Fallout 3

Fallout 3
Developer(s)	Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher(s)	Bethesda Softworks ZeniMax Media
Designer(s)	Emil Pagliarulo (Lead Designer) Todd Howard (Exec. Producer) Istvan Pely (Lead Artist)
Composer(s)	Inon Zur
Series	Fallout
Engine	Gamebryo engine
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release	UK: October 31, 2008 JP: December 4, 2008
Genre(s)	Action role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

Fallout 3 is an action role-playing game released by Bethesda Game Studios, and is the third major game in the Fallout series. The game was released in North America on October 28, 2008, in Europe and Australia on October 30, 2008, and in the United Kingdom and Ireland on October 31, 2008. The video game is available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 video game consoles as well as the Windows operating system.

Fallout 3 takes place in the year 2277, 36 years after the setting of Fallout 2 and 200 years after the nuclear war that devastated the game's world in an alternate post-World War II timeline. The game places the player in the role of an inhabitant of Vault 101, a survival shelter designed to protect a small number of humans from the nuclear fallout. When the player's father disappears under mysterious circumstances, the player is forced to escape from the Vault and journey into the ruins of Washington D.C. to track him down. Along the way the player is assisted by a number of other human survivors and must battle myriad enemies that now inhabit the wasteland. The game has an attribute and combat system typical of an action role-playing game but also incorporates elements of first-person shooter and survival horror games.

Following its release, Fallout 3 has received very positive responses from critics who praised in particular the game's open-ended gameplay and flexible character-levelling system. The NPD Group estimated that Fallout 3 sold over 610,000 units during its initial month of release in October 2008, outselling Bethesda Softworks' previous game, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which sold nearly 500,000 units in its first month.

Gameplay

Attributes and karma

Main character creation occurs in the character's childhood. The character reads a book titled "You're SPECIAL," where upon reading the player can set the character's seven primary attributes or "Special Stats," (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck). Skills and Perks are similar to those in previous games: Skills can be gradually assigned up to 100 points and give players increasing degrees of ability, for instance increasing the Lockpick Skill grants the player access to harder doors to unlock. The maximum level the player can achieve is level 20 with the exception of the Broken Steel downloadable content addition, where the limit is raised to 30; every level up, a new Perk can be selected, each offering advantages of varying quality and form, and new Perks are made available at every other level (i.e. levels 2, 4, 6, etc.).

File:Fallout3 special.jpg

The Pip-Boy 3000, displaying the player's skills statistics.

Another important statistic tracked in the game is karma. Each player has a total amount of karma which can be affected by his/her decisions or actions, which can be positive and add karma, or be negative and subtract karma. Beyond acting as flavor for the game's events, karma can have tangible effects to the player, primarily affecting the game's ending. Other effects include altered dialogue with NPCs, or unique conflicts with evil or good characters. Actions vary in extremes of karma; pickpocketing receives less negative karma than the killing of a good character, for example. The player's relationships with the game's factions are distinct, so any two groups or settlements may view the player in contrasting ways, depending on the player's conduct.

Health and weapons

Health is diminished when damage is taken through combat, falling, and or accidental self injury, and can be replenished by sleeping, using medical equipment, or eating food / drinking water. There are secondary health factors such as radiation poisoning and addiction to drugs, both of which can blur the player's vision and have a negative effect on SPECIAL attributes until a doctor is visited. Exploring the game's world is difficult as there is no medical equipment and little cover between settlements; therefore the player must take care in carrying useful equipment when travelling. Also, the damage system on both the player character and non-player characters is broken up into a general "health bar" and a specific, limb-based system. Damage to the general health results in death, while damage to a specific limb causes side-effects such as limping, loss of accuracy, etc. The two damage systems often overlap.

Another game mechanic is item degradation. The more weapons and armor are used and damaged in combat, the more they lose their effectiveness. Firearms slow their rate of fire, do less damage, jam during reloading and apparel becomes gradually less protective. Items can be repaired for a price from special vendors, or if the player has two of the same item, one of the two can be salvaged to repair the other. The Repair skill must be at a certain level to repair an item beyond a certain level of degradation.

