I gave Fallout 3 a try awhile back when it released to see what all the hype was about, I never played the first two, but I enjoyed Oblivion enough that this looked like a much more interesting world built on the same concepts. However, I quickly became very frustrated at the battle system because I wanted this to be a shooter more than an RPG and felt that it couldn’t decide what it was. Well, after finishing up some other fall games (namely the collection-fest Banjo-Kazooie: N&B), I gave Fallout a fresh start and I sure am glad I did.

Since restarting Fallout I have put over 20 hours into it (last week alone) and I haven’t even left the first town in the main quest. I simply head out to do a quest I found around town and find myself amazed at the ruined world that lies before me. I just explore constantly with hardly any concern over what I’m supposed to actually be doing. Eventually, I run out of carrying weight and travel back to Megaton just to sell all my wares, then head out again in a slightly different direction. Or head back to where I left off and continue on. I’ve never found myself so amazed at simply exploring a game world.

The setting of this game makes it so much more enjoyable than I ever felt Oblivion’s fantasy setting was because it’s so believable. Seeing D.C. as a wasteland I can imagine all of these things and how all of these places are broken down like they are. I think this is the main reason why I keep just exploring, I’m fascinated by how believable it is and the wacky people that I found out there trying to survive.

I don’t want to start rambling because I know most of the gaming population got into Fallout 3 when it was released instead of being bitter about it like I was. But I really love this game for it’s environment. That alone causes me to overlook other shortcomings of the game and simply enjoy it for providing some much amazing content to explore.