up, ruined state brings up strange feelings. Trying to survive through eating irradiated mutated flesh, beating down gun toting raiders with a baseball bat to conserve ammo is a challenge and the game has several difficulty settings to suit your skill and play style.
  
  Fallout 3 is pretty close to exactly what I wanted and was hoping for. I was even impressed enough that I bought 2 of the collector's lunch boxes on EBay because of how they were featured in game....more info
• the anticipation was killing me
  best fallout!!!!!!!!! so far, allthoug it takes away the playmode of the preview game editions...more info
• A 3 wheeled Ferarri
  THIS GAME DOES NOT WORK ON THE PC! I guess my quad & 8 gig ram, 9600gt video wasn't enough for this game. This game was sold by bethesda with no workable patch. This game crashes from the very start and cannot be played with any consistancy. It's basically worthless. Thankfully I got it new on ebay for 15 bucks so my exposure is limited. For what its worth, the landscape in this game is truly amazing, the best I have ever seen. The story line is very good and the graphics incredible. I had to play this game in god mode just to get any minimal play out of this before a crash occurred. If you can get this for free and have a high tolerance for frustration, try it. But by all means, don't buy it!!!!...more info
• not a FPS version of Fallout or Fallout 2 at all...
  Hype, too much floating around still about this game. I was a huge fan of Fallout 1 and 2, liked Oblivion and Morrowind, but when combined..meh.The world is dead....not in an apocalyptic sense, as in lifeless..redundant npcs, overused filler, like how many times do I have to look at the same traincar in every subway? Oh wow, another pointless pile of sandbags? Oooh another storage closet with tin cans and broom handles, say it isnt so. Too much reused backdrop everywhere period...boring. The gameplay is not that fun, much better first person shooters out there, way better RPGs out there..the whole package just feels pointless and lacks compelling elements to keep me playing, voice acting was weak in delivery. Story was meh, not for 40$..buy this one at 20$ trust me. ...more info
• Great game.
  Been playing this game on and off for the last 3 weeks now and it's GREAT fun
  Be aware you'll need the latest video/sound/motherboard drivers, otherwise you'll experience crashing problems, which seems to plague this otherwise, great title.
  Posted a couple of VATS videos on youtube, to - http://www.youtube.com/user/UOForums...more info
• Fallout 3
  Takes a decent computer to run it. Has good graphics. Lots of replay value. Extra game content with expansions. Game is well worth what I paid for it.
  
  Shipping was a problem. It took way too long to what I had been told via the website..a week late. Had to call customer support to find out where it was. The person I spoke to was helpful but due to the language difference, he was in India, it did make it hard to understand everything he was saying. ...more info
• You can't lose with this game
  This is one of the best games that I've ever played. It's challenging and the graphics are top notch. I would recommend this to anybody anytime anywhere....more info
• Those whining about Copy Protection are duping you.
  I only have this to say...this game is so amazing, that I not only have it on my 360, but I went out and got a copy for my Laptop PC as well.
  
  Allot of "reviewers" are using this forum to leverage the fact that they are angry that the game is copy protected, however, unless you have DVD Clone Drives, or programs that mount ISO files as a "readable disk" you're probably not going to have the problems they are. This is because SecureROM bundles such software in the category of "pirate tools", their thinking being that those using said programs are probably making or using illegal copies of DVDs or games.
  
  That's probably something only the individual user can determine, and is the root of that whole argument.
  
  That said, Fallout3 is incredible. I'm not a real RPG fan, but this game was able to win me over by integrating a little FPS into the mix, allowing the player to either "take the shots" like one would in a first person shooter like Quake, or use "VATS," the game's statistics-driven hit system, and let you play more like what you'd see in a "pure" RPG like Diablo, etc.
  
  The size and detail of the world is amazing, and, quite honestly, it really doesn't feel like a "console port" on the PC, nor does it feel like a "dummied down PC game" on the 360. Bethesda did a great job of maintaining the strengths of all platforms, as well as keeping the content 100% the same across them so you wouldn't feel ripped off, regardless of the version(s) you bought.
  