Players also have the option to create their own weaponry using various scavenged items found in the wasteland. These items can only be created at workbenches, and if the player also possesses the necessary schematics. These weapons include melee, ranged or explosive devices. There are 3 versions for each Schematic. Multiple copies will result in a better starting condition for the related weapon or, in the case of custom-built mines, multiple mines for the same materials. These Schematics are only found in certain locations, either on the ground, sold by some vendors or offered as quest rewards.

V.A.T.S.

V.A.T.S. shown being used. Real-time action is stopped and the player can see the probability of hitting each enemy body part through percentage ratio. Health, navigation and weapon displays are visible in the lower corners of the screen.

The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S., plays an important part in combat. While using VATS, real-time combat is paused, and action is played out from varying camera angles in a computer graphics version of "bullet time," creating a combat system that the Bethesda developers have described as a hybrid between turn-based and real-time combat. Various actions cost action points, limiting the actions of each combatant during a turn, and both the player and enemies can target specific body areas for attacks to inflict specific injuries. Headshots will bring down living enemies more quickly, but the player can also select to slow enemies' movements by crippling their legs, disarm them by shooting at their weapons, or drive them berserk by shooting out things like antennae and control boxes.

Companions

The player can have a maximum party of three, consisting of himself or herself, a dog named Dogmeat, and a single non-player character or NPC (Jericho, Butch,Sergent Rl3, Clover, Charon, Paladin Cross, and Fawkes). Dogmeat can be killed during the game if the player misuses him or places him in a severely dangerous situation and he cannot be replaced; it is possible to not encounter Dogmeat at all depending on how the game is played. One other NPC can travel with the player at any time, and in order to get another NPC to travel, the first one must be dismissed (either by the player or of his/her/its own volition due to events such as changes in the player's karma) or die in combat.

Plot

Setting

Main article: Fallout (series)

Fallout 3 takes place in a post-apocalyptic, retro-futurist Washington D.C. and parts of Maryland and Virginia in the year 2277 after a world war over resources which ended in nuclear holocaust in 2077. The player character (who can be either male or female according to the player's choice) lives in Vault 101, a fallout shelter situated close to the ruins of Washington, D.C. The player character lives with his/her widowed father James (voiced by Liam Neeson) until, one day, the player wakes up to find that his or her father has left the vault and ventured into the wasteland for unknown reasons. The Vault Overseer becomes suspicious and orders his men to kill the player, forcing him/her to go out into the Capital Wasteland where they must follow their father's footsteps. Along the way, the player will encounter various factions, including the Brotherhood of Steel, a group of technology-coveting survivors from the American west coast; the Outcasts, a group of Brotherhood of Steel exiles; and the Enclave, the elitist and genocidal remnant of the U.S. government.

Story

The main quest begins after the player character is forced to escape Vault 101 at age 19, having become a target of suspicion following their father's disappearance. The search for James, the player's father, takes the character on a journey through the wasteland, first to the nearby town of Megaton, named for the undetonated nuclear bomb at its center, then the Galaxy News Radio station. The player then travels to Rivet City, a derelict aircraft carrier now serving as a human settlement. Here the player meets Doctor Li, a scientist who worked alongside the player's father. Doctor Li tells the player of Project Purity, a plan to remove the radiation from the water of the Tidal Basin, as a means of restoring the environment and improving the lives of those inhabiting the wasteland.

After investigating the lab of Project Purity, built inside the Jefferson Memorial rotunda, the player tracks James to Vault 112, and frees him from a virtual reality program being run by the Vault's corrupt Overseer. The player and James return to Rivet City and meet up with Doctor Li. They discuss the Garden of Eden Creation Kit (G.E.C.K.) and its possible whereabouts, which are rumored to be located in Project Purity's computer database. However, while the player helps James restart the lab equipment, the Enclave arrives and attempts to take over the project for their own purposes. James sacrifices himself and kills several Enclave soldiers during a confrontation by overloading Project Purity's main chamber with lethal amounts of radiation. After fleeing the lab through underground tunnels, Li and the player arrive at the Citadel of the Brotherhood of Steel, which is located in the ruins of the Pentagon. After recovering, Li pleads with the player to find a G.E.C.K. to finish James' work. The player eventually finds one in Vault 87, which had been dedicated to creating and perfecting the FEV (Forced Evolutionary Virus). After retrieving the G.E.C.K. the player is ambushed again by the Enclave who take the player captive.

