When I saw Fallout 3 at last year's E3 I thought it looked cool but not being one of the cult of Fallout, I viewed it with the same sort of interest that I do most games I know nothing about: Curious, but not what I would call overly excited. All this changed however, this past Tuesday when I headed downtown to check out the new build of the game that Bethesda was hiển thị off.
From a training system tied to a child's development to the fifties-meets-Steampunk look of weapons, Fallout 3 may not have a solid ngày yet, but after seeing this build, I can honestly say I am well and truly smitten.
After skipping through the opening cinema which we had seen previously, we got straight to the beginning of the game which I have to say was one of the cleverest set of training levels I have ever seen. bạn start the game as an infant just being born. Once bạn have been birthed, bạn meet your father who had the pleasure of delivering you. A series of dialog choices allow bạn to choose the sex of your character and his/her name. Then a "Growth Projection" machine is brought over to hiển thị what your character will look like when they "grow up." Here bạn can customize the look of your character bởi using the many features hoặc simply choose a pre-made character. In an interesting mechanic, the choices bạn make in creating to your character will be used to create the features of your father, who's face (at this point) is covered with a surgical mask. While in this infant mode, pressing the A button will elicit crying from your character.
Soon bạn have grown up and you're are now a năm old. Your mother is nowhere to be found, but your scientist father is at the ready to care for you. (Pressing the A button will give bạn baby's first word, Dada) After a series of simple tasks like playing with your toys and opening your playpen, bạn can explore the room a bit. Now it's time to start picking your character's base attributes. This mechanic is accomplished bởi the ingenious use of a baby book bạn find lying on the floor. Each page has a different attribute along with an explanatory rhyme. Here bạn can add hoặc take away attribute points to suit the way bạn want your character to advance.
Look at that. Our little boy is growing up so fast! It is now your tenth birthday and it is celebrated bởi your father and Những người bạn with a party in one of the rooms of vault, kho tiền 101 where bạn currently reside. The momentous occasion is marked bởi the receipt of your Pip-Boy 3000, a wrist accessory that will remain with bạn for the rest of the game. The Pip-Boy 3000 has many of uses for interacting with your character as well as emitting light for use in those darker areas of which there are many. Apparently there is another training level where bạn turn sixteen and are presented with a BB Gun which will help bạn train up in your shooting. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see that one but instead, fast forwarded to check out some of the real meat of the game.
The tiếp theo level we were privy to was a Junkyard scene where bạn meet the dog who will soon become your companion. Once acquired, your best bud can help bạn find food, chems and weapons. He can also come in handy in a pinch bởi helping bạn attack enemies. But, be careful to keep him healthy because he can die if not properly taken care of. If things get too dangerous, bạn can always have him wait nearby hoặc send him back to vault, kho tiền 101 where his safety will be assured.
Growing Up With Fallout 3Now we get to the really fun part, the combat and enemies. As any of bạn who are familiar with Fallout will know, your enemies are mostly radiated mutants hoặc "ghouls" as they are called in the game. There are various strata of ghouls ranging from simple ones who still have some of their functions and can actually be spoken to, to glowing ghouls who are so infected that they practically leak radiation. The ghouls can use this radiation power to harm bạn while simultaneously healing themselves and other ghouls around them. But ghouls aren't your only worry, the Brotherhood of Steel is roaming around causing trouble as well and bạn will often come upon two factions locked in battles of their own.
Taking down these enemies is a snap (well, maybe a few snaps) when bạn make use of the myriad weapons at your disposal. Weapons can be purchased, stolen hoặc taken off of conquered enemies and it would behoove bạn to get as many as bạn can. I really loved the thiết kế of the weapons themselves, they really exuded a sort of "SteamPunk" style melded with an almost fifties style. Everything looked as if it was cobbled together from what could be found around the devastated environment. (The Fat Man Rocket launcher was a particular yêu thích of mine) And of course, as bạn all know bởi now from seeing the screenshots, the environment is a fictionalized Washington DC that has been ravaged bởi nuclear war.
The combat moves beyond the simple point and shoot with the use of Action Points. Your character has a set number of these points that can be used for various actions that target certain parts of an enemy's body. Once an enemy is targeted and the proper buttons pressed, the various body parts of đã đưa ý kiến enemy will light up hiển thị bạn the percentage chance bạn have of hitting that body part. Then bạn are free to deploy those Action Points and watch your enemy's limbs and head fly off in all directions. This mechanic is made even thêm interesting bởi pulling bạn out of your regular first person mode into a third person camera mode that will allow bạn to see thêm of the delicious mutant killing action. Once the Action Points have been spent, they will regenerate over time, but using your weapons and running around like a madman will slow that regeneration down.
Growing Up With Fallout 3Of course, Fallout 3 isn't all killing and nuclear mutations. bạn also have the added pleasure of being able to upgrade bạn character using experience based skill points to bump up your various skills. There are also Perks that can be used to add to your base abilities and allow bạn to beef up parts of your character that might have been neglected when bạn first created it. bạn max out at level twenty though, so be sure to spend those points wisely.
Everything I saw about this game was impressive, but what really got my attention was its tổng thể art style. The optimistic fifties thiết kế juxtaposed against the destroyed landscape is a great choice and is seen everywhere from the HUD to the atomic thiết kế of vault, kho tiền 101. Seeing it sprinkled around the world gave me the same feeling I got the first time I saw the art-deco wonders of BioShock. It's nostalgic yet at the same time seems so fresh and new because we rarely see that style of thiết kế in modern games, especially FPSs. It also gave the thiết kế team a chance to inject the game with a subtle humor that is evident throughout, even seeping its way into the dialog choices and sound.
