It's . . . amazing
It's won over 80 different Game of the Year awards. It's won the hearts of reviewers the world over. It's one of the best-selling games of all time, loved by gamers everywhere. It provides dozens of hours of entertainment, leaving you wanting more even after beating the lengthy story. It's Fallout 3, and it's an absolute must-have for any serious gamer's library. And now you can get the base game plus all five expansions on one convenient Blu-ray game disc with the Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition. And it's a lot cheaper than buying the game and each expansion separately. Get it before it's gone.
Setting the stage
The game takes place in a place called Capital Wasteland in the year 2277. It's retro-futuristic, so it plays like what people in the 1950's imagined the future would be like. 200 years before the setting of Fallout 3, a great nuclear world war destroyed all civilization, leaving only wreckage, a few unharmed people, and a slew of mutated creatures. In the beginning of Fallout 3, you progress through various stages of childhood, from birth to age 16. During this introduction, you can get familiar with the feel of the controls as well as choosing character attributes like name, appearance, and skills. You play as the child of a doctor/widower in a protective vault in Washington D.C. (after the war). But one day your father angers the Vault Overseer and is forced to leave the vault. Because of this, the vault is no longer a safe place for you, now 19, so you too must venture into the treacherous wasteland in search of your father and some answers. Then the game really starts.
Just for you
Once you have left the safety of Vault 101, a whole world is in front of you to be explored. But be warned, Capital Wasteland is even less friendly than D.C. now. There are mutated creatures like scorpions, bears, or Super Mutants, hostile humans like mercenaries or slavers, and robots that can attack you. Once you get the hang of combat and gain enough courage to venture into Capital Wasteland, you'll find that Fallout 3 is a game unlike any you've ever played. Rather than lock you into a linear story path, or have several paths that all run on the same main storyline, Fallout 3 opens up the story and lets it branch out right from the start. There are limitless possibilities in the game. You can choose what characteristics you want to improve, what perks you want to get, how you interact with people, whether or not to do any of the numerous side quests, and your actions. Your choices will noticeably affect gameplay. For example, having your lockpicking skill high allows you to crack safes easier or sometimes open shortcuts. Having bad karma will make people act more unfavorably towards you. Putting your companion at risk to avoid being shot at yourself can leave you lonely. There is an expansive world to be explored and enjoyed at your own pace. How you play is up to you, and each person's experience will be different. You can even choose to roam the world from a third-person perspective, or wander about the Capital Wasteland from the eyes of your character. Consider it your customized gaming experience based on your in-game choices. Even the end is affected by your actions, something found on few games. In fact, there are over 200 possible end-scene combinations based on your game choices.
Ready . . . aim . . . fire!
As you come across the many enemies of Capital Wasteland, you are, like everything else in the game, free to make choices. First of all, you could try to aim and fire while the enemy charges. Or, for more accuracy, you could try to aim for specific body parts or even a weapon, with manual aim. But just like in real life, hitting a moving target isn't always that easy. So, in Fallout 3 you can make use of the V.A.T.S. targeting system. V.A.T.S. stands for Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System. It's an innovative, although controversial way to play. V.A.T.S. allows you to pause combat to look at an enemy. It will show you the probability of hitting different body parts and allows you to select specific areas to target. But with V.A.T.S. you can also queue attacks to really take it to an enemy. Some people have criticized V.A.T.S. for being unrealistic in action, but other people point out that fighting super-mutated giant scorpions isn't something many people are likely to encounter in the real world, and that you don't have to use V.A.T.S. to fight. All in all, this unique targeting system will help to offer you a gameplay experience unlike any before it to provide a vast new array of strategies.
But that's not all
With winning over 80 different Game of the Year awards, it's really no surprise that this RPG/shooter mix is one of the most popular games available. It offers sometimes over 100 hours of gameplay, and still leaves the player wanting more. It stands alone as one of the most successful games of all time. But luckily for those craving more, you don't have to wait for a new Fallout game to come out to get more. The Game of the Year Edition of Fallout 3 includes all five expansion packs for Fallout 3, which have just been recently released for PlayStation3. Each offers about four more hours of unique gameplay or more, and 4 trophies (except Broken Steel with 6) for 22 total. They can also offer other benefits. For example, Broken Steel allows your character to progress to level 30 instead of 20. On the one disc, the main story plus all the expansions are included. And since they sell for about $10 each and the game itself goes for about $40, the GOTY edition is a real steal of a deal. Read on to find out more about each of the expansions.
Operation: Anchorage
In order to access a secret vault, you must complete a tactical simulation. Once you enter the military simulator, you are transported to Anchorage, Alaska during its takeback from Chinese Communists earlier in the game history. You will have to fight your way through the simulator, picking up resources as you go, with rules set up for the simulation. This visually-compelling expansion adds hours of gameplay to the game. You can get new perks, weapons, armor, and other items in the fast-paced battle for control of Alaska!
The Pitt
Some people consider Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to have a rough history, with the steel trade's influence. That's nothing compared to its future, though. In this Fallout 3 expansion, you travel to Pittsburgh at the time of the main story. There, nearly every resident is sick or dying. Slavers control most residents. They've discovered a cure, but won't distribute it. If the slaves get control of the cure though, the tables will turn and they can be free. In this morally ambiguous expansion, you can choose who to side with. There is no right or wrong, only different choices. Perhaps the darkest installment of the series, this additional content will offer you hours of spine-tingling gameplay.
Broken Steel
Broken Steel is the most feature-rich expansion of the set. Not only does it offer additional quests, it has the power to affect the main story. It first raises the maximum level your player can be from 20 to 30, offering the ability for further "self-improvement" as well as additional perks. This expansion offers an additional ending to the game itself. (Spoiler alert) Instead of dying when Project Purity is activated, you can hunt down the remaining members of The Enclave in Broken Steel (spoiler over). This offers several hours of additional action, and Broken Steel is perhaps the longest expansion. It also offers two more trophies than any of the other expansions.
Point Lookout
Unlike the other additional content, Point Lookout has a fully-explorable wasteland akin to the main story. But don't mistake it for a miniaturized clone of the main story. Unlike Capital Wasteland, Point Lookout takes place in the Maryland State Park of the same name. This area was not affected by the bombs. Instead, humanity left it behind as a swamp wasteland. You can fight against swampfolk or the Tribals cult using a new selection of weapons including powerful guns like the double-barrel shotgun.
Mothership Zeta
While exploring the wreckage of an alien ship in Capital Wasteland, the main character hears an alien radio transmission and tries to investigate it. Shortly after that, Lone Wanderer is abducted by aliens and taken captive aboard their ship. The player must fight their way off the ship, trying to save humanity in the process. There is an emphasis on combat similar to Operation: Anchorage. But Mothership Zeta allows you to discover alien weapons and other armor selections only available on the ship, so you can kick some alien tail and escape the ship intact.
Important rating information
Fallout 3 and each expansion included in this Game of the Year Edition have received the ESRB rating "M" for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, and Use of Drugs. This game may not be purchased by and should not be played by anyone under age 17. It's a great game, but not for kids! It'll give 'em nightmares. It might even give you nightmares!