Awakening in a holding cell, the player is briefly interrogated by Colonel Autumn and then summoned to the office of President Eden, who promises safe passage to his control room. While the player is en route, however, Colonel Autumn, acting against Eden, orders the Enclave soldiers to attack, and the player must fight his or her way to the control room. There Eden, a supercomputer given control of the East Coast of the United States, gives the player a modified form of the FEV virus, which once used will not only purify the water but kill all individuals with any level of mutation. The player must eventually choose whether or not to activate the virus. The player escapes the Enclave and returns to the Citadel, where the Brotherhood of Steel enlists his or her aid in assaulting the Jefferson Memorial with Sarah Lyons, the leader of an elite squad of Brotherhood Knights. After succeeding, the player must deal with Colonel Autumn through violence or persuasion. Through the building's intercom, Doctor Li informs the player due to the damage caused by the recent fight, someone must activate the system before it overloads, destroying the facility. Unfortunately, the one who activates the system will have to be sacrificed due to the chamber being close to being overwhelmed by lethal amounts of radiation. In the end, the choice comes down to the player, who must chose whether to activate the system personally, convince Lyons to do it, or simply wait, which ends in the facility's destruction. The ending sequence that follows depends on the previous actions of the player.

Development

Interplay Entertainment

Further information: Van Buren (Fallout 3)

Fallout 3 was initially under development by Black Isle Studios, a studio owned by Interplay Entertainment, under the working title Van Buren. Interplay Entertainment went bankrupt and closed down Black Isle Studios before the game could be completed, and the license to develop Fallout 3 was sold for a $1,175,000 minimum guaranteed advance against royalties to Bethesda Softworks, a studio primarily known as the developer of the The Elder Scrolls series. Bethesda's Fallout 3 however, was developed from scratch, using neither Van Buren code, nor any other materials created by Black Isle Studios. In May 2007, a playable technology demo of the canceled project was released to the public.

Leonard Boyarsky, art director of the original Fallout, when asked about Interplay Entertainment's sale of the rights to Bethesda Softworks, said:

To be perfectly honest, I was extremely disappointed that we did not get the chance to make the next Fallout game. This has nothing to do with Bethesda, it's just that we've always felt that Fallout was ours and it was just a technicality that Interplay happened to own it. It sort of felt as if our child had been sold to the highest bidder, and we had to just sit by and watch. Since I have absolutely no idea what their plans are, I can't comment on whether I think they're going in the right direction with it or not.

Bethesda Softworks

System requirements

	Minimum	Recommended
Windows
Operating system	Windows XP or Windows Vista
CPU	Pentium 4 2.4 GHz or equivalent processor	Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory	1 GB / 2 GB (Vista)	2 GB
Graphics hardware	DirectX 9.0c compliant card with 256 MB RAM (NVIDIA 6800 or better / ATI X850 or better)	DirectX 9.0c compliant card with 512 MB RAM (NVIDIA 8800 series, ATI 3800 series)

Bethesda Softworks started working on Fallout 3 in July 2004, but principal development did not begin until after The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and its related extras and plugins were completed. Bethesda Softworks decided to make Fallout 3 similar to the previous two games, focusing on non-linear gameplay, a good story, and black comedy. Bethesda also chose to pursue an ESRB rating of M (for mature) by including adult themes, violence, and depravity characteristic of the Fallout series. They also decided to shy away from the self-referential gags of the game's predecessors that broke the illusion that the world of Fallout is real. Fallout 3 uses a version of the same Gamebryo engine as Oblivion, and was developed by the team responsible for that game. Liam Neeson was cast as the voice of the player's father.

In February 2007, Bethesda stated that the game was "a fairly good ways away" from release, but that detailed information and previews would be available later in the year. Following a statement made by Pete Hines that the team wanted to make the game a "multiple platform title", the game was announced by Game Informer to be in development for Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. A teaser site for the game appeared on May 2, 2007, featuring music from the game and concept art, along with a timer counting down to June 5, 2007. The artists and developers involved later confirmed that the concept art, commissioned before Oblivion had been released, did not reveal anything from the actual game. When the countdown finished, the site hosted the first teaser trailer for the game, and unveiled a release date of "Fall 2008". Fallout 3 went gold on October 9, 2008.

