This game is pretty and all but, buggy, buggy, buggy. It is completely infuriating. Load, take two steps, crash. Repeat over and over again. patching that they came out with makes it worse. everyone says wait for the real patch? They should have fixed it before they released it. Last game I buy from Bethesda.

Fun game, but I am not particularly happy with paying a lot of money for something that borders on a mod for oblivion, which in itself was a mediocre game with great graphics. Sadly, not much has changed. Rack this one with CounterStrike- Mods that should never have been made.

Boring characters, quite slow, tiring quests that don't generate enthusiam. Fallout 3 really needed to be a lot better to deserve the high marks. After hours of playing, this had not grabbed me and I left feeling rather unsatisfied, but not disgusted.

Immature, perverted, silly and a mockery of the fallout series. I came into the game willing to enjoy it, but it seems as though the game scorns the roots from whence it came. Bethesda seems to be totally ignorant of the feel and spirit that went into the original fallout series, instead crafting a strange and unsatisfying view of 1920s-1940s American patriotism and often perverse dialogue. The people feel dead, and the environments are bland and uncoordinated, I can understand, but it feels clunky as do the menus and pip-boy system. There is an obvious negligence of the developers to make the pc version more than a port and it is aggravating when you consider how much they charge for it. Unbridled gore and slap-stick physics cause the game to loose any charm it may have had and give me a distaste for the combat system. It foregoes game play realism and progression for instant gratification and this is a recipe for disaster. Consider deciding to allow creatures to be tossed 10 feet into the air by a BB shot absurd because it shows an utter lack of tactile sense on the part of the developers in the realm of fallout. The story seems very haphazard for the first part of the game, the choices in dialogue as a 1 or 10 year old gave me a sense of disappointment for the purpose of role-playing and general interest. Thugs get leather jackets in the vault out of nowhere, (recall the only leather in fallout came from Brahmin). The story leaps to extremes without justification and doesn't allow itself to be grounded in fallout canon while posting as genuine. I'm dissapointed, I wasted my money, and I'm ashamed for the gaming community for often undervaluing genius and praising mediocrity.… Expand

horrible buggy game. Does not work on Windows Vista 64bit at all. Constant crashes and no support from software developer. They told me to install it on Windows XP. I asked if it was suppored under Windows Vista and they said yes but then told me to install it on Windows XP.

Now that that is out of the way, the story line, graphics and sound are outstanding. The game really captures you attention and doesnt let go. Watching the nuke detonate in the story line was fantastic and a little scarry. As with all Bethesda games, the voice acting and NPC interaction is excellent. However the story was too short. I finished the game in just under 12 hours of total play time. I wish it could have been longer as I was totally immersed in the post war world.

My recommendation would be NOT to buy this game, at least until they manage to work out the bugs.… Expand

I was eagerly waiting for this game, in fact it was one of the main reasons that I bought a new PC. I love fallout 1 and 2 because of the at(o)mosphere of the game. F3 has got great graphics, but it contains only a small part of the prevoius games' goosebump effect. Combats are quite boring, and in my opinion there is way too much grinding in it. If you know F1 and F2, you know that you could complete it with talking. I miss this now. So F3 is the perfect example that graphics are not the main importance. I give this game a 4 because it has ruined the original and incomparable fallout-feeling. Sad.… Expand

It's a shoddy XBOX port. I hope they tone down the MASSIVE interface fonts (We play on monitors with much better resolution Bethesda - didn't you know that ??) The control system is clunky, the graphics are slightly worse than Oblivion (which is over 2 and a half years old) The RPG elements have been ripped to the bare bones. progression, authenticity ( to the original games) drama, detail, tactics, strategy, RPG.. If you are looking for any of the above go elsewhere, this is a point and click shooter with the tiniest bit of customization and progression added to appease the RPG fans. IMO it fails, 2 days after buying this I'm playing Fallout 2 again, and feeliong really cheesed off that Bethesda cocked this up so massively.… Expand

Hmmm that game is probably The Fallout 3 but i look into that game and cant find enything who show me that Fallout in this product - Bethezda one more time show to game comunity how to destroy a good game that is not a Fallout that is a Oblivion with guns

If you want to witness the very definition of a mediocre game (as in "not bad and not good at the same time", not "the perfect representative of the usuall crap"), then play this. If not, don't bother. But seriously, it has it all - mediocre combat (and lots of it), mediocre speech sections, mediocre setting, mediocre landscapes and landmarks to visit (most of them are pretty good on their own, but they are so similar that you quickly stop caring after the nth metro station / ruined home / vault / ...), mediocre enemies to fight (again, the complaint is similar as with the locations), mediocre quests (well, a few are good, but those are balanced out by the bad ones quite nicely) and mediocre and uninspired writing. Still, it's much better than Oblivion, which was the previous RPG in this style from this developer, even though it feels like a conversion of it at times. Then again, the only way to go from it was up, so... Oh, and don't mistake this game for a part of the Fallout series. I know, I know, it's called "Fallout 3", but about the only thing that connects it to its supposed predecessors is the butchered setting and forced references. Honestly, those feel so out of place for someone who has played FO1 and FO2 that the game would probably have been better without them. I'd give this game a 5/10, but it can't NOT lose a point for it's ending. It's not mediocre, it's bad. And so it gets a 4. It has so much content outside of the progressively more dumb main quest that this may not even be an issue for some. In summary, if you have time for video games and no good games on which to spend it then it can be a viable substitute. Otherwise don't waste your time.… Expand

I really tried to like this game. I installed it and played for 30 mins and gave up than i returned to it and played for a couple of hours. I couldn't stand it more. +great 1st cut scene (when the radio starts playing that old song I was like omg this is gonna be great) +from what I've played I understood that you really impact the outcome of the story -graphics (i know it's post nuclear war but that grey just puts me off) -animation (i hate the way the characters move, they seem to float over the ground when walking, people talk to me while i face their backs, etc) -too much dialog, i know its a rpg but wtf? tons of dialog -vats system is awkward for me, the fps is somehow retarded (i shoot people in the head from like 1m and they are ok) +the radio, cool tunes Overall I just didn't get into the atmosphere. I played stalker: clear sky and its just so much better.… Expand

