Fallout 3
The year is 2072, and the world as we know it, is gone… Well, not really but for the past twelve years the Fallout game series has stolen more free time than the morning commute on Route 80 East. Based on a fictitious post-apocalyptic Earth, and spanning four titles (five if you count PS3’s forgettable attempt in 2005), the addictive series has kept us glued to our monitors and setting a new standard for time-between-showers-and-sunlight. Designed initially for the pc, the original Fallout title played purely as a turn based rpg. As addicting and innovative as the title was, the world of turn based gaming was coming quickly to a halt in favor of the more fast paced real time model. Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics attempted to remedy the situation by allowing you to toggle between play modes, thereby pacifying the purists while drawing in the nouveau gamer. Though both were successful in their own right, neither was able to generate the same fanfare as the original…Until now. After a four year hiatus and a changing of designers, Fallout 3 has reemerged as one of the most popular titles of 2008. Heating up the PS3, Xbox 360 and pcs everywhere, Fallout 3 has taken the best of the previous three titles and added an insane gaming engine, superior graphics, a cinema worthy story line, not to mention a horde of other nifty features. For those of you familiar with the FO series, you will quickly fall into a familiar trance that will mysteriously turn 5pm to 1am in what seems like seconds. And no need to worry if you are playing for the first time, aside from absorbing a little background the same thing will soon ensue. All in all, if you are looking for a gaming experience that will leave you pondering life after the apocalypse, yearning for your own pip-boy and changing your German Shepard’s name to Dogmeat, this is a title you cannot be without. (If the last sentence doesn’t make any sense pick up a copy. After an hour you will be nodding in total agreement!)