During a March 21, 2008 Official Xbox Magazine podcast interview, Todd Howard revealed that the game had expanded to nearly the same scope as Oblivion. There were originally at least 12 versions of the final cutscene, but with further development this expanded to over 200 possible permutations in the final release, all of which are determined by the actions taken by the player.

Bethesda Softworks attended E3 2008 to showcase Fallout 3. The first live demo of the Xbox 360 version of the game was shown and demonstrated by Todd Howard, taking place in downtown Washington, D.C. The demo showcased various weapons such as the Fat Man nuclear catapult, the VATS system, the functions of the PIP-Boy 3000, as well as combat with several enemies. The demo concluded as the player neared the Brotherhood of Steel-controlled Pentagon and was attacked by an Enclave patrol.

Voice actors

Voice actors for Fallout 3 include:

• Liam Neeson as James (Dad)
• Malcolm McDowell as President John Henry Eden
• Ron Perlman as Narrator
• Odette Yustman as Amata
• Erik Dellums as Three Dog
• Heather Marie Marsden as Sarah Lyons
• Shari Elliker as Beatrice / Reilly / Star Paladin Cross
• Craig Sechler as Butch / Harkness
• Stephen Russell as Andy /Mister Buckingham /The Great One /Wadsworth /Seargent RL-3 /Cerberus /All Mr. Gutsy/Handy Robots found throughout the game
• James Lewis as Mr. Brotch / Eulogy Jones/ Jericho/Captain Ishmael Ashur

Marketing and release

Trailers

On June 5, 2007, Bethesda released the Fallout 3 teaser trailer. The press kit released with the trailer indicated that Ron Perlman would be on-board with the project, and cited a release date of Fall 2008. The trailer features The Ink Spots song "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire", which the previous Fallout developer Black Isle Studios originally intended to license for use in the first Fallout game. The trailer, which was completely done with in-engine assets, closed with Ron Perlman saying his trademark line as the narrator of the first two Fallout games: "War. War never changes." The trailer shows a devastated Washington, D.C., evidenced by the partially damaged Washington Monument in the background as well as the crumbling buildings surrounding a rubble-choked city thoroughfare.

A second trailer was first shown during a GameTrailers TV E3 special on July 12, 2008. The trailer zooms out from a ruined house in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, providing a wider view of the capital's skyline including the Capitol Building and Washington Monument in the distance. On July 14, 2008, an extended version of this trailer was made available, which besides the original content, includes a Vault-Tec advertisement and actual gameplay. Both versions of the trailer feature the song "Dear Hearts and Gentle People" as recorded by Bob Crosby and the Bobcats.

Film festival

On July 11, 2008, as a part of promoting Fallout 3, Bethesda Softworks partnered with American Cinematheque and Geek Monthly magazine to sponsor "A Post-Apocalyptic Film Festival Presented by Fallout 3." The festival took place on August 22-23 at Santa Monica's Aero Theater. Six post-apocalyptic movies made over the past 40 years were shown which depict life and events that could occur after a world-changing disaster, including Wizards, Damnation Alley, A Boy and His Dog, The Last Man on Earth, The Omega Man, and Twelve Monkeys.

Leaks

One month before Fallout 3's release, the Xbox 360 version of the game was leaked to various file-sharing websites. The leaked version was speculated to be a copy of a review version of the game rather than the retail version. Bethesda Softworks was aware of the situation, but made no public comments concerning the leak.

Retail versions

Template:Fallout 3 Versions Fallout 3 is released in four separate versions, only two of which are made available worldwide:

• The Standard Edition includes only the game disc and manual with no extras.
• The Collector's Edition includes the game disc, manual, a bonus "making of" DVD, a concept artbook, and a 5" Vault Boy Bobblehead, all of which is contained in a Vault-Tec lunchbox. In Australia, the Collector's Edition is exclusive to EB Games.
• The Limited Edition includes the game disc and manual, as well as a Brotherhood of Steel Power Armor figurine. This edition is available only in the U.K. through the retailer GAME.
• The Survival Edition includes everything from the Collector's Edition, as well as a model of the PIP-Boy 3000 from the game which functions as a digital clock. The Survival Edition is available exclusively from Amazon.com to U.S. customers only.