This game was talked about and talked about and talked about. And everyone was saying it was going to be the greatest game ever, that it was going to blow our faces off. For the first month that I played it, it did, but then I realized that they had pulled the wool over my eyes. There's literally nothing in this game! There's like ten quest and like three towns and only like 8 different kinds of enemies. There are whole places of the game where they completely forgot to put anything in. It's just empty space. One of the worst parts is theres a lot of references to things that could be quests but theres no quest attached to them. That means that the game developers weren't even close to finished with making the game. The worst part of all is that the main quest last like 5 mins and incredibly boring. However unlike most people who hated the game I thought the first person shooting was absolutely amazing. If they quadruple the content of the game it would be amazing but there is almost nothing in it and there will always be nothing in it.… Expand

You either love it or hate it. Frankly, it's a disappointment to the fans of the original Fallout. It doesn't have what was special about the Fallout series. The other Fallout games had a small world, unbalanced, buggy gameplay, but what you did mattered. It was a roleplaying game in spirit. Fallout 3 is a wonderful game, with a large world, plenty of things to explore, a fun combat system. It has more of an exploration feel, where you wander in dungeons, killing things, finding interesting hidden stuff, but doesn't have much detail in interactions and has the worst ending of every Fallout game. It's unworthy as a sequel. It has the art style, but not the spirit. It would be good if they just called it Fallout: D.C, and I dock 1 point from the rating for the disappointment. You'll either love it, be disappointed, or hate it. Explorers and casual gamers will love it. Roleplayers will hate it.… Expand

Okay i played this game the first time and i loved it. But therre were a few problems. Like how hard it is to navigate the whole place on foot. Plus it's very hard to find ammo. People are also to hard to kill. At least bethesda making a new game that actually looks good!

Glitchy, uninspiriny remake of Daggerfall with guns, again. Might have been passable a decade ago but quite honestly, story telling and gameplay have moved on a lot since then. Even farcry for all it's nonsensical plot, half finished feel, had some excitement during missions, here there's none. You have an indicator at the top of the screen to show when someone's seen you and one at the bottom showing the direction towards both enemies and mission goals, combat largely consists of calling up the VATS and clicking the target's head a few times, then pressing the E key ... all the player involvement of Progress quest, at least progress is honest about what it's doing. Graphics are similarly dated, probably about as good as Oblivion. The CTDs bugged me too. I have played GTA IV (another notorious program) for hours at once, with only the occasional problem, this CTDs regularly. Similarly Mass Effect, Deadspace, ME2TW and a host of other games have never given me a problem. Aparently it MAY be a problem with Creative sound cards, but should that really be my problem bethesda? All the other developers seem to be able to work them out. I'd suspect the problems more likely arise from the root kit protection system they use or, perhaps, the beta version of dot net it installs on your system that cause the problems. Storytelling is weak, acting, whilst not terrible is variable, the only mystery revealed, after many hours of play is "Why is this game so highly rated?". Time freezes whenever you have a conversation, and in some circumstances it's perfectly possible to have a lengthy chat, mid combat. I give it a charitable 4.… Expand

ok this game has a lot of hype for a not so flashy game. the graphics were a peice of shit. it was only interesting through one play through. its really not that great i am going to get the expansion packs to see if that will make it more interesting

8 first play through 4 after that

Fallout 3 is absolutely not a part of the original Fallout Franchise. It's more a Feature and a bad ripoff of the original Games. All you can do is run around and shoot Stuff thats acting quite stupid. Not many Quests, and they tend to become boring after a while. This Game is advertising with great replayablility, but in fact it's just another Facette which gives the same results. Even the Karmasystem influencing NPC behavious towards you is totally messed up when you compare it to the old games, not to mention the Script of the Mainquest. Go to the Mutievault where the Geck is and *boom* you are abducted without even knowing what's going on or what that secret Project is on what your Father worked. You still can give the Answers as if you would know. Also... the Ending. 90% Rad Resistance and yet you die. WTF. And you can't send in the Supermutant who has retrieved the Geck from a Deathzone for you. Bullocks. PS The Bloody Mess Trait isn't what you expect from the Game when you played the prior Installments (on the old Engine, there where two kinds of Deathanimation: Normal and cruel Splatter on Critical Hits): Killing People with Bloody Mess malms everything of their Body as if they'd explode from the Inside out. Believe me, it sounds better than it plays.… Expand

This game is a highlight of the derivative - meaning it is exceedingly derivative given its visibility. Sure, there are tons of generic copy-paste DS brain-age games, PC FPSes, etc, but they generally are forgotten within weeks of release. But this game is a big deal, and it's getting nothing but great reviews(just like what happened with Oblivion), meaning it will have lasting visibility. Is it too much to ask for an RPG to "capture my imagination"? What ever happened to that concept? I know it's still possible. Portal captured my imagination. Katamari Damacy did it. So why has it been so long since an RPG has done it? RPGs are the games that need to do this MOST!… Expand

Oblivion FPS Mod. Poor storyline, poor execution. Not what I had hoped. The V.A.T.S. system takes most of the skill out of the game, and I still don't get how I can miss 5 shots with a 95% chance to hit, but get 3 shots with a 5% chance to hit. No sense at all. And the AI left much to be desired. Much like FarCry 2, this game falls short of its promises. Also, the storyline is incredibly short and the game ends - it's not open-ended roaming, you can complete and end the game. Even after I did ALL of the sidequests in the game and then completed the main quest, it was still very short. I'd recommend another game over this.… Expand

