Fallout 3

Fallout 3 is a post-apocalyptic computer and console role-playing game that is being developed and published by Bethesda Softworks as a sequel to Interplay's Fallout and Fallout 2. It will be released in Fall of 2008 for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The Fallout 3 teaser trailer was released on June 5, 2007.

Information about the cancelled Fallout 3 project developed by Black Isle can be found in the Van Buren article.

See also: Fallout 3 FAQ.

Setting
The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world following The Great War, a nuclear war that occurred on October 23, 2077 and lasted less than two hours but caused immense damage and destruction. Before The Great War were the Resource Wars, during which the United Nations disbanded, a plague rendered the United States paranoid, and Canada was annexed.

The game takes place in the year 2277 on the East Coast of what used to be the United States of America, mostly in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia.

Story
The Player Character is a young inhabitant of Vault 101. The Vault has been sealed for the last 200 years and no one has ever left it - until it turned out that the PC's father has disappeared from it without any explanation. The young Vault Dweller leaves the safe shelter to look for his father in the ruins of Washington, DC.

During his journey, the Player Character will see some ancient monuments from before the Great War, like the Capitol, the Jefferson Memorial or the battered remains of the Washington Monument in the ruins of Downtown DC, surrounded by the desolate Capital Wasteland. The central hub of civilization in the ruins of the former capital is Rivet City, based in and around the remains of a crashed aircraft carrier. Other settlements include the towns of Megaton, Springvale, Tenpenny Towers and Paradise Falls. Movement between the towns is possible through the Washington Metro tunnels.

The Brotherhood of Steel is also going to appear, stationed in the Citadel built in the ruins of the pre-War Pentagon. Super mutants that are invading the world and are in a constant battle to push humans out will be the player's biggest foes in the game.

Developers


The project is headed by executive producer Todd Howard. Other producers include Ashley Cheng, Gavin Carter and Jeff Gardiner. The lead designer is Emil Pagliarulo who previously worked on Thief games as well as the Dark Brotherhood quests in Oblivion. Lead level designer is Joel Burgess. Other leads are lead artist Istvan Pely and lead programmer Steve Meister. PR and marketing for the game is coordinated by Pete Hines.

See: Fallout 3 developers for a full list of known developers.

Cast

 * Ron Perlman - Narrator
 * Liam Neeson - Player Character's father
 * Malcolm McDowell - Enclave President John Henry Eden

Gameplay
Initial previews of Fallout 3 revealed that the game will feature both first-person and third-person perspective. Main character creation occurs as the player experiences the character's childhood. The character's mother dies in labor in the Vault 101 hospital, immediately after which the player decides the character's general appearance through a DNA analysis conducted by the father. Afterwards, the father removes his surgeon's mask to reveal a face similar to the one chosen by the player for the character. As a child in the Vault, the character receives a book titled "You're SPECIAL," whereupon the player can set the character's seven primary aptitudes. The character receives training weapons and a PIP-Boy 3000 later on during childhood, and the player's performance in various tests determines the rest of the attributes. Additionally, several quests inside the Vault will be able to influence the player character's relationship with his or her father. Skills and Perks are similar to those in previous games: the player chooses three Tag Skills out of 14 to be the character's specialties. Four skills have been cut out from the game (Fallout and Fallout 2 had 18 skills) but it is unknown which skills have been removed. The maximum level the player can achieve is level 20. The Traits from the previous Fallout installments were combined with Perks in Fallout 3, and the player can choose a new Perk each time after gaining a level.

The Vault-tec Assisted Targeting System, or VATS, will play an important part in the fighting phases of the game. While using VATS, real-time combat is paused creating a combat system that the Bethesda developers have described as a hybrid between turn-based and real-time combat. VATS will also allow the gory deaths in the game to be shown in slow motion and great detail. Various actions cost action points, limiting the actions of each combatant during a turn, and both the player and enemies can target specific body areas for attacks to inflict specific injuries. The game will feature a new health and radiation system as well. The player can measure an object's radioactivity and gauge the effect it will have on the character.

Another facet of gameplay is that firearms wear out over time: as a weapon degenerates, its rate of fire slows and it loses accuracy. However, worn out firearms can be combined to make more reliable and powerful weapons. Weapon schematics can also be found and used to create various devices such the Rock-it Launcher, created by combining a leaf blower and a wood chipper, that can fire various items such as lunchboxes and stuffed animals, or the Clever Shrapnel Bomb, made out of a Vault-Tec lunchbox and bottlecaps. Along with equipping various weapons, the player can also utilize different armors and clothing that may have effects that can alter various skills. For example, a pair of mechanic's coveralls may boost the player's repair skill while it is worn. Armor and clothing come in two main parts for the head and body, allowing a player to wear different combinations of hats and armor. Also, a player's inventory has a specified weight limit, preventing a player from carrying too many items. Items like weapon ammo have no weight, due to the developer not wishing to bog down inventory management. The player will have a maximum party of three, consisting of himself/herself, Dogmeat, and a single NPC. In addition to having Dogmeat in your party you will be able to send him out on his own to search for items such as arms and ammo, radiation medicine, and stimpacks. Dogmeat can be killed during the game if the player misuses him or places him in a severely dangerous situation and he cannot be replaced. Only one NPC can travel with the player at any time, and in order to get another NPC to travel, the first one must be "fired" by the player.