Soundtrack and score

The Fallout 3 soundtrack continued the series' convention of featuring sentimental 1940s Big Band American popular music, in addition to a foreboding, menacing score. The score was written by noted composer Inon Zur. In a review of the game for Kotaku, Mike Fahey commented that "While Inon Zur's score is filled with epic goodness, the real star of Fallout 3's music is the vintage songs from the 1940s."

The following is a list of the 20 licensed songs that appear in Fallout 3.

No.	Title	Music	Length
1.	"I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire"	The Ink Spots	3:07
2.	"Way Back Home"	Bob Crosby & the Bobcats	2:54
3.	"Butcher Pete (Part 1)"	Roy Brown	2:28
4.	"Happy Times" (From the Danny Kaye film The Inspector General)	Bob Crosby & the Bobcats	2:45
5.	"Civilization"	Danny Kaye with The Andrews Sisters	3:07
6.	"Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall"	Ella Fitzgerald with The Ink Spots	3:06
7.	"Anything Goes"	Cole Porter	3:04
8.	"Fox Boogie"	Gerhard Trede	3:16
9.	"I'm Tickled Pink"	Jack Shaindlin	1:52
10.	"Jazzy Interlude"	Billy Munn	2:52
11.	"Jolly Days"	Gerhard Trede	1:40
12.	"Let's Go Sunning"	Jack Shaindlin	1:41
13.	"A Wonderful Guy"	Tex Beneke	2:48
14.	"Rhythm for You"	Eddy Christiani & Frans Poptie	2:59
15.	"Swing Doors"	Allan Gray	2:59
16.	"Maybe" (Intro song from the original Fallout)	The Ink Spots	3:06
17.	"Mighty Mighty Man"	Roy Brown	2:36
18.	"Crazy He Calls Me"	Billie Holiday	3:05
19.	"Easy Living"	Billie Holiday	3:06
20.	"Boogie Man"	Sid Phillips	2:23

Downloadable content

Bethesda's Todd Howard confirmed during E3 2008 that downloadable content would be prepared for the Xbox 360 and Windows versions of Fallout 3; there is no downloadable content planned for the PlayStation 3 version of the game. Although Bethesda has not offered an official explanation as to why the content is not being released for PlayStation 3, Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian speculated that it may have been the result of a money deal with Bethesda by Sony's competitor, Microsoft. When asked if the PlayStation 3 version would receive an update that would enable gameplay beyond the main quest's completion, which the "Broken Steel" downloadable content expansion will do when released, Todd Howard responded, “Not at this time, no.”

The G.E.C.K.

The G.E.C.K. (Garden of Eden Creation Kit) is the official editor for Fallout 3 available only for the Windows version of the game, and was released in December 2008 as a free download on Bethesda Softworks' Fallout 3 website.

Operation: Anchorage

Operation Anchorage redirects here. For the Iraq War military operation, see List of coalition military operations of the Iraq War.

Operation: Anchorage is the first Fallout 3 downloadable content pack, and takes place as a virtual reality "military simulation" in the main game where you are stripped of your equipment and are forced to use the ones provided for you. The content focuses on a pivotal event in the Fallout timeline before the Great War took place, namely the attempt by the United States Army to liberate Anchorage, Alaska from its Chinese Communist invaders. The pack contains several new quests, new items, and adds four new achievements. Operation: Anchorage was released in North America on January 27, 2009 on Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live. The pack costs 800 Microsoft Points to download.

The Pitt

The Pitt is the second downloadable content pack, and allows the player to journey to the industrial raider town known as The Pitt, located in the remains of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The pack features several new weapons, new armor and clothing items, four achievements and around 4 – 5 hours of gameplay. The pack costs 800 Microsoft Points.

