In 2004, Bethesda Softworks purchased the development rights for the Fallout video game series (the most famous example of taking the RPG out of the realm of fantasy and into the territory of sci-fi) from Interplay Entertainment, who were beginning to mistreat the series in their most desperate days (see, Fallout: Brotherhood of steel for Xbox and PS2).
With the franchise secured, Bethesda proceeded to construct the next instalment in the series, removing dated gameplay mechanics (such as the turn-based combat) and replacing them with their own (including a massive open world demanding exploration and real time combat).
All these alterations to the games structure made fallout 3 one of the most successful titles of 2008, but this review is not to give it the blowjob it has already received, but rather to examine aspects of the game that could improve the experience when the inevitable Fallout 4 is made.
"Beam me up Scotty".
In Fallout 1 and 2, whenever you needed to travel to another settlement, you would go to a world map that shows you travelling from one town or base to another in a manner pleasingly reminiscent of Indiana Jones, this technique gave the player an illusion of the shear scale of the wasteland and even provides a sense of tension during a particularly lengthy trek as you would have no idea whether your journey would be interrupted by a random encounter, or a gang of murderous raiders who intend to turn your goolies into a rather fetching ornament for their fireplace.
In Fallout 3 however, if you chose to travel to another location, the game would give you a loading screen asking you to wait, while off screen, the character presumably calls on their best friend The Doctor to take him/her to their destination in his TARDIS.
This feature spoils your immersion into the game world and reduces the overall impression of how large your playground actually is by making all of the sights and sounds just one button press away, removing the fear of what might happen to you during this unseen journey.
Here's an idea for a remedy to the situation, bring back the old system of map travel for sake of immersion but introduce an additional system of travel that would introduce the potential for a number of missions that would affect the world itself, for example, if there was a trading caravan that operated off a train track that even had its own steam powered locomotives, or a bus depot with transport that survived the war, then you could purchase a ticket to travel in safety and if you wished to help these organisations expand their range and influence, then you could take on missions that would involve searching for new sources of fuel, removing troublesome individuals and protecting the expansion of tracks and roads.
Joan Rivers circa 2012, as you can see, she really needs that botox
Vroom, Vroom.
There is one inherent problem with setting a game in an open world, walking across a barren desert where you're unlikely to encounter anyone or anything remarkable during your exploits is excruciatingly dull and incredibly long, most other games with a sandbox aspect often provide a solution to this issue by providing some form of motorised transport to assist in exploration (and in this case, even use the boot to store extra supplies).
I have a feeling that some of you are going to call me out on this idea by saying that working cars would be a detriment to the Fallout formulae, I disagree, if forms of transportation, implemented as a reward system for completing quests, could serve as a complement to the experience (and lets not forget that working vehicles have been included in Fallout 2 and Tactics).
For starters, a working car in this universe is most likely a thing of legend, the culmination of a great hunt: following rumours, finding maps and fighting off the competition until you reach the climax, where you find a small bunker, containing a small car made by British Leyland.
Or if you complete all of the missions for say: a group of raiders, then they give you the keys to a bodge job dune buggy (or you take them by force), while if you instead help the cause of an opposing Che Guevara style guerrilla group, in turn they reward you with a motorcycle that comes with machine gun equipped sidecar.
And of course, there is the issue of fuel: it was in short supply before the war so there's obviously going to be even less of it in the future which creates its own personal campaign: you could organise expeditions to find a long forgotten petrol station that might have a small reservoir of petrol in the pumps or you could just bite the bullet and buy it off of a trader with links to a scientifically advanced society who sells it for at exorbitant prices.
"Why does it always rain on me?"
If there is one thing I wanted to see the most in the Capital Wasteland, more then any mythical suit of armour or weapon that could cause an enemy to explode in a rainbow coloured mess leaving only his nadgers behind, more then that, I wanted to see a form of weather other then bright sunshine and slightly overcast.
I would like the opportunity to have the environment itself provide some form of challenge, what if a severe case of radioactive rain was to occur: how would I prepare for my travels: would I have to use my car (made by British Leyland) and use precious fuel in order to avoid exposure, do I take it like a man and go out anyway or do I just simply spend the period of downpour at the local brothel (damn, I just answered my own question).
you'd be hard pressed to find a decent hooker in the post apocalypse
Time means progress.
What's the point of bringing economic prosperity or ruin to a small town if it's not going to visibly advertise it with either an increase of crude housing (and the more important buildings begin to look like they're actually being maintained) or what's already there turns into what can be politely described as a shithouse, instead, all that happens is one particular character will have their set of dialogue options change to a different compilation of responses.
There already is a basic framework for this sort of idea in Fallout 3: present in the opening section where you jump ahead years into the future with characters physically/psychologically aging while you skip the boring parts: how about incorporating this into the actual quest, with a fade out/in telling you how much time has passed after completing a particular mission and dramatic changes to the cultural landscape can be instantly perceived without having them pointed out to you by someone (such as the beginning of broken steel, where in the span of two weeks, the brotherhood has established a water distribution scheme and is chasing down the remnants of the Enclave).
Skip to the end.
All these theoretical additions to the structure would probably create an interesting addition to the game, providing additional quests, contributing depth to the world and make the player feel like they are actually influencing on how the world develops.
However, a lot of these ideas are just that, ideas, I understand that these concepts probably wouldn?t be put into the game for a number of reasons, a lack of time and money, previous plans for development of the world, the trouble of balancing these untested ideas and fan service, but this doesn't mean that an outstanding formulae should be allowed to go stale.
Now please excuse me, as I have to dive into my Anderson shelter in order to survive the inevitable fanboy blitzkrieg.
---------------------------------------------------
Edit.
I meant to include a poll in this review, but I messed it up.
here is the topic and the choices, please make your choice in a comment.
"if you liked this review, what do you think I should do next?"
1# Fallout 3: Part 2 (What i edited out)
2# Avatar: My thoughts and hopes for the sequel.
3# Dead Space: Why I thought is wasn't THAT great.
4# Other (Please specify)
5# Wait a minute, if you call yourself TeacakeWeasel, why are your mascots a rabbit and a crab/car?