When I heard that Bethesda(somebody, please! Help me about pronunciation) was going to make a new Fallout game, I felt tight little bit. Just because this is a company that makes games which are both massive, and at the same time superb boring. Take Oblivion for example: At first massiveness of the game embraces you thanks to all the details like story, music, etc... but all these stuff has only 3 or 4 hours lifetime. We have same thing for Fallout 3 here. Post Apocalyptic world with 3d graphics, some different quest, weapons bla bla.. but beyond all of these, this game has no soul. All characters in the game are so mechanic and dull. They speak as if if they were forth or fifth class actors. All the environmental is lack of persuasiveness. so on ans so forth. From that point, this game looks like a more fan-base 3d Fallout clone(and I would give 8 if it was) rather than spiritual incomer for original Fallout.… Expand

The people in charge of handing out Game Of The Year awards should be ashamed of themselves for giving this bug ridden game the award. Bethesda show complete lack of care for their customers by churning out such a blatantly unfinished product. The gameplay is also repetative to the point of being boring. There are some saving graces but whats the point when the coding is this bad.

This game loves to crash, interesting my fix is not running the game with quad-cores good start. But thats fixed and when you go past it? Well it starts well the atmosphere is good though I can't say I ever felt any engagement with the plot, but none the less the atmosphere is pretty dam good. BUT, that doesnt last once the wasteland starts to feel more familiar , it feel safe, you reach a point of financial comfort and then it's kind of over. The rpg/shooter gameplay is far from a stong point and simply doesnt carry the game when the feel fades. Had the game kept the player from feeling comfy and maintained the feel of the wastes no doubt I would be giving this 8+ despite its poor gameplay but sadly this isnt the case and the game just falls short of the mark.… Expand

This might not be completely fair as i never finished the game but the game just did not resonate with me. The story was decent but not as entertaining as i wanted, i found the gameplay to be incredibly boring for the first two hours and once you finally escape the vault, the wastelands are depressing and unappealing. The graphics were good but because of the setting it just felt too heavily textured and bland. The guns were okay but i didnt progress far enough to discover anything all that interesting. On top of that the game felt confusing with too many things going on at once. In the end i just found the game to be unattractive and boring.… Expand

I purchased this game twice. When it first came out, the whole DLC hype hadn't started yet so I assumed I purchased a full game and finished it. I quite enjoyed my first play through, spent several hours per day playing it. Now that I bought the Game of the Year Edition on Steam to have all the content I missed out on before, I am revisiting the game and now wonder how I could have put up with such shoddy gameplay the first time around. The interface is simply horrible, quite obviously dumbed down for console players. The physics system causes items to fall through the floor and often make it hard for you to use grenades and other explosives because they do not always trigger the way they're meant to if they do not land properly. The inventory management system is horrible. You can't even use the mouse and it feels exactly like a 90's DOS application. This was intended but only to hide the fact that it was designed for console users. Another excruciatingly annoying feature is that you can only wield one weapon at the time. If you want to wield another weapon, you will first have to locate it in your inventory. For a game that expects you to use several weapons at once, they sure aren't making it easy. Not to mention the massive amount of loot that you will find in this game. You'll spend a lot of time trying to find a way to make it all fit in your inventory; you will find so much that you'll be wondering if perhaps the British rioters have had a go at the scenery before you went in. The AI in the game is absolutely pathetic; it gets stuck behind every conceivable object and the way they attack is unrealistic, reminiscent of Doom 1; they simply march straight forward while firing away, always scoring several cheap shots on you while you limp (You can only walk or run, not sprint.) to the nearest cover. If you're unlucky, you'll find out the hard way that car wreckage does not make for good cover; they tend to CATCH FIRE and DETONATE like nuclear bombs!
The good parts of this game are few. I thought the story was interesting the first time I played it through but now that I play it again, I can't help but think just how childish the writing is; Vampires? A town full of children? A town full of teenagers? A town built around a nuclear bomb? Really? I just can't bring myself to care for any of these places. They characters in them have no personality whatsoever and you continuously run into the same voice actors, destroying immersion. Fallout 1 and 2 created a much better and believable atmosphere. The main plot is reminiscent of the previous titles and arguably the better part of the experience. Unfortunately, the ending suffers from dimwitted writing once more. Haven't gotten around to trying the DLC yet. Don't know if I'll get to that point, I am already fed up with walking for hours and hours running into the same boring piece of lifeless scenery again and again while shooting the same uninspired enemy that I managed to get stuck behind the same uninspired object over and over.… Expand

As a game, Fallout 3 is mediocre at best. As a Fallout game, it falls flat on it's face. It seems as though Bethesda really couldn't grasp what the feel of Fallout was supposed to be.

Most of the environments were uninteresting, the characters really had no depth, the main quest line was a joke, RPG elements were incredibly weak (You could easily "break" the game becoming too powerful), the animation is just awful, and the writing and voice acting is cringe-worthy.

The game can be enjoyable at times, but for the most part it's not a great follow-up to Fallout 2 or 1.… Expand

A horrible, flawed title with bugs, a poor storyline and little roleplaying options - an undeserving attempt at one of the greatest RPGs of all time - Fallout. You manage to defeat Vault security despite being a Level 1 wimp, then proceed to destroy supermutants and the Enclave with no particular hardship. On your journey, you meet boring, shallow and two-dimensional characters with poor voice acting who give you just as boring and shallow quests. The UI can be a chore to use. The game has countless bugs and the animations do *not* resemble human beings. That's not to say, it contradicts the already established Fallout lore. It can be a fun game, but only for a little while.… Expand

When Bethesda announced new Fallout game i was really excited. In the end fallout 3 was one of the biggest disappointments. Game play is inferior to both Oblivion and original fallout. The main story line is short and boring. I expected much more from Bethesda.