  The gameplay area is HUGE. you really can't appreciate how big this game is until you are several hours into it. I've spent insane amounts of time just freeform adventuring, ignoring the quests. The game, I'm told, is about 12-20 hours. I suppose that's true if you stay on quest, but if you choose not to, you have an amazing world to explore.
  
  The ONLY thing I wish I could do is save over LIVE and access my save-games across the 360 and the PC.
  
  But that would almost be too perfect.
  
  This is definitely GotY material. Well above anything else this year....more info
• Not what I wanted... Not what I thought
  This game is all about talking to computer characters at a slow and lagging pace. NO online fun, no reason to pay more than 10-15$ Wait for this to hit the used bin and you won't be sorry you waited....more info
• Fallout 3
  There is nothing bad that I can say about Fallout 3, I have the PC and the 360 versions of the game and I love them. I have spent many hours just wandering around and doing whatever I please, that's what makes is a great game. The free roaming and the battle system and complimented by the level ups that you gain through killing monsters and finishing quests. ...more info
• Addictive
  Fallout 3 is an addictive FPS game. Your specially-built character grows in ability with gained experience. The quests seem to keep coming and many are interesting. Player control of the game speed and character situation is a big part of the enjoyment we get from Fallout 3. The quests are not linear - that is, you can accept one or not and there is no particular order in which they must be taken. Lots of time-wasting fun....more info
• 3 wrods f.u.n
  i played this game a bit and i love it so much buy it its cool...more info
• A "Blast" of Fun!
  Fallout 3 was a lot of fun! I spent about 100 hours and never truly got bored. Bethesda did a great job of providing a sense of freedom in a world that was graphically stunning, logical, darkly charming, and for the first several game sessions downright scary. Even the soundtrack/music/radio options provided logical and humorous choices! Much better than Oblivion. This is the best "solo" FPS/RPG that I have ever played and my only complaint is that I am already done and I will miss the world of Fallout 3.
  
  I have never bothered to write a review before, but Fallout 3 deserves the praise. Please don't be fooled by the average of "three stars" - that average is brought down by technical glitches. When you read through those "one star" reviews you will see that even most of those disgruntled by the technical glitches loved this game....more info
• A worthy sequel
  I originally ordered the exclusive Survival Edition. I saw the "premium" Pip Boy 3000 that made up $50 of the price and promptly returned it all for a full refund. (I am grateful for Amazon's prompt handling of the refund.) I finally decided to give the game a try again, this time going with just the basic (though the Collector's Edition bobblehead was well made and probably worth the additional cost).
  
  This review is written after I've put in 20 to 30 hours of gameplay. I've done about one-third of the main quest and have spent a lot of time doing side quests and just exploring.
  
  This game is incredible. I've played through Fallout 1 and 2 a dozen times or more each and absolutely love them. I was wary of the new format, based on all the reviews I'd seen that bashed it. However, I think Fallout 3 is a worthy addition to the Fallout franchise. Sure, it's different, but lots of games are different as the series matures and technology improves over time. There are a lot of improvements to the game play. I love the new PipBoy 3000 and the fact that you can listen to Galaxy News Radio all day. Catchy tunes. I love the inventory interface and the fact that you can repair items and build new ones. I love the interactions with the environment. I love the fact that you can use VATS to do head shots and get amazing criticals. (I also love the three or four ways criticals are shown.) It's nice to be able to do a faster paced game as well.
  
  With everything that's been added to the game, I offer two opinions:
  1. Fallout 3 is a great game and a great addition to the Fallout series, despite the changes in the interface.
  2. Fallout 3 is NOT "Oblivion with Guns." Far from it.
  
  Fallout 3 does have a much darker tone than the earlier Fallout games. It also lacks the same comedic elements. There are pros and cons to this. I think the environment is much more realistic and enjoy playing in it a lot. I do miss some of the comedic elements, though I understand you can make some fun of your own. (One example being the fact that you can put grenades in people's inventory and blow them up, as shown in the game demos.)
  