The Pitt was released on March 24, 2009 on Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live, but was quickly removed due to glitches in the gameplay which made the Xbox 360 version of the expansion unplayable. Further investigation was performed by Bethesda and Microsoft, and according to a Bethesda's official Twitter, as of 10:00am PST on March 25, 2009, the expansion was again being uploaded to Xbox Live, and was again made available that afternoon. For those who downloaded it on March 24 in the morning, glitches were still apparent. A new version was available on Xbox Live on April 2, fixing freezing issues many players had encountered with the previous content of The Pitt. Some players may have to start a new character in order to play "The Pitt".

Broken Steel

Broken Steel is the third downloadable content pack, and continues the story of Fallout 3 beyond the original ending. It does this by altering the ending of the game, according to Jeff Gardiner (lead producer of the DLC). In the pack, the player joins the ranks of the Brotherhood of Steel and helps rid the Capital Wasteland of the Enclave once and for all. The pack will also raise the game's level cap from 20 to 30. Broken Steel will be released on May 5, 2009 on Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live.

Reception

Reviews

Reception

Aggregate scores

Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	92.4/100 (Xbox 360) 91.1/100 (PS3) 90.4/100 (PC)
Metacritic	91/100 (PC) 91/100 (PS3) 93/100 (Xbox 360)

Review scores

Publication	Score
1Up.com	A
Edge	7/10
Electronic Gaming Monthly	A, B+, A+
Eurogamer	10/10
GameSpot	9/10 (PC) 9/10 (Xbox 360) 8.5/10 (PS3)
GameSpy	5/5
IGN	9.6/10 (Xbox 360) 9.4/10 (PS3)9.6/10 (PC)
M! Games	91/100 (PC) 91/100 (PS3) 93/100 (Xbox 360)
Official Xbox Magazine (US)	10/10
PC Gamer (UK)	90%
PC Gamer (US)	91%
TeamXbox	9.4/10
X-Play	5/5

Professional reviews for the game have been very positive, with an average Game Rankings score of 93% for the Xbox 360 version and 91% for the PC and PS3. 1UP.com praised its open-ended gameplay and flexible character-leveling system. While the V.A.T.S. system was called "fun," enemy encounters were said to suffer from a lack of precision in real-time combat and little variety in enemy types. The review concluded, Fallout 3 is a "hugely ambitious game that doesn't come around very often." IGN praised the game's "minimalist" sound design, observing, "you might find yourself with nothing but the sound of wind rustling through decaying trees and blowing dust across the barren plains ... Fallout 3 proves that less can be more." The review wrote that the "unusual amount of realism" combined with the "endless conversation permutations" produces "one of the most truly interactive experiences of the generation", awarding the game a 9.6 out of 10. GameZone gave Fallout 3 a 9.5, 9.4 and 9.2 out of 10 for the PS3, 360 and PC versions respectively, while Resolution Magazine awarded the game 93% on all formats.

Some criticisms were the bugs in regards to the physics, crashes, and some that broke quests and prevented progression, the latter of which are fixable by reloading from an earlier state. The AI and stiff character animations are another common point of criticism, as is the ending. It has also been noted that the PC version is "the most fully featured, best looking, and best running version of Fallout 3."

From its release in October through the end of 2008, Fallout 3 shipped over 4.7 million units. According to NPD Group the Xbox 360 version has sold 1.14 million units and the PS3 version has sold 552k units as of January 2009. The Xbox 360 version was the 14th best-selling game of December 2008 in the United States, while the PlayStation 3 version was the eighth best-selling PlayStation 3 game in that region and month.

Awards

Fallout 3 won several awards following its showcasing at E3 2007. IGN gave it the Game of E3 2007 award, and GameSpot gave it the Best Role-Playing Game of E3 2007 award. Following the game's demonstration at E3 2008, IGN also gave it Best Overall RPG, Best Overall Console Game, and Overall Game of the Show for E3 2008. Game Critics Awards gave the game Best Role-Playing Game and Best of Show for E3 2008.

