What’s all the fuss about
Oh my… Fallout 3. Where to start with this one and how can I be something more than a negative creep… And with good reason if I might add, if you consider all the hype that has been going on for this game. I’ve heard people say “it’s the best game ever!”, “it will knock the socks off Far Cry 2″ and “a sure buy - with 100 hours of gameplay guaranteed”….
Having experience with the previous two games of the series, which were a completely different implementation of the same concept (isometric sprite-based RPG, for those interested 1, 2) and seeing the direction the developers were taking for the new game (first person in a real time 3d environment) I knew I had to be cautious and wait to see for my own eyes how this “mutation” is going to work out.
Unfortunately my fears were confirmed.
After watching a few hours on Justin.TV I was glad I didn’t go as far as purchasing it myself to test it out (and obviously will not be doing that now). Hmm, do you ask why? Let’s dismiss some of the major arguments:
- The destroyed environments look cool. They look crap cool I’d say. Everything looks the same, grainy and broken, and disorientation is frequent.
- The characters are life-like. Nah, more like avatars from an online world. And to top it off they lack any kind of intelligence. There are also robots in the game and they seem more realistic than the people simply because this mechanical behavior is more acceptable from machines. And to top that off twice the pre-recorded dialogues where done by some BAD actors. Bad acting, just bad.
- Cool retro style interface. Only the soviet military would appreciate this interface. And If you want to do it “console style” don’t drop the mascot on the side that removes any believability from the menu screen and just leaves the ugliness for us to “enjoy”.
- Turn-based gameplay done in real time. Oh man, is this for laughs or what? Once you confront an enemy all you need to do is freeze the game, program your move and then sit back and watch a cinematic sequence you can’t control. Yes, you’re done - you just eliminated the threat, and it didn’t even hit you. Hmm, yes this is even better than imagining your fights in Might and Magic. Barely…just that.
Shall I go on? I was astonished to find most of the common quirks older games usually have.
- The camera is off. In many occasions you can’t see the action. Someone might be talking to you and he is partly covered. And control of this sort is highly unlikable.
- Polygons are colliding-overlapping. It’s not unusual to see a character pass through another character, stand partly inside a wall etc.
- Animations are not natural. Just as an example I’ll mention that the player does not stop running when hitting a surface he can’t walk - come on.
- Repetition (of everything). Do the same 5 moves 100 times an hour and you will pray the game does not last 100 hours. What’s the point of extended gameplay if it’s going to be if it’s going to be painfully boring?
- No freedom. It looks like an open world, it tries to be an open world but it’s not an open world. You can’t do naturally all the things you want to do and I find the RPG elements to be less than helpful on this matter.
Awful, awful awful. To keep the retrospect from the game, play this if you want to see how a 50’s game developer would create a futuristic game about a post-apocalyptic world.
Fallout 3 falls out in my book.
