Fallout 3: Big Town

It's a little pre-emptive to post about a game that I'm only seven hours into, but do you really want to wait until I'm done a hundred hours before posting? Also, I'm late to the party: the game has been out for quite some time and I'm just getting around to playing it now. Why is that? I blame Oblivion: the game I sunk 150 hours into, and was so addicted to (emotionally too) that I'm afraid to get into another game that offers up similar gameplay.

Of course, you know the same studio has done both series, and the similarities between the two titles are prevalent. But the environment is so vastly different, and it's because of the world itself, I'm not sure I want to continue playing. To say the world you are exploring is bleak would not be doing it justice, but it's rather fitting and accurate. This is how a post-apocalyptic world would look. Ruined buildings, decaying roads, no plant life: just shades of grey and brown. Hardened people, wandering gangs and towns built out of junk. The graphics are amazing, but depressing. It's a different experience to Oblivion's lush, green landscapes and clean people.

But perhaps what really got me was some of the difficulty: I had animals randomly attacking me and killing me. I don't stand a chance. What hope do I have on a mission to rescue people from super mutants? I don't even feel like trying. Because I spent so much time with Oblivion, I had forgotten that similar things happened: you are, for a time, very underpowered. It takes patience and some skill to "get good" and take on the more daunting tasks. Keep in mind you just have to punch through missions, save often and you will be rewarded. At this point I'm completely hooked, and actively looking for trouble; it only took a few hours.

Now, before I delve into other game aspects - to be done in other posts - I like to share some in-game stories. This blog started as a Halo 2 online storytelling sesssion, and if I was into blogging at the time, Oblivion would have dominated and generated posts every day. I'll try not to do that with Fallout 3, but you can expect some stories in the next little while.

I went exploring, and discovered this sad sack of a town called Big Town. There were only a few residents, including Pappy, who greeted me at the gate. Everybody is down on themselves and they have accepted death by super mutants or raiders, both of whom have been terrorizing them for a while. I meet Bittercup, who doesn't accept my advances, and accept a mission to go rescue some kidnapped townspeople from a settlement of super mutants. The people don't hold out much hope that I'll be successful. I don't either.

Once I left the town and headed north a short bit, I was attacked by my first super mutant. He was tough, and I barely scraped through the battle. My right arm was crippled, and I was out of stim packs. I ate terrible food but it wasn't enough. Immediately upon looting the corpse, I was attacked by another mutant, who seemed to be shooting grenades or rockets at me. Forget about that, I run. I run back from the direction I came from, and run right past the towns gates. I can hear the guard from Big Town shooting at the super mutant, but I kept running. I looked behind me, and I was no longer being chased, but I could hear the people of Big Town fighting this super mutant. Pillows of smoke erupted from behind the buildings as the mutant slammed explosives into the town. I paused, and thought of going in for the rescue, but I know I would not survive. Surely, if I kept going Big Town would be ok; the game wouldn't kill those people whom I just accepted the mission from, right? I kept walking.

It would be quite some time later, after doing some other quests, before I returned to Big Town. Things were grim, and I knew, through my inaction, I had failed them. Pappy was in pieces at the front gate. The guard's limbs were sticking out of the water. Another fellow lied dead in the centre of town. All the town members, save Bittercup and somebody in the infirmiary, were dead. I felt responsible. Immediately I set out to lay waste to the super mutants responsible. And to my surprise, I was able to complete the mission; at this point I was powerful and skilled enough to weave my way up to the old police headquarters and rescue two Big Town residents. We traveled back to Big Town where they were re-united with what remaining villagers were there. There was a glimmer of hope but so much had been lost already; I feel bad, and that is the trappings of these games: the odd emotional attachment we get to these digital characters.