I don’t usually like first-person RPGs. I tried to play Oblivion IV when it first came out for Xbox 360 but I didn’t make it more than an hour because I was bored to tears. So when I pre-ordered Fallout 3, not realizing it was basically Oblivion IV with guns, I was expecting an action game. Luckily for me, about 6 hours into the game, I’m actually enjoying it.
There are a lot of problems with the game, though, some more frustrating than others. For one thing, there is not nearly enough ammo available. Most times I’m carrying eight or nine weapons, but they’re all out of ammo. It’s very annoying to get into a situation where three super mutants are chasing you around with hunting rifles and all you have is a baseball bat because you’re completely out of ammo. That, combined with the shortage of medical or HP-increasing items can be very tiring. And since the game auto-saves every time you walk through a door, sometimes you can get yourself stuck in an impossible death loop where you’re nearly dead and out of ammo, and you walk into a room with enemies. You definitely need to hard save often.
One other thing about the game (and this is true of other games in the genre) is that it can be exhausting talking to characters. Many times, you have to ask them every single question available to get what you need. While the game is well voice acted, I find myself skipping the audio and speed reading the responses so I can move through faster. There’s nothing more annoying than having to ask a character “What do you do?” and listening to 45 seconds of pointless drivel just so you can get the chance to ask them something meaningful. Thank god you can skip through as you read.
The most enjoyable thing so far about the game is just the sheer scale of it all. I’ve been playing for about 7 hours and I haven’t really even touched the main find-you-father storyline—I’ve just been doing interesting side-quests. The combat system is a little frustrating, but the game makes up for it with interesting things to do.