Oh, dear, oh, dear... I tried to love this game so hard... I'm just going to say sorry for the guys that love this game. You have the right to love it, it's fair, but it seems that you either got spoiled by modern game industry or didn't know the beauty of TRUE Fallout universe. Bethesda needs to understand, that not every game that it does needs to be done in the same manner. In the end Fallout started to look like The Elder Scrolls after a while. Please, do not misunderstand me, I love TES, but it's design is unique and suitable only for itself. Bethesda seems to think otherwise. Fallout 3 turned out to be more of a shooter, than an RPG. And when I say that, I mean: 90% shooter, 10% RPG. And in the end: it's certainly isn't the best of both world, but a bad example of adapting a series. The game may be enjoyable for new gamers, but for the old school type of gamers this will be a huge disappointment. I'm still in shock trying to figure out why it's score is better than Fallout 2's...… Expand

i thought this was going to be a rpg. i was apparently mistaken. i am 2 hours after the intro, in the game. have still not met anyone i could talk to. just random shooting. gush the genre tag is a major lie. this does really not deserve to be part of the fallout franchise.

The beginning of Fallout 3 is very promising, but from that point onward, it's downhill straight to gamers hell. The FPS mode isn't fulfilling comparing to shooters, the "oh so beautiful" landscape is just copy+paste, the main plot is too short and interactions with NPCs are dull. Not to mention uninteresting quests. And the bugs. Man, check out the list of bugs. That's the best "review" of this game.… Expand

And here's why: 1) Poor AI. 2) No item shortcuts (ex: You need to open your Pip Boy everytime you need to switch weapons, which gets really annoying over time). 3) You can't sprint in this game. 4) Bugs , Crashes and sudden blackscreens (PC Version). 5) No destructable environment 6) No flashlights. 7) And the last of all, the cherry on the cake: You can't even CLIMB piles of ruins for shortcuts. Now THAT's stupid. Sandbox game? You got to be kidding me. On the other hand, Graphics do seem old but for people who doesn't have a high spec computer, It's ok. Due to poor AI, combat is easy if you have tactical talents. Easy to understand tutorial... That's all.… Expand

This games tries to paint a barren wasteland in DC but it fails. It essentially gives the player too much freedom and it's unfair to Bethesdas customers to release such an unfinished game. If I'd have to option to pay what I think this game is worth I'd only pay 4 Euro at most. As a player you often stray away from the main quest and go to many places if only to explore but the extremely populated wastes really ruins the player's experience and it doesn't feel much at all like a barren wasteland and you always feel safe in towns. You actually never feel insecure because the enemies you face have often the same level as you and when you get access to the more advanced weapons and armor you start to think that it's too easy and when it's not it's extremely unfair. Like dashing up certain enemies with loads of HP and damage capability. This is a game much like Oblivion is a pure flop and the mods available isn't much help because Bethesda screved this game up so much now that not even it's community could save it.… Expand

I don't even know where to start... Fallout 3 is most certainly an amusing game - when it works. Yes, when, not if. This game is moody like a pregnant woman, no two seemingly identical situations actually turn out exactly alike. And unfortunately, thats mostly not because of the - admittedly - inventive ways to solve quests, but rather the result of a failing script. So let's start with the positives and then work our way up.

- Atmosphere: The game has that. You step out into a vast, devastated wasteland, inhabited by mostly hostile creatures after your hide. The world is enormous, it takes weeks to see all the places, never mind solving the problems you are confronted with.

- Variation: As said above, every little job has a good handful of solutions. Want the super powerful armor out of that deep pre-war bunker? Perhaps hacking through the security systems will do? No? Then perhaps you could pick the locks and trust in your weapons for the hostile robots and turrets in your way. Of course, if you are good enough, why not sneak past them? Or, of you are the Highway-man type, why not just tell someone else where to find what you seek and wait with your gun at your side once they fought through hordes of robots, turrets and traps so you won't have to?

- Humor: Admittedly, not everyones cup of tea, but Fallout has and always had a pretty... unique type of humor. Fallout 3 dropped the ball a little compared to its predecessors, but it still does a fine job confronting you with dozens of scenarios that leave you standing there scratching your head.

- Compelling Story: Yup, it has that. Definitely. Long, interesting and with a lot of twists and a very interesting ending - which I loved. Just that much: The solution stares you in the face since you learned to walk and yet it takes a couple of minutes to think of it. Brilliant!


That leads us to the bad parts. I will not list them all. I will simply list the most glaring of them. - Bugs: Yes. Loads and loads and loads of them. Some are critical, some are not. The fact is, this game is the worst bit of software I have ever had the misfortune to lay my hands on. I bought the game twice - once at release and then a few years later via steam. Neither version could be compelled to work as intended, if at all. Most of the time, you sit there wandering how the heck you go around that particular bug again. Not fun. At all.

- No customer support: Bethesda has kept themselves rather... covered concerning their shoddy piece of junk. No solutions are forthcoming unless you brave the community-forums - which are admittedly very open and helpful.

- Combat: Not half as much fun as it is supposed to be... for a shooter, the aiming is to imprecise and the damage simply too low to be fun. For a tactic-shooter, the mobs are too stupid. Hide behind a corner with your trusty Combat-Shotgun and nothing will ever be able to stop you. So yeah, nice idea, bad execution. Try again, please!


In conclusion: This game could be great, but it simply isn't because it isn't working. Don't do this to yourself until Bethesda fixed what they should have done right in the first place. Amusingly enough, a quote from the game itself: "It is easier to do things right than later explain why that hasn't been done." [I am unfortunately german, thus have the german version which is even worse due to horrid synchro. So the quote MAY be diffrent in english, I wouldn't know. The meaning is the same.]… Expand

As a stand alone its a great game, just by being plain fun to play. Boring main quest and, unkillable children (dont put them there if i cant shoot them in the face) and other idiotic flaws like that drags it down but overall its a good game.

As a sequel it fails miserably, at least according to my personal definition of what a sequel is.
This is a first person real time action/rpg with pause bullet time. (NO GROIN SHOTS WTF)
It fails to capture the spirit of its predecessor, not saying Fallout 2 is a better game, but fallout 3 is a horrible sequel.… Expand

Welcome to boring, repetitive 'open-world' (copied+pasted maps) game masked as an RPG with horrible (and stolen) storyline, butchered Fallout lore aka Oblivion With Guns. A game that is unplayable without mods that were made by fans. And DLC's are even worse. If you're not a casual gamer and if you like RPG and Fallout, then try New Vegas instead.