After its release, Fallout 3 won numerous awards, including:

• 9th Game Developers Choice Awards:
  • Game of the Year 2008
  • Best Writing

• AIAS 12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards
  • Role-Playing Game of the Year
  • Outstanding Achievement in Original Story

• IGN Best of 2008:
  • Overall Game of the Year 2008
  • Best Xbox 360 Game
  • Best RPG (Xbox 360)
  • Best Use of Sound

• Gamasutra Best of 2008:
  • Game of the Year 2008

• GameSpot Best of 2008:
  • Best PC Game
  • Best RPG

• Official Xbox Magazine
  • Xbox 360 Game of the Year 2008

• GameSpy Best of 2008:
  • Overall Game of the Year 2008
  • Best PC Game
  • Best Xbox 360 game

• Gamesradar Best of 2008:
  • Overall Game of the Year 2008
  • Best Gore

• GameTrailers Best of 2008:
  • Best RPG
  • Best PC Game

• Spike Video Game Awards 2008:
  • Best RPG

• X-Play Best of 2008:
  • Best RPG

Downloadable content packages

Both the PC and the Xbox 360 version of the Operation: Anchorage DLC have received mixed reviews from critics, averaging a 67 and a 69 respectively at Metacritic. IGN, Eurogamer, GameOver, GameSpy, and play.tm criticized the price of Operation: Anchorage at 800 Microsoft Points, which is about $10, as being too expensive for the content provided. Eurogamer, Cheat Code Central, play.tm, and GameSpy criticized the shift to a focus on action gameplay (combat) instead of the more varied gameplay that Fallout 3 had.

The Pitt has had a generally positive reception, averaging a score of 77 for the PC version and 79 for the Xbox 360 version. When initially released, the Xbox 360 version had a corrupt file which caused problems which rendered the DLC unplayable. Early releases of the Xbox 360 version had freezing issues which rendered the game unplayable. As of April 3, 2009, Bethesda Softworks reports that they have uploaded a new version of The Pitt which fixes these problems. The PC version of The Pitt had the same problem, leading modders to create a patch called "The Pitt Crash Fix" which fixes the problems present in the wasteland but not interiors of The Pitt.

Controversies

Drug references in Australia

On July 4, 2008, Fallout 3 was refused classification by the OFLC in Australia, thus making it illegal to distribute or purchase the game in the country. In order for the game to be reclassified, the offending content in the Australian version of the game would have had to be removed by Bethesda Softworks and the game resubmitted to the OFLC. According to the OFLC board report, the game was refused classification due to the "realistic visual representations of drugs and their delivery method [bringing] the 'science-fiction' drugs in line with 'real-world' drugs." A revised version of the game was resubmitted to the OFLC and reclassified as MA 15+ on August 7, 2008, or not suitable for people under the age of 15; this new rating ensured that the game could retail legally in Australia. According to the OFLC board report, the drug content was not removed entirely from the revised version of the game, but the animation showing the actual usage of the drugs was removed; the minority view on the decision stated that the drug content was still enough to warrant a refused classification rating, despite the admission that the portrayal of the drugs was appropriate within the context of the game. In a later interview with Edge, Bethesda Softworks revealed that there would be only one version of Fallout 3 released worldwide, and that this version would have all real world drug references removed. It was later clarified that the only change made would be that morphine, a real world drug that would have appeared in the game, would instead be renamed to the more generic "Med-X."

Release in India

On October 23, 2008, Microsoft announced that the game would not be released in India on the Xbox 360 platform. Religious and cultural sentiments were cited as the reason. Microsoft stated, "Microsoft constantly endeavors to bring the best games to Indian consumers in sync with their international release. However, in light of cultural sensitivities in India, we have made the business decision to not bring Fallout 3 into the country." Although the specific reason was not revealed in public, most people guessed it was because the game contains two-headed mutated cows called Brahmin (which may have been an intentional misspelling of brahman), which is also a class of religious scholars in India, as well as the fact that the cow is revered by Hindus.

Censorship in Japan

Bethesda Softworks changed the side quest "The Power of the Atom" in the Japanese version of Fallout 3 to relieve concerns about depictions of atomic detonation in inhabited areas. In non-Japanese versions, players are given the option of either defusing, ignoring, or detonating the dormant atomic bomb in the town of Megaton. In the Japanese version, the character Mr. Burke has been taken out of this side quest, making it impossible to detonate the bomb.

Also in the Japanese release, the "Fat Man" nuclear catapult weapon was renamed "Nuka Launcher," as the original name was a reference to the bomb used on Nagasaki.

External links

• Fallout 3 Official Website
• Fallout 3 on The Vault, the Fallout 3 wiki, an external wiki