Fallout 3

Genre:

Role-Playing, First-Person Shooter, Action-Adventure

Status:

Released

Release date:

10/28/2008

Developer:

Bethesda Softworks

Publisher:

Bethesda Softworks

Overview

Fallout 3 is the third game in the Fallout series. Developed and published by Bethesda Softworks, it was released on October 28, 2008 on the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3; the game takes place approximately thirty years after the events in Fallout 2. Although set in the same universe, Fallout 3 takes place in the Capital Wasteland in and around the Washington D.C. area, rather than California. It introduced many new mechanics and has very few direct connections to the previous games. Fallout 3 blends design philosophies from both the Fallout and Elder Scrolls franchises, resulting in fan debate about Fallout 3's legitimacy as a "true sequel" in the respective series.

Like Oblivion, enemies and items spawn relative to the player's current level. This keeps the difficulty of the game consistent, along with opening the majority of the game up to the player from the beginning. However, this is not in direct keeping with earlier traditions, as the previous Fallout games featured zones that posed a huge risk to a low-level character if visited too early by the player . Once an area is discovered, the environment is locked down to the level at which the player found it, preventing unrealistic jumps in enemy levels over the course of the game.

Much like Oblivion, Bethesda supported the game post-release with a number of downloadable content packs. While less varied than those in Oblivion, the five pieces were relatively substantial, with most of the pieces taking place outside of the Wasteland. The downloadable content was initially exclusive to the Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game, but was later released on the PlayStation 3.