20 missions FNV infinitely better than this crap. It makes no sense even of the two time pass cw case at all, even once it does not make sense to go through. A simple shooting game where the missions and story background is just smashing everything without the slightest sense.

Another example of a fanboy infested, overated game. I had high hopes for this game as its predecessors were so outstanding. I was extremely dissapointed. I was expecting a engaging and interactive atmosphere in a post apocolyptic setting but I was given instead an empty map with nothing going on in it. It was a chore for me to walk from point a to point b as I was expecting a STALKER like system in which there is constant fighting between different groups in the environment where I would be caught up in the crossfire and be able to take a side or take cover and wait out the battle or navigate around it, except I was greeted by a empty environment where the only fight you will get are single robots and mutants placed randomely throughtout the map and a small group of pathetic bandits which are easy to dispense of. I don't see why they made such a big map if there is no point of bothering to travel anywhere, it was a serious bore for me to travel anywhere because the map was empty. Then theres the guns. Oh dear. The guns all feel unfinished and poorly designed and there is a pathetic aresenal of weapons that you can obtain. The player crafted weapons I have all seen before, (a gun that shoots anything you put in it, yeh that hasn't been done before) and they didn't really make me want to seek out the blueprints for them as they were simply terrible weapons. The guns are all extremely underpowered and they all have terrible recoil and animations that had no real appeal. One quest near the start of them game has you gooing to a mutant infested city with only a hunting rifle (which is a total peice of shit) and a crrappy little pistol to fight mutants with miniguns and rocket launchers. But mind you, the AI is so dead beat retarded that you are able to walk up to them and melee them to death. Then theres VATs. This was were I lost a huge amount of interest in the game. All you do is select VATs, target their head and they're dead. If I were a retard or a mindless console fanboy drop kick I would be drooling at the prospect of having my aiming done for me, but thankfully I wasn't born with a brain the size or a pea and I can aim perfectly on my own. I dislike the fact that Bethesda regards it's buyers as idiots who can't do anything for themselves, mind you it is true though, as this game was swamped by mindless fanatical fanboys. Then there is the storyline and the quests... This is where the game is at its worst. The main quest would take you 3-4 hours to complete uninterupted by side quests or item hunting. It has you following your dad... Yes that's right, your dad, on a fairy tale quest to purify the water for all the people in the wastelands, who also happen to be trying to kill you, so I wasn't really that keen. Almost every single side quest was a go there get that then come back quest or go there kill that come back quest. Then there is the AI. I was so bored with dad's stupid mindless speech and boring responses that I blew off his head and proceeded to dismember his body parts, at the dismay to the characters involved in the quest regarding the dad and the water whom I also proceeded to dismember. I then happened to stumble across a fallen space ship with a alien ray gun that disintergrates anyone in one shot, so the difficulty level fell to about the same difficulty as breathing. I then ventured out into the wasteland hoping that I could get a battle that required more than selecting Vat's, going for a piss then coming back to every enemy dead, but once again, the only enemy I encountered was a single mutant or robot which proved highly boring. I was also told that there was endless customization. WRONG. The only customization there is are 2 different pairs of glasses, a hat and 3 different types of armour. Then I was also again told that there is great character interaction and hard choices to make and well written responses and speech. Once again, WRONG. It's jsut a typical, good response, neutral response, random question, witty response, the witty responses would only make a 12 year old kid laugh, then again that is most of the buying audience for this game. This game is is non deserving of it's score and is only so highly rated because of payed reviewers and hyped fanboys that know no better. Overall a medicore game that brings nothing new to the table. Just another post nuclear apocolypse RPG that is going to be gathering dust on the shelf. I will never play it again. I gave it 2 because the graphics where somewhat pleasing, other than that, a simply put, shit game.… Expand

So, I just tried this game on the 360(too bad i couldn't get to try the pc version.) and at first, I was interested in the story, gameplay, graphics ect. but I must say, pretty much everything people say that is flawed about this game is true sadly. It would seem that Bestheda Studios really doesn't A) Care all that much about the franchise, or B) They can't make games worth shit. I did play Oblivion(on the 360) and noticed that all this game really is, is a poorly made mod of the oblivion engine. Characters, boring and forgettable. Movements and animations, total shit. All around, this game resembles nothing of the Fallout franchise. And if the pc version is the same as the 360, i would never even pay $20 for it.… Expand

I'll never understand the hype that's been brought upon this game. The dialogue of the characters seem very cheesy and simple. Also, I've played this game on three different powerful PC's, and the controls are horrid and delayed.

I was a huge fan of Oblivion so I was pretty sure I was going to love Fallout 3. How wrong I was. The horribly clunky VATS combat system, uniformly boring landscapes, and a dull central plotline all conspired to make this game unrelentingly mudane. I plodded through the central quest and was glad when it was all over. Weirdly Fallout 3 takes some of the best things about Oblivion - the ability to roam almost anywhere without obstacles getting in your way, side quests that were still accessible even after the central plot was done and dusted, and rich rewards for scavenging - and it dumped them all. I'll be selling my version on ebay shortly. Whatever you do, don't buy it!… Expand

I don't usually review/rate games but the incongruity between the rave reviews and what I experienced with this game compel me to do so. Lame story, writing, and voice-acting. Simple, repetitive gameplay that requires no skill development (unless you count patience while enduring extreme boredom as a skill); laughable NPC AI. The only redeeming aspect of this game is the interesting scenery.

This game sucks ass. If it weren't for the awesome user made mods I never would have bought the game. In no way is it anywhere near as great as the originals. **** writing, **** storytelling, **** graphics, **** fps integration. Just a horrible, horrible game.