A karma system will be an important feature in the gameplay. A players actions, including conversation and combat choices, will affect the player's status in the game world; a player who makes good choices will be received more positively by NPCs, and a player that makes bad choices will have the opposite reaction. Crimes can also be committed by a player, and whichever faction or group that is harmed by a crime will be fully aware of the player's action. Other factions that were not affected by the crime will not be aware of it, and since a town is usually its own faction, news of a crime committed in one town will not spread to another. Factions can range in size and boundaries, however, and may not be restricted to a single area. The game world itself was planned to be significantly smaller than that of Oblivion's but is now expected to be similar in size.

Changes from previous Fallout games

 * While Fallout and Fallout 2 featured turn-based combat and top-down isometric view in a 2-D engine, Fallout 3 features real-time combat and first or third person view in a 3-D engine (like Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel). Fallout Tactics and the cancelled Van Buren featured both turn-based and real-time combat and a top-down view.
 * In the SPECIAL character system, the number of skills has been reduced from 18 to 14 and perks are selected every other level instead of every 3 levels. It is unknown whether any other elements of the character system will be changed.
 * No mention has been made of the 'Science Boy' gameplay choice, as it had been for the cancelled Van Buren project by Black Isle Studios.{/citation}
 * Early comments and previews indicate that the game may feature a lightened version of Oblivion's dynamic difficulty adjustment, in which the strength and power levels of foes (and potentially acquired loot) is scaled in relation to the player's level, to preserve a sense of challenge no matter where the player went in the nonlinear game world. Issues with the system arose when, in Oblivion once the player rose to high levels, even the weakest bandits or cannon-fodder guards could be seen wearing the rarest and most powerful equipment available. It would be akin to the PC encountering Raiders in Power Armor wielding Miniguns very early, if he happened to exit the vault at the maximum possible level.
 * Comments implied that unlike Oblivion, where the level scaling occurred at all times, levels would be "set" at a given location depending on the travel path of the player. This is subject to change or even outright removal, as the game is still in development.
 * Perks and Traits have been merged. Traits were chosen at character creation, and were commonly a combination of a powerful advantage and a potent disadvantage, where Perks were purely advantageous.
 * The U.S. West Coast setting of California, Oregon (Klamath), and Nevada (Reno) has been changed to an East Coast one.

Interplay
Fallout 3 was initially under development by Black Isle Studios, a studio owned by Interplay Entertainment, under the working title Van Buren. Interplay Entertainment closed down Black Isle Studios before the game could be completed, and the license to develop Fallout 3 was sold for a $1,175,000 minimum guaranteed advance against royalties to Bethesda Softworks, a studio primarily known as the developer of the The Elder Scrolls series. Bethesda's Fallout 3 however, was developed from scratch, using neither Van Buren code, nor any other materials created by Black Isle Studios. In May 2007, a playable technology demo of the cancelled project was released to the public.

Bethesda
Bethesda stated it would be working on Fallout 3 in July 2004, but principal development did not begin until after The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was completed . Bethesda announced their intention to make Fallout 3 similar to the previous two games, focusing on non-linear gameplay, a good story, and true "Fallout humor." Bethesda also stated the game is targetted for a rating of M for Mature, and will have the same sort of adult themes and violence that are characteristic of the Fallout series. Fallout 3 will use a version of the same Gamebryo engine as Oblivion, and is being developed by the same team.

Between May 2 and June 5, 2007 Bethesda showcased 5 pieces of concept art by Craig Mullins on the Fallout 3 website during the countdown to the teaser. The cinematic teaser trailer for Fallout 3, consisting of the first part of the intro, was released by Bethesda Softworks on June 5, 2007, after a 30 day countdown on the Fallout 3 website. On August 2, 2007, the game's website was opened.

Reception
Leonard Boyarsky, one of the creators of the original Fallout, when asked about Interplay's sale of the rights to Bethesda, said that he felt as though "our ex wife had sold our children that she had legal custody of," admitting that he feels very possessive of the series. Considerable concern was also raised some members of the series' fan community, largely concerning major changes in gameplay style compared to the original games and Fallout 3's similarity to Oblivion. The reaction from the press, however, was largely positive, with many considering the shift to first person view and real time combat an update, and with most considering the similarities to Oblivion to be a good thing.

Controversy
On July 4, 2008, Fallout 3 was refused classification by the OFLC in Australia, thus making the game illegal for sale in the country. In order for the game to be reclassified, the offending content in the Australian version of the game would have to be removed by Bethesda Softworks and the game resubmitted to the OFLC. According the OFLC board report, the game was refused classification due to the "realistic visual representations of drugs and their delivery method (bringing) the 'science-fiction' drugs in line with 'real-world' drugs."

Collectors Edition
The collector edition of Fallout 3 has been announced. The game will feature: A Vault Boy Bobblehead, and The Art of Fallout 3 which features never before seen exclusive concept art for the game, and "The Making of Fallout 3" DVD. The entire package is contained in a Vault-Tec lunch box container.

Survival Edition
In addition to the above products, the Survival Edition features a life-size model of the Pip-Boy wrist computer upon whose screen is a fully functional digital clock display.

Official links

 * Official site
 * Official Fallout 3 Forum

Fansite links

 * Fallout 3 Zone
 * Fallout 3 news at Duck and Cover
 * ''Fallout 3 news at No Mutants Allowed
 * Fallout 3 news at RPG Codex
 * Fallout 3: A Post Nuclear Blog

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