Fallout 3: Open-World, Free Roaming Gaming at Its Finest

I've always been a huge fan of games with open-world, non-linear computer games. Most games, be they first person shooters (FPS) or role playing games (RPG) force the player to follow very straight-forward, pre-planned routes. Games like Resident Evil or the Call of Duty Series are excellent examples of such linear, often predictable, games. I have played a few of that variety that I have enjoyed, including the Half-Life series, but I much prefer the open world aspect of Operation Flashpoint, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Oblivion and, the subject of this article, Fallout 3 for PC.

Produced by the same company that made the highly successful Oblivion RPG, Fallout 3 is one of my favorite games of all time now. Set in a grim, post-apocalyptic world, players are free to explore an open world in the Washington, D.C. area. The basic premise of the storyline is that the main character was raised in a protected, fortified "bunker", built to house people in case of a nuclear war. This happened and the player has never left the bunker, called Vault 101, since birth. However, the player's father abruptly leaves Vault 101 during a crisis with the governing leaders of the Vault, and it's up to the player to leave the Vault and find out what has become of their father. Here, the players are thrust into a large game world, populated by people (and monsters) both good and bad. They must ultimately choose whether or not to be good or bad, affecting the route they follow take to find what where their father has gone.

Unlike some open-world games, Fallout 3 cleverly advances the storyline in parts by different quests and events that take place in the game. However, players are not forced to take part in these, and can simply explore the world for most of the game. There is an "end-game" segment, upon which embarking on forces players to continue in that direction, but the vast majority of the game is up to you. This mixture of mostly non-linear gameplay with some focused storyline is an interesting one, and the designers of Fallout 3 did it very well.

The most difficult part about playing Fallout 3 was the hardware requirements. I was able to barely play it on my aging computer with a 7600 GT video card. However, I suffered frequent freeze-ups, especially when using the RPG-style combat of the "VATS" system. Since then, I have purchased a 8600 Nvidia video card and I have been able to play the game at much higher settings with hardly any problems.

I'm already planning on picking up the two expansions for Fallout 3, and I haven't even done everything in the game. Fallout 3 is just such an immersive game that I don't want it to finish it just yet. It's definitely worth picking up and I would recommend it to any PC gamer interested in a truly deep and long-lasting computer game.