Fallout 3 is bland, lengthy, tedious, and repetitive. I often hear people say they like it because the world is so big. Honestly though, who cares if the world is "big"? It really is all just the same burning rubble copy-pasted all over a big map, so there isn't really a whole lot to explore because very little of it is new and you also can't interact with much of it anyway. The only things that break the repetition and boredom are the cities, but there aren't that many, and they are very few and far between in a HUGE wasteland. The world is definitely "big," but there also isn't much to do in it or interact with.

The developer didn't provide any vehicles, so while "exploring," you get to have fun walking...everywhere... at a painfully slow pace. Imagine GTA, but without cars, with a lot of burning buildings that you can't really interact with the vast majority of the time, very few people, and it's populated by the same 5 kinds of bad guys all across 90% of the map. Despite the terrific art-style and interesting setting, the game does a terrible job of storytelling, and what little story-content there is is spread out throughout approximately 60 hours of mind-numbingly repetitive combat and "exploration." Soon, you realize that you are fighting the same bad-guys over and over, that the houses and assorted bits of rubble and trash you see lying all over the world all look more or less the same, and the whole experience is downhill from there.

Repetitive combat + copy-pasted rubble + no significant story = boring waste of time.

Don't buy into the hype about the game being "open-world." Open world games aren't that great when everything you come across in the game looks bland, lifeless, and identical to 80% or more of everything else you've already come across in the game.… Expand

I don't get it. What's all the hype about this game? Same thing over and over and over- just in different parts of the map/world.

Seriously overhyped. This is boring.

I purchased fallout 3 GOTY edition last summer (2011). After my initial (partial) playthru, i confess to being astounded that this particular game could b awarded GOTY for the yr it was issued, or, 4 any yr. Virtually everything about the game is steeped n mediocrity, including (but not limited to) graphics, plot, storyline, audio, continuity & interface. It's not that it's a bad game, but there's nothing i could find that's outstanding n any way. But thats not the reason i gave it a 2.

It gets a 2 b/c this is simply the buggiest game i hv ever purchased. U will probably find the remainder of this paragraph difficult 2 believe, but i hv no hidden agenda n writing this. There r sections of the game where i had to restart the game every 10 seconds or so for over 10 times n a row to continue playing it. There were instances when i've attempted to start playing the game & it took between 5 & 10 attempts just to get it to load, so i could start playing it. Ultimately, of course, u should check w a variety of sources of input b4 making a final decision on whether to purchase this, or any, pc game, but 4 me, i've promised myself to NEVER pruchae any product from bethesda again, since i believe there's no way they weren't aware of the bugs, but decided to release the game that way anyway. Thats a str8 punch n the face of the consumer & i feel they shld b punished. U've been warned.… Expand

The overall concept for Fallout 3 was good. The media hype surrounding the game was excellent. The only flaw in this apparent gem of the gaming industry is that it doesnt work. Yes you heard me. The game is so buggy that I havent been able to play for more than 30 minutes without a crash to desktop and I am deeply insulted that a company like Bethesda would ship this to market in its current state. Only game I have issues with on my current rig which is vastly superior to the minimum requirements. Despite my affection for Oblivion I will not purchase another Bethesda title solely on principle. It is now Jan 2009 and still no patch for the PC version. Game buying public out there beware dont be duped. Just do an search on PC issues with Fallout 3 and judge for yourself.… Expand

I thought this game was pure garbage. It was dull, so dull I played it for 30 min and gave up. I love the Idea of RPG/SHOOTER but this didn't do it for me. I think the models look like trash. The gameplay, meh.. Overall I gave this game a whole 1 point for effort. I hope borderlands is better.

Yes i give only 1 point! This is no fallout 3, this is madness!! The only point comes that they even tried to conver oblivion to fallout and for that i can see some light "fallout" curtain over oblivion here. Teleporting in houses, stiff and badly named npc:s (villager etc), Fighting, scaling opponents, those annoying glowing eyes in dark! (sound cool tho but its not), even the dialog is poor like in oblivion! Argh! capped leveling!? Theres just so much wrong in this game and i haven't find a single enjoyable thing yet! This game is bad as my writing. (100/100 from gamespy! did you guys even tried the game, i will not renew my account there anymore, bye..)… Expand

Oh dear oh dear. A risible runner shooter. RPG elements all but destroyed.

Thje music sounds like a remix of Oblivions (esspecially the "plonk plonk plonk" slow morose piano intro followed by low key strings and wind. It might as well be a remix. The game feels and plays like a poor mans Oblivion..and all the text and menu's are in VERY low resolution -showing to be the poor console port that it is.

Maybe it's not awful, but in comparison with 1&2 (and tactics) it's pretty close… Expand

I cant remember playing a more tedious and broken game. the interactions with enemies is neither FPS like nor RPG like and the game runs terribly slow for something that has ancient graphics.

for what was a very creative and fun game series, fallout NV and 3 set an all time low. Sure, fallout 3 and NV pulled the series to 3d and open, and i admit it was kind of fun, but that fun was ruined by the major bugs, freezes, glitches and crashes i experienced on my copy. it happened on my PC,ps3 and 360 copies so its not my system. This is a very crap game that does not deserve a sequel. If 4 gets made, it must not be developed by obsidian and not use that crap gamebryo engine. I cant even tell you how bad the DLC makes it. Its unplayable after 3 hours gameplay. its like it purposly freezes to tick you off!… Expand

The worst Fallout game and one of the worst games I have ever played.

If you want a Fallout game with a first person view that actually feels like a Fallout game, then get Fallout: New Vegas, it is a great game!

Avoid this huge pile of crap at all costs. You have been warned.

