Fallout 3 PS3 Game Review

Fallout 3 PS3 Game Review

The Fallout series has become synonymous to many gamers as being one of the highest quality franchises out there. Originally belonging to, the now defunct, Interplay, Fallout has been on a hiatus for the past decade now, as Fallout 2 came out way back in 1998. With the struggles of Interplay also came the disappointment that we may never see Fallout 3, which was been in and out of development numerous times, until it was canceled. But four years after the cancellation of Fallout 3, Bethesda has announced the return of the series, and fast forward to today, we finally got our much anticipated third title.Now, before continuing, if you don't wish to know what the first events of the game are like, I suggest skipping the next paragraph. There are no story spoilers or anything, just a fair warning. The paragraph following the next one explains how the game's story picks-up, again, fair warning. Fallout 3 starts off rather unconventionally, certainly unlike any other game I can think of as I write this. Your first moment in the game is your very own character's birth (literally), and here's where you're prompted to configure how he or she will look like when all grown up. After an unfortunate incident following your birth, the game forwards one full year, and here you are again...a toddler who just learned how to walk.

Before actually getting into the core of the game, you go through a series of these milestone events, so after your toddler event, you fast forward to your 10th birthday. Following that you're 16 years old, and you'll have to take the G.O.A.T (Generalized Occupational Aptitude Test) exam to determine your occupational placement. Once that ends, the game fast forwards another five years and you're off...The story starts when your character finds out that his father has escaped out into the open world, and now it's up to him to find out why. Because nobody escapes fallout Vault 101, by association, you have been marked as a traitor and so you'll have to arm yourself in order to escape to the outside world. So you set out in search of your father, and you set out prepared. Now that you've made it out, you see exactly the kind of carnage that the Global Atomic War caused. Fallout 3 takes place in Wasteland, a living, breathing post-apocalyptic world where no one is safe. Monsters such as giant insects, raiders/outlaws, and various types of super mutants run amok this ruined depiction of Washington D.C., and equipped with your Pip-boy 3000, weapons, knowledge, and some cool features, you should have all the methods of getting rid of them. Fallout 3 is essentially Oblivion set thousands of years in the future. Instead of having swords, shields, and heavy chain armors, you have guns, reinforced military armor, baseball bats, pipes, and a slew of other modern-day and futuristic weapons. Just like Oblivion, Fallout 3 will also give you the option of choosing between good and evil, or an in-between, so you have the opportunity to approach situations from various angles, and directly affect your future. A Karma system exists in the game that'll affect your encounters with NPCs in positive and negative ways; regular NPCs will often find themselves disgusted with your presence if you've strayed towards the evil side, while raiders are more likely to ally themselves with you. On top of that, comes what Bethesda calls Limitless Freedom. Do you see something off in the distance? Go on and walk to it, because whatever you see in the world you can visit. And in Fallout 3, you'll see a great deal of ruined monuments and structures, all of which you'll be able to gander at.Just be careful not to get near the water as its riddled with copious amounts of radiation, and unless you want your character to grow mutations, you'll want to avoid the water and consuming products you find in Wasteland. But if you have no regenerates left and your only option is to drink the Nuka-Cola you got from the vending machine, then go ahead. Fortunately for you, there are anti-radiation medicines that'll decrease your radiation exposure and heal whatever mutations you may have. But don't get me wrong, because Fallout 3 and Oblivion share fairly different gameplay features. For example, Fallout 3 makes use of a great combat mechanic called VATS (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System), this mechanic is highly reminiscent of a similar feature found in Square's Vagrant Story, as it allows for the pausing of time in order to target specific body-parts. The health bar of the enemy will show which body-part will cause the most damage if hit, but you have to take into account the distance and angle you're facing an opponent, otherwise you'll have lower chances of striking your preferred target. Furthermore, pausing time will also allow you to build up a range of attacks to unleash on your opponents, all of which will unravel with cinematic presentation and details. Of course, you can always perform the tried-and-true method of doing it all on your own, and play Fallout 3 just as you would any other first-person shooter, by using your reticule to aim and fire at will. With every fight and objective you finish, you gain experience points. For starters, as you progress through the game, your character will be able to gain new abilities by utilizing the game's points-based system called "SPECIAL". Basically, the system allows for unlimited customization of your character, including the learning of combat abilities and improving your skills across a variety of traits. Throughout the game, with every level your character grows, you're given points to distribute across your board of traits, on top of enhancements called Perks. Fallout 3 is simply mammoth in size and execution. There's just so much to do, to see, and to play that at times you feel overwhelmed with the scope of the game. The game's world is estimated to be just over 15 square miles in size, and that'll take hours to fully explore, so you've got a lot of terrain to cover.