The team is still on target for a release in the fall of this năm but we still weren't able to wrangle a solid ngày out of them. One thing we did hear however, was a promise of a hands on at E3 so bạn can bet I will be signing up for that one.
From a training system tied to a child's development to the fifties-meets-Steampunk look of weapons, Fallout 3 may not have a solid ngày yet, but after seeing this build, I can honestly say I am well and truly smitten.
After skipping through the opening cinema which we had seen previously, we got straight to the beginning of the game which I have to say was one of the cleverest set of training levels I have ever seen. bạn start the game as an infant just being born. Once bạn have been birthed, bạn meet your father who had the pleasure of delivering you. A series of dialog choices allow bạn to choose the sex of your character and his/her name. Then a "Growth Projection" machine is brought over to hiển thị what your character will look like when they "grow up." Here bạn can customize the look of your character bởi using the many features hoặc simply choose a pre-made character. In an interesting mechanic, the choices bạn make in creating to your character will be used to create the features of your father, who's face (at this point) is covered with a surgical mask. While in this infant mode, pressing the A button will elicit crying from your character.
Soon bạn have grown up and you're are now a năm old. Your mother is nowhere to be found, but your scientist father is at the ready to care for you. (Pressing the A button will give bạn baby's first word, Dada) After a series of simple tasks like playing with your toys and opening your playpen, bạn can explore the room a bit. Now it's time to start picking your character's base attributes. This mechanic is accomplished bởi the ingenious use of a baby book bạn find lying on the floor. Each page has a different attribute along with an explanatory rhyme. Here bạn can add hoặc take away attribute points to suit the way bạn want your character to advance.
Look at that. Our little boy is growing up so fast! It is now your tenth birthday and it is celebrated bởi your father and Những người bạn with a party in one of the rooms of vault, kho tiền 101 where bạn currently reside. The momentous occasion is marked bởi the receipt of your Pip-Boy 3000, a wrist accessory that will remain with bạn for the rest of the game. The Pip-Boy 3000 has many of uses for interacting with your character as well as emitting light for use in those darker areas of which there are many. Apparently there is another training level where bạn turn sixteen and are presented with a BB Gun which will help bạn train up in your shooting. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see that one but instead, fast forwarded to check out some of the real meat of the game.
The tiếp theo level we were privy to was a Junkyard scene where bạn meet the dog who will soon become your companion. Once acquired, your best bud can help bạn find food, chems and weapons. He can also come in handy in a pinch bởi helping bạn attack enemies. But, be careful to keep him healthy because he can die if not properly taken care of. If things get too dangerous, bạn can always have him wait nearby hoặc send him back to vault, kho tiền 101 where his safety will be assured.
Growing Up With Fallout 3Now we get to the really fun part, the combat and enemies. As any of bạn who are familiar with Fallout will know, your enemies are mostly radiated mutants hoặc "ghouls" as they are called in the game. There are various strata of ghouls ranging from simple ones who still have some of their functions and can actually be spoken to, to glowing ghouls who are so infected that they practically leak radiation. The ghouls can use this radiation power to harm bạn while simultaneously healing themselves and other ghouls around them. But ghouls aren't your only worry, the Brotherhood of Steel is roaming around causing trouble as well and bạn will often come upon two factions locked in battles of their own.
Taking down these enemies is a snap (well, maybe a few snaps) when bạn make use of the myriad weapons at your disposal. Weapons can be purchased, stolen hoặc taken off of conquered enemies and it would behoove bạn to get as many as bạn can. I really loved the thiết kế of the weapons themselves, they really exuded a sort of "SteamPunk" style melded with an almost fifties style. Everything looked as if it was cobbled together from what could be found around the devastated environment. (The Fat Man Rocket launcher was a particular yêu thích of mine) And of course, as bạn all know bởi now from seeing the screenshots, the environment is a fictionalized Washington DC that has been ravaged bởi nuclear war.
The combat moves beyond the simple point and shoot with the use of Action Points. Your character has a set number of these points that can be used for various actions that target certain parts of an enemy's body. Once an enemy is targeted and the proper buttons pressed, the various body parts of đã đưa ý kiến enemy will light up hiển thị bạn the percentage chance bạn have of hitting that body part. Then bạn are free to deploy those Action Points and watch your enemy's limbs and head fly off in all directions. This mechanic is made even thêm interesting bởi pulling bạn out of your regular first person mode into a third person camera mode that will allow bạn to see thêm of the delicious mutant killing action. Once the Action Points have been spent, they will regenerate over time, but using your weapons and running around like a madman will slow that regeneration down.
Growing Up With Fallout 3Of course, Fallout 3 isn't all killing and nuclear mutations. bạn also have the added pleasure of being able to upgrade bạn character using experience based skill points to bump up your various skills. There are also Perks that can be used to add to your base abilities and allow bạn to beef up parts of your character that might have been neglected when bạn first created it. bạn max out at level twenty though, so be sure to spend those points wisely.
Everything I saw about this game was impressive, but what really got my attention was its tổng thể art style. The optimistic fifties thiết kế juxtaposed against the destroyed landscape is a great choice and is seen everywhere from the HUD to the atomic thiết kế of vault, kho tiền 101. Seeing it sprinkled around the world gave me the same feeling I got the first time I saw the art-deco wonders of BioShock. It's nostalgic yet at the same time seems so fresh and new because we rarely see that style of thiết kế in modern games, especially FPSs. It also gave the thiết kế team a chance to inject the game with a subtle humor that is evident throughout, even seeping its way into the dialog choices and sound.
The team is still on target for a release in the fall of this năm but we still weren't able to wrangle a solid ngày out of them. One thing we did hear however, was a promise of a hands on at E3 so bạn can bet I will be signing up for that one.
