Fallout 3

AIMING TO PLEASE

Naturally, don’t expect swords and shields from Fallout ’s post-apocalyptic wasteland. Do expect guns — lots and lots of guns. But don’t panic: Bethesda’s not going the first-person-shooter route! Combat depends less on where you aim and more on your character’s stats and the condition of the weapon you’re holding. It also cleverly blends real-time features with the original Fallout ’s turn-based battle system. Pressing LB pauses the action and zooms in on your target, highlighting specific body parts and your odds of successfully targeting each “action point” using V.A.T.S., the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System. We watched Howard pinpoint a sewer-dwelling Super Mutant’s foot with a rotting AK-47 he’d repaired using the spare parts from a duplicate he’d scavenged. The shot connected, causing the eight-foot monstrosity to stumble. Aiming for his head the second time out proved sweet and fatal, triggering a fountain of blood and causing one of its eyeballs to roll down the incline toward us. “Did I mention that this is rated ‘E for Everybody?’” Howard joked.

Wounded in the fight, Howard wandered into a nearby bathroom and, despite our nauseated pleas, drank from the filthy toilet for a health boost — and a small spike on his radiation meter thanks to the nuclear-tainted H2O.

“It’s actually safer to drink this since we’re underground and it’s not as toxic,” Howard said matter-of-factly. But if you drink too much contaminated water, you’ll actually negate its positive effects and lose hit points.

GRAND FINALE

While the rolling eyeball got a giggle out of us, the undisputed highlight of Howard’s presentation was the Megaton quest. After leaving Vault 101, Howard walked his character to Megaton, a town built in the crater left by an intact atomic bomb. Entering through the scissored airplane wings serving as a gate, he was greeted by the town’s sheriff, the cowboy hat–wearing Lucas Simms. After insulting him with “Nice hat, Calamity Jane,” Howard wandered into Moriarty’s Saloon and met Mr. Burke, a man intent on detonating the dormant bomb some townsfolk worship, still active in the center of Megaton.

Though the final game will offer you the choice to instead tell the sheriff about Burke and trigger an entirely different questline, in this demo Howard agreed to help Burke, rigging the bomb with a detonator and making his way to the roof of the Galaxy News Radio building some ways away in downtown D.C., a safe distance from the impending blast radius.

Meeting Burke, we watched the bomb detonate — the screen went from black to blinding white before a mushroom-cloud fireball engulfed the horizon and wiped Megaton from the face of the earth. Whoa…End demo.

NUKING EXPECTATIONS

In a 360 world where Oblivion continues to rule the RPG roost, Fallout 3 certainly feels like a younger, more assured sibling learning from its big brother’s mistakes. Having a wicked sense of humor and a decidedly more compelling backdrop for its rich cast of characters certainly won’t hurt its chances at the RPG throne on 360. Perhaps that’s why Howard seems so cool and collected: he knows when he’s got a winner on his hands.

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