Dead Space PS3 Game Review

Dead Space:

It started out as an announcement that didn't get all that much fanfare, as is common with the revealing of an all new intellectual property in the videogame world. EA's Dead Space billed a horror game that took place in...outer space, and again, people didn't 'oooh' or 'ahhh'. But as soon as we started getting our hands on playable content, Dead Space quickly turned from being thought of as generic, to something much, much more. As press hype began to build for Dead Space, so did anticipation from the gamers...and luckily, the game was pushed up to arrive a week early. As you can see, the final verdict is very strong, and there are more than a number of reasons why...First off, Dead Space runs on a proprietary engine made by EA, so this is just one of few games that's not running on Unreal Engine III. The reason having your own engine is a good thing is because EA's Redwood Shores studio had complete knowledge and control over their own architecture, translating to less development issues down the road, and a better multiplatform title. So thanks to a proprietary engine Dead Space benefits from being a rather polished game, for the most part.When revealing the game, EA Redwood stated that Dead Space was inspired by movies such as Event Horizon, The Thing, and Alien; while videogame influences obviously include Resident Evil and Silent Hill. The team has crafted a story which revolves around a character named Isaac Clarke. Clarke is a space engineer for Concurdance Extraction Corporation (C.E.C). The C.E.C. is a mining company that controls enormous mining ships around the galaxy.When a particular "Planet Cracker" ship (a planet destroyer that extracts remaining ore from a dead planet) calls in a distress call, a group of engineers assemble to go investigate the issue. As you can imagine, Clarke is one of the engineers on duty. Upon arrival, the engineers soon realize that the ship had been taken over by an unknown race of aliens, and so the fight to survive begins.The Necromorphs are this mysterious alien race, they have the ability to inhabit the body of a regular being, distorting and mutating their original shape. From there on, the alien beings can continue to infect others, and the only way to kill the aliens is to dismember them. Yes, dismembering your enemies is how you kill them. While it may seem a little unusual, it works, and it's actually a solid concept that encourages you to aim well, as opposed to just spraying fire everywhere. Furthermore, the mechanic of shooting limbs works to the gameplay's advantage as it heightens the sense of urgency, fright, and the fight to survive. Again, because you're not shooting aimlessly and you have to concentrate on a kill, you're taking up time while the enemy advances closer.

Often times you'll end up killing the enemy right as he's about to strike, and a sigh of relief will follow each and every time that happens. As you can see, the effect this has on you is absolutely brilliant, certainly more so than any other horror game before. There are a variety of different Necromorph forms, so throughout the game you won't be killing the same enemy over and over again. As mentioned already, gameplay is third-person and utilizes an over-the-shoulder view that is similar to games like Resident Evil 4 and Gears of War. My one complaint with this is that there are times your view of the environment seems very restricted and that can often result in getting blindsided by an enemy you didn't see. A simple solution would've been to center the character on screen, and use the over-the-shoulder perspective only when the weapon is drawn. Additionally, not being able to switch between shoulder perspectives (left or right) is another qualm of mine. But I must say this, though...in some strange way, this limitation actually makes me use my senses more as I'm now more inclined to pay attention to strange sounds, as well as look around my surroundings more often. Again, this only heightens the game's fright level. The gameplay utilized some solid physics work, and you'll discover a good chunk of it when you enter one of the gravity-free areas of the game. There are a number of environments where gravity is non-existent, so Clarke has to rely on his gravity boots to get around these no gravity zones, and that's another aspect of the game that came out much better than anticipated. Getting down to action, the game will grant you a number of weapons, abilities, and armor. The primary weapon will be the Plasma Cutter, which is a mining tool used to cut down rocks and such. Instead, you'll use it to sever the heads and limbs of your enemies. As I mentioned earlier, there are more than one kind of Necromorph, so just because one kind dies from getting its head severed, doesn't mean another type will. For example, severing a certain enemy's head may cause a smaller alien life-form to crawl out and jump at you. Firing at a pregnant alien will cause additional, smaller lifeforms to come at you, as well. So while the goal is to dismember, you also have to be prepared for surprises. Now, if things get hairy, the Stasis Gun can be used to slow down targeted enemies, allowing you more time to kick some ass - the gun can also be used on moving objects, as well.Visually, Dead Space is a gorgeous looking game with an amazing atmosphere that really immerses you into the whole experiences. After spending so much time with Bioshock, I didn't think there'd be another game to immerse me into the whole experience as much as it did, but Dead Space does just that, albeit on another level. As I've mentioned before numerous times, Dead Space's immersion comes from its sense of urgency and fear, unlike Bioshock which enamors you with its unique world. Both games boast an amazing atmosphere, but both do it differently - so neither is better than the other.The audio in Dead Space is nothing short of remarkable, and perhaps some of the best a horror game has ever seen. There is no soundtrack, and the only bits of composition are there solely to build some tension. There is audio all around you, be it noises or sounds, the audio does a fantastic job of contributing to the game's atmosphere. Running the game through a 5.1 setup demonstrated superb use of each and every channel in the corners of the room. And to top it all off, there's also some rather great voice acting here too. There's no denying that Dead Space's audio is truly great, and not playing it on a surround setup would be doing the game a disservice. Brilliant work, EA. You could argue that Dead Space is perhaps the biggest sleeper hit of the year. While yes it is from a high profile publisher, it was also underestimated by many and few expected such a blockbuster hit. Boasting splendid atmosphere that is superbly woven by the audio, visuals, and the gameplay, Dead Space is also the scariest, most tense game to come out in a long time. If you're looking for an amazing survival horror game, then look no further - Dead Space is your ticket.