Ok. This game is one that requires absolutely no skill whatsoever to play. If you're completely ham-handed and can't actually play a FPS; this game is for you. I played the entire way through; then wondered why I had bothered; as the ending is abrubt and poor. It's a game made for people who don't like having to try. You click a button to go into VATS, you choose which body part you'd like to blow off (generally the head), and then you watch as it gets blown off. It's a disgrace to the Fallout series.… Expand

I would have given this game a 10, IF I COULD PLAY IT!!! This game is so buggy you can breath without it crashing. See for yourself go tot he official website, forums and PC issues, You will find page, after page after page after page of glitches, bugs, hardware issues, Software issues, and all around bad programming on Bethesda's part. Seriously, Bethesda makes awesome games if you could actually play ANY of them, all of their games are so buggy and they never even bother to fix any of it, they just release one or two patches to fix small problems like a particle of dust going in the wrong direction on some obscure level you have never been to and will probably never find, and just forgets that game exists, moves on to their next horrible game and make more money. Bethesda should get off their butts and fix this game, or give it to someone who knows what the hell they are doing! They really are AWESOME games during the 10 minutes you can actually play them before it decides that you're stepping on too many cracks in the pavement and kicks you back to your desktop.… Expand

Even if you compare to Mass Effect which was also targeted for consoles Fallout 3 is just really bad. Worse in every possible way. Not to mention how much worse it's to an actual PC RPG. Bad shooter with very bad RPG sprinkled on top.

This game does not deserve a 0 but since so many people rated it a 10 I felt I had to bring the score down a bit. I honestly don't have much to say much about this game, there is no good distinguishing features about it. I thought the environment graphics were pretty, but the character / weapon models were terrible. The dialogue was boring and I felt uninspired to do any of the quests except the main one, which was also very boring and short. Overall this game is worth less than $10.… Expand

This game is atrocious. What an insult to the, already much offended Fallout Franchise. None of what made Fallout memorable is present here. Characters lack all personality, there's hardly any real consequences for in-game choices, the plot is horrendously mediocre. All I can think of is how the real Fallout 3 was under development at Black Isle, back in '03, and how Bethesda actually aggressively out-bid the original developers for the license and then basically told them to get lost when they offered to help, applying for positions at Bethesda. All the while publicly pronouncing themselves as "fans of the original games". Fallout as a franchise, had so much artistic integrity and psychological authenticity. Now, Fallout seems to have been ham-fistedly shoe-horned into the first-person action genre in a careless, half-assed manner, with little thought, by a bunch of hack, incompetent game-designers whose only concern is for sales and money. It truly is as if First Person/Action is the only thing Bethesda know how to design - as if it's the only trick they can do. Bethesda's treatment of the series' fans has been utterly contemptuous. Not to mention, their deplorable manipulation of the gaming media through subtle, unspoken bribes and blackmail (exclusives done with paid-for dinners etc.). Their non-disclosure of real information (most of the little we knew about the game pre-release turned out to be half-truths and outright lies) augmented with their (very) carefully constructed hype machine made it impossible to know what the game is really like before actually paying for it. Consider that it has now been *eleven* years since Black Isle Studios released Fallout and Fallout 2 and people are still playing them. Fallout 3 is so forgettable it's almost pathetic. Nobody will be playing this in six months. Fallout 3 is a complete failure in all but sales. And if you think sales is where real success is measured, then I truly pity you.… Expand

Wow! This game is totally awesome! Selecting your sex, your Look, and first missions when you are a baby. Fixing guns, armor accessories and other stuff. And details of world and effects are amazing! THANK YOU FALLOUT3 team! :3

Take 1 good dead franchise, exhume it. Strap on some new grey graphics, leave all the flesh behind in the grave, add micronukes, and what do you get? FAILOUT 3. Bethesda -ruining your favorite franchise 1 micronuke at a time. Ignore all the reviewers comments, they have all been bribed. Just remember how bad the scaling in oblivion was? You build you character, and instead of geting better your enemies get so good that you might as well not have leveld up at all. This is the worst game ever made, it is grey, and by that i mean you will likely not even get to see another colour the entire game. Dogmeat? Yup, he only died in a forcefield 75 years ago, but WAIT! he's BACK! Mutants have become orcs, ghouls are now zombies. Yes, zombies. Not ghouls. Same thing if you are accustomed to making games like oblivion. When harold decides to eat my brain then i will tell these retards that they did not ruin fallout. Bethe$da are destroying fallout. Buy this game and kill a franchise. Oh, and there are mudcrabs too. and DRAGONS! YAY! I put on my daedric plate and my uber imba nuke launcher to fight a dragon with my 20 fire damage enchanted ammo. I think i will make a potion out of jet (only available in new reno, and only for 4 years or so) that i bought a few thousand kilometers from new reno. I will mix in some NOT heroin due to australian censorship, to get a restore fatigue potion and then repair my armour with a grandmaster armourers hammer. Dont waste your money.… Expand

Forgettable, one-dimensional characters. Unoriginal and simplistic narrative. Short, linear and poorly-written narrative. Poorly-written dialogue. Poorly-voiced dialogue. No real moral ambiguity. No real choices and consequences. No real freedom (there are unkillable NPCs everywhere, narrative progression relies mostly on combat) No intellectually/emotionally complex quests such as in the previous games. Massive illogical contradictions and abuse of established lore. Atrocious animations, lackluster models, textures and art direction. Unoriginal and out-of-place LOTR-styled score more suited to Oblivion. Tactical combat removed. Importance of perks/traits removed. Traits removed. Claustrophobic, small cut-and-paste world. Poorly designed interface. Buggy. Failure to correct any of the issues with Oblivion. A mockery of and stain upon Fallout and Fallout 2. Bethesda's Fallout fails on all counts to emulate even an echo of the complexity and design achievements of the decade-old 2D games it fails to imitate. Even when removed from the context of being a sequel, it's an exceptionally simplistic, arrogant and incompetent game all by itself.… Expand

Turn the franchise in a stale poorly designed xbox360 port. Can't even understand why they called it fallout 3. I refuse to acknowledge this as a fallout game. The franchise is dead to me since The PS game they made so years ago. They didn't even make an Oblivion with guns. The made a mod for Oblivion and put a 50$ price tag on it. Although I have to admit I pretty sure its full of content the xbox noobs can enjoy.… Expand

Not nearly best PC game in 2008. Maybe if it was 2002 and this was only game released... Graphics suck Story sucks Animations suck really bad Fallout feel NOT PRESENT Oblivion feel ALWAYS PRESENT (thats notgood thing) Generally epic fail and most overhyped game in ages, also note payed or threatened gaming "press" all over world, nice job BS (Bethesda Softwads) BS I call BS.

