PC News and Game Reviews

Brief preview of Fallout 3 on the Xbox 360 (First 10 Levels)

The christmas rush is here again. Developers around the globe are working round the clock to have
games on store shelves for the holidays.And as always with this time of year we’re spoiled for choice
with dozens of games battling for our cash.One such game is the new offering for Bethesda, makers of ESIV: Oblivion and now Fallout 3.

First off i’d like to clarify, i have never played the original Fallout games. But judging from screenshots that really doesn’t matter as this new title seems to be nothing like its predecessor’s.
Of course we have a similar setting but apart from that gameplay, view and pretty much everything else has been changed for this new outing.

Outline/Gameplay

The game kicks off in typical RPG fashion as you design your character and lay the ground work to mold him into a certain class. I have to say i was really impressed with how Bethesda freshened this experiance up. When you start the game you literally start at your character’s beginings. After ploping out of your mother you are greeted by your father (Liam Neeson). And through him you make choices on sex and apperance. You then get to experiance a gaming first as you take your first baby steps around and discover your skills using a pop-up book. There’s more progression iinside the vault as you move up through childhood, teen years and finally become an adult.

Its then that the game really kicks off as you leave the safety of the vault and enter Capital Wasteland. Once outside you really get the Oblivion feel about the game. Lots of open world to explore and NPC’s to meet. You really have to take alook around your surroundings to find what to do. The story isn’t sppon fed to you. Its all around you, on the radio, in books and notes or just picked up by earwigging on NPC conversations.

Now on to the fun part, the combat. This is where Fallout really sets itself apart from Oblivion. Combat is handled in two ways. As a basic FPS, relieing on your own skills to take down opponents. Alternatively you can use V.A.T.S, this feature basically lets you target specific parts of your enemy with the hit percentage based of distance and your skill with the equipped weapon. Its comes in really handy when the surrounded as you can target multiple opponents to attack. It also works as a kind of overview/command tool, giving you the chance to think about your strategy before attacking.

There is a downside to V.A.T.S though, it relies on AP (Action Points). This means you are limtied to a certain number of shots. The amount per shot depends on the weapon equipped. Once you expend your AP you need to wait from them to replenish. I think this was a smart idea by Bethesda, if you had infinite AP the game would be more like an RPG from FP than an FPS/RPG.

GFX

Graphically Fallout looks gritty and dull, but in a good way. Th art design matches the setting very well and although it wouldn’t rival Crysis it suits the game. Of course the version tested was on the 360 so add some AA on the PC and it will look even better.

What really stood out so far is the graphic ways to kill your enemies. There’s lots of bloody murder with arms, legs, torso’s and heads flying especially when using V.A.T.S. There’s also the Bloody Mess skill which basically devastates your opponent to bits, this has been one of my favourites so far.

As with any RPG there’s not much to say about the GFX apart from they lend themselves well to emersing you into the gameworld.

Conclusion

So far i’m really enjoying the game. Although it is very reminescent of Oblivion it brings enough to the table to keep me involved. I think the best way to describe it is as a lovechild of Oblivion and Stalker. After 8hrs i’ve barely cracked the surface of the main story and i feel there’s a hell of alot more to experiance. Expect a full review soon.

If your in anyway into your console RPG’s, you’ed of realized as i have that up to now the Xbox 360 really hasn’t unleashed many jems in the genre. Sure we had Oblivion but outside that the rest were sub-par at best. Blue Dragon, Enchanted Arms, Eternal Sonata, these games all tried to set the bar for future action RPG’s on the 360 and failed misrably. Our last glimmering hope for 2007 was a big budget title by renowned RPG makers Bioware.

THANKS TO GUTS FOR OUR FIRST GAME CONCEPT (WE ARE A DIM BUNCH REALLY):

Coffin Nail (MMORPG)

The concept for the game I’m about to propose came to me while I was anxiously speeding to a distant mission in SWG. What is the single common problem with every MMORPG out there? The answer that comes to me personally is the repetitive combat
systems. Every MMORPG when stripped down to its core gameplay revolves around random number generators and statistics, there’s no real sense of pure combat or user interaction. It boils down to coming up with a certain combination of trusty
moves in quick succession to win. My concept is to take the elements that make most MMORPG’s great, i.e. Role-playing, Community,
Progressive Story and mesh them with a straight out and out Beat’Em Up combat system.

The Outline

The backdrop for the game will be a modern day New York esk city in which crime and corruption rain supreme. Gangs patrol the streets like soldiers of war and defend their respective territories with brutal force as the cops try desperately to contain them, Blah Blah Blah….

The Combat System

The combat system will mirror that of current 3D Fighters with the player increasing in skill and power of defense/attack through pvp combat, missions and training in dojo’s/gyms throughout the city. All players will begin the game with bog standard brawling moves, i.e. punch, kick, throw but through gaining exp the player can branch into different trees of combat, i.e. Boxing, Kung Fu, Karate, Kick Boxing etc learning new and more power moves as they progress. There will also be the ability to mix styles.

PVP

Player vs Player combat will play a major role in the progressive story of the game and will give the most exp. To way out the possibility of ganking low level players the challenged gang must accept the proposal before the fight can begin. In the case of the gangs being uneven in numbers the larger gang’s Leader will pick the members he wishes to fight prior to combat. Once the Leader’s have decided which member will fight which combat will begin the winner being the side that won the most fights overall.

The Gangs

Gangs within the game will work as player controlled clans/factions/guilds; each gang has its territory and depending on their standing (LVL) can challenge rival gangs expanding their empire. To limit one gang from gaining total control of the city the limit of territories that can be controlled by a single gang at anyone time will be three, but by gaining more territories the gang will gain the ability to recruit double of triple the members and get access to more large scale missions etc.

Territories

There will be four Hoods to the city separated by subway, these being

The Slums (Player Controlled)
Downtown (Player Controlled)
Uptown (Player Controlled)
The Center (NPC Controlled)

As a gang gains more reputation through pvp combat with rival gangs, bank roll and territory popularity (Gained through amount of time players spend in your territory) it can decide to move up through these locations.

Gangs can also unlock new properties such as Pubs (Including Pool/Darts/Cards mini-games for cash), Nightclubs, Dojo’s/Gym’s, Salons, Clothing stores and Underground Fight Clubs (PVP battles for cash) based on rep, bankroll and territory popularity.

Ranking

The Ranking system will be based on a gang’s reputation and bank roll. As gangs move up the ranking table they will be given access to special hair styles, clothes, clubs, pubs etc etc.

Missions

Missions will vary from vandalism in the early stages up to all out assaults on police precincts at high levels. There are lots of possibilities here just use your imagination.

I’m quiet optimistic about this concept and think it might make a good alternative to the generic MMORPG’s out right now. I have alot more idea’s that can be implemented but i’d like some feedback on it first :).