Fallout 3

Vault-Tec engineers have worked around the clock on an interactive reproduction of Wasteland life for you to enjoy from the comfort of your own vault. Included is an expansive world, unique combat, shockingly realistic visuals, tons of player choice, and an incredible cast of dynamic characters. Every minute is a fight for survival against the terrors of the outside world - radiation, Super Mutants, and hostile mutated creatures. From Vault-Tec, America's First Choice in Post Nuclear Simulation. Vault 101 - Jewel of the Wastes.
I'll admit the main reason I got Fallout 3 was because the creators of the popular Elder Scrolls series, Bethesda, made the game (with Morrowind ranking as one of my favourite games). I've only ever briefly dabbled with the two previous Fallout games, unfortunately when I was much younger (since my dad bought them both) so I couldn't really grasp the two games at the time. This review then, shall pretty much evaluate Fallout 3 as it is, without comparing it to Fallout 1 or 2 (since I'm not a fan I don't really have the need to complain that its not the same), but perhaps with a few comparisons to Oblivion, after all, FO3 is regularly dubbed as an "Oblivion Mod on a larger scale". As with my other reviews I'll start with the story. Fallout 3 is set some 200 years after a nuclear war pretty much destroyed the war. Fortunately Vault-Tec designed and built a few hundred vaults across America for people to seek safety in for when the bombs dropped, and this is where your adventure begins. The game quite literally starts with your birth (including little blood splatters on the screen) and the following is essentially your fairly awful (well, it was for me) child hood, disguised as the character creation process. So far so good, the game introduction was fairly entertaining (especially the GOAT test) and whilst the game did play exactly like Oblivion (complete with frozen NPCs during conversation) I had high hopes. One fateful day, when you're 19 years of age in case you wondered, your father leaves the vault, something unheard of. Since the game would be pretty crap if it took place in the vault for its entirety, you leave rather violently in search of your father. Its almost a special moment when you leave the vault, you exit the door and the sun light hits your character hard, and then you see it all; a wasteland strewn upon you, and its your task to fight for your survival in the grim wastes.