Avoid this game at all costs. I read reviews that said people lost entire hard drives, but I didn't believe it.

Within an hour of installing the game it literally killed my hard drive. I didn't just lose the data, the hard drive DIED. No longer works. Kaput.

This game is the biggest fail in gaming history. No joking. It's enough to say it's very bad, because it's one big mod to Oblivion. It says already this game is fail.
But there're even worse things! Built-in god mode (v.a.t.s.), unrealistic combat system (WOW! THE HEAD BLOWED UP AFTER I SHOT IN A HAND OF THIS RAIDER! COOL!), even more dumbed down than Oblivion, this game has NO logics. Can ya call logical a mini-nuclear launcher? A nuclear bomb in megatona which has strength of few normal bombs from WW2, but it should destroy whole map? Nuff said.
As a fan of real Fallouts I was deeply disapointed... No! My mind was brutally raped by Bethesda. I don't believe in this studio anymore. It's terrible watching how games downgraded last 10 years.… Expand

Flawedout 3 keeps crashing! The reviews are not telling you the truth--google it, read up on it--great game (apparently) but it isn't working for many of us. For those of you with few or no problems--great enjoy it, your reviews are all that keep most of us from selling/returning the game.

Ha, ha, ha, we tricked you! You thought that it was going to actually run on a PC. Then to top it off we just put a new wrapper on Oblivion and told you it was Fallout. You all fell for it. We have your money now. Nothing you can do about it. Patch it, sure well patch it, It won't fix anything but we will patch it. Ha ha ha ha.....

Meybe for someone that game is greate, meybe that game has something to show but not for me, i got enough of it, that game is one huge BUG! - that game do not deserved for that high ranking marks - what is wrong with it..? Do not known - sometimes i can play 3-4 hours in row with no crash in othertimes got crash after 3-5 min of play - this is not a fault of my PC this is fault this crappy game - now i must w8 for patches why? beacouse im foreginer so im play at nonEnglish wersion... This is not Fallout 3 this is Crapoult 3 - remeber Gothic 3 that game has that same problems and rankings of that game..? LOW - that same from me to Fallout 3… Expand

Worst game I have played all year and has the worst ending I have seen EVER! All of your actions in game if you were a good person or a bad person has no effect. The side quests that you do don't mean anything. I beat the game in 8 hrs and only explored probably 1/4th the map. But once you beat it you cannot keep playing it just ends, and it ends pathetically.

This game does not really deserve a score of 0, but it is closer to a 0 than a 10 as so many people rate it. It is hard to describe this game. It is sort of a action RPG/FPS hybrid, with all the flaws of Oblivion and few fixes. If you have never played Fallout 1 or 2, and you like "lite" RPGs and/or FPS, you may enjoy, or even love, this game. This game has nothing to do with the previous titles in terms of gameplay. They did blatantly copy the factions and game history and transported it, literally, over a thousand miles away, with few changes (and none good). Could not be more rediculous. Here's a little mental exercise to help you understand my position. Imagine if Bethesda bought the rights to the Halo franchise of games, several years after no Halo games had been made and seemingly none would ever be made again. Imagine Bethesda turned Halo into a sports game/RPG hybrid. Would some fans love it? Sure. But the overwhelming majority would think it was blasphemy. Welcome to the world of Fallout fans. Now enjoy all the sequels to come, which will sure follow Bethesda's tired RPG formula, ruining what was one of the last great turn-based series.… Expand

I bought this expecting a change of place from Oblivion (which I couldn't stand, everything about it was wooden and their so-called "immersive world" could have been more immersive using cardboard cutouts with voice boxes taped to them), and was I ever disappointed. Same clunky animations, same clunky physics, same incredibly dull gameplay, terrible boring combat (yes Bethesda, everyone wants to watch their character shoot enemies instead of actually getting to do it themselves). They could have easily looked back at what made Oblivion a bad game and reworked F3 to avoid everything that made it bad, but instead they trudged blindly onwards and, unfortunately, released Oblivion With Guns: Now It's In The Future!… Expand

A great game attempted to get through, but was crushed under the heaping pile of excrement that is the Gamebryo engine. It adds an element of suspense though, should I save now or walk a few minutes more and risk it crashing to desktop for no reason at all? The same problems that plagued Elder Scrolls Oblivion came back in spades, to the point where attempting some of the expansion packs makes the game completely unplayable. I love the Fallout series and have played them all, but I really wish they'd hand the series over to someone more capable.… Expand

I cannot believe the amounts of 10/10 this game got so I'm giving it a zero. This game is an insult to the Fallout series and to Fallout 1 and 2 fans. It is a dumbed down game with zero replayability. The ending made no sense. The settings were bland and the NPC's were forgetable.

It wasn't a real Fallout game, nor was it an RPG.
Everything imaginable was done wrong, Bethesda have proved that they can't make a real Fallout game.
It was just dumbed down into a shooter with stats slapped on.

A boring, glitchy and mindless mess. If you want a good RPG forget this and go play Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, made by a company that actually knows what it's doing.

Were I writing a review for the Xbox version, it would be a 10. This game simply doesn't work on many computers (with no solution from Bethesda or anyone on the internet) which blow the system requirements out of the water such as mine. I could say that this game was my favourite game ever, except that on the PC I can't play it.

One of the worst games I've ever played. This game is terrible. There are much better games than this. The critics provided good reviews for this game and I don't know why. The game is terrible.â