Initial reaction to Fallout 3

Greets all...

Picked up Fallout 3 yesterday. I only got to play for about 90 minutes, but so far I am very impressed! I played the first 2 games, and loved them. I know a few of the Fallout faithful that were very leery of the switch to first person format, but I have to say that it does not bother me in the least. You can play the game in first or third person view, just like Oblivion. Speaking of Oblivion, it's very obvious that they are using the same engine. It took about a nanosecond for me to get comfortable with the controls, as I spent an unhealthy amount of time playing Oblivion.

The first half hour of Fallout 3 is spent creating your character. You start as a kid, and by the time the game starts to really take off, you are 19 years old. The character creator is fairly extensive, much like the one in Oblivion. You chose skills, and are taught combat, and how to use your Pip Boy (Personal Information Processor) and the VATS targeting system. There's not much combat in the first part of the game, you interact with the denizens of Vault 101, and kill a few huge ass roaches (radroaches), but the combat is pretty limited. You do a lot of sneaking around in the first couple of objectives, and you do fight a few guards, which gives you some experience using the VATS (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System)

The graphics are good. The muted color pallete suits the post nuclear wasteland world of Fallout. Since it shares a game engine, the graphics are about on par with Oblivion, I would say. Controls are pretty intuitive, and the interface is well designed. The Pip Boy is really easy to navigate, and chock full of information.

So far I am very pleased with Fallout 3. If you were a fan of the first two, and can get past the format change, I think you'd dig it. It's funny, because the format change makes Fallout 3 feel a bit like Half Life (which isn't a BAD thing, let me tell ya!) I can't wait to gain some of the skills, and use some of the outrageous weapons that you will gain as the game progresses. Fallout 3 is receiving rave reviews, except for a few timmies that apparently don't know the difference between and RPG, and a FPS.

I think it definately deserves the accolades!