  A note on the DRM issue. Fallout 3 DOES NOT have SecuROM! If you load the game with FalloutLauncher.exe, you'll have a DVD check before the game starts. (I've not tested it to see if you can load it up to change options without the DVD.) If you load Fallout3.exe, however, the game does not have a DVD check. So, the launcher has SecuROM, but the game does not.
  
  Finally, a note on video CODECs. Fallout 3 and Oblivion use Bink to show video in the game. Some video coders/decoders are incompatible and cause the games to crash constantly. I ran into this problem after installing Roxio Easy CD Creator Suite 9, which led to all kinds of "ActiveMovie Window" windows popping up and pulling me out of the game. It was horrible. I finally solved the problem. If you run into this on a PC, I'd suggest you look for a tool to reset your video CODECS and then reinstall them using K-Lite Basic CODEC Pack or something similar. Yes, this will reset your system and will probably cause a lot of frustrations in getting certain programs working again (so don't do this unless you know what you're doing!), but it solved the issues I was having. Gameplay has been great since I fixed the drivers.
  
  Bottom line: If you want to be cranky, don't buy the game. Just keep on complaining about SecuROM, "Oblivion with Guns," and dissimilarities with the earlier Fallout games. If you have an open mind, give this a try. This sequel is well worth the decade wait since Fallout 2 was released....more info
• Sugar in the fuel lines.
  It surprises me that in spite of all the obvious TLC that went into Fallout 3, no one in Bethesda thought to give it decent storyline. Interesting characters introduced at the beginning of the game will never be heard from again. Your rivaling faction will get in your way maybe twice, then simply disappear after a ho-hum fireworks show. And, to add insult to injury, the game doesn't even have an end-boss. That's right, all that leveling and gun-tuning won't mean a damned thing in the final chapter of Fallout 3 - you'll be fighting trash mobs from the beginning of the game to the end of it. Don't bother saving those Mini Nukes.
  
  What a shame. Underneath the narrative, there is a time consuming and entertaining video game in Fallout 3. The mechanics of combat are so fun, that I actually looked forward to enemy combat (whereas in too many RPGs I find myself dreading it). There's lots of great weaponry, towns, characters, monsters, and items. The side-quests are often fairly engaging and satisfying. The gameplay is open-ended (for the most part), and runs smoothly on my mid-low range laptop.
  
  But what good is it all in a game that is so driven by a narrative that could pass as a poorly written fan fiction?
  
  Overall good, but frustratingly disappointing. ...more info
• A Great RPG
  I just wanted to start off saying this game is addictive. You can take many different approaches of completing missions. There is so much depth in this game it will feel like a actual life. There are so many ways to customize your character you will have a hard time getting bored with tweaking your character. I highly recommend if you love RPGs. The story is well written and a lot of side quest which are also written well. It is not a bad action game either, but there are better ones out there. It is a great game and I get absorbed by it every time I play. I did not buy the retail, but purchased it off of Steam, so I am not sure if it has corruptible DRM. It is a great game though and I highly recommend it....more info
• Simply Stunning
  Fallout 3 takes you to the future, and lands you in the middle of the Capital Wasteland. This game is absolutely stunning for any RPG fanatic. Best of all, you can play it however you want. Don't feel like shooting things? Sneak around them or even talk it out. Fallout 3 is THE game of the year for 2008.
  
  The DRM in this game is nothing more than a disk check, but cracks are readily available. Also, it did freeze, but that wasn't the game's fault. My computer was overheating. After I fixed the heat problems, I haven't had a single hiccup. I suggest to the one star reviewers that they actually play the game, or at least make sure they have a reason to complain....more info
• don't buy this
  this really sucked 1900 x 1080 on hdmi looks like 800 x 600, enemy AI are boring, killing one requires 20 shots from 10 mm. bethesda should take a bluecard to eu, the quality is zero....more info