Fallout 3 Image
Metascore

Universal acclaim - based on 57 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 563 Ratings

  • Summary: Vault-Tec engineers have worked around the clock on an interactive reproduction of Wasteland life for you to enjoy from the comfort of your own vault. Included is an expansive world, unique combat, shockingly realistic visuals, tons of player choice, and an incredible cast of dynamic characters. Every minute is a fight for survival against the terrors of the outside world – radiation, Super Mutants, and hostile mutated creatures. From Vault-Tec, America's First Choice in Post Nuclear Simulation. Vault 101 - Jewel of the Wastes. For 200 years, Vault 101 has faithfully served the surviving residents of Washington DC and its environs, now known as the Capital Wasteland. Though the global atomic war of 2077 left the US all but destroyed, the residents of Vault 101 enjoy a life free from the constant stress of the outside world. Giant Insects, Raiders, Slavers, and yes, even Super Mutants are all no match for superior Vault-Tec engineering. Yet one fateful morning, you awake to find that your father has defied the Overseer and left the comfort and security afforded by Vault 101 for reasons unknown. Leaving the only home you've ever known, you emerge from the Vault into the harsh Wasteland sun to search for your father, and the truth. [Bethesda Softworks] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 55 out of 57
  2. Negative: 0 out of 57
  1. 100
    After this game-experience negative points are hard to find. Sure, the radio program is not mind-blowing and the third-person-view is suboptimal. But this doesn't matter, as Fallout 3 is wonderful and even a class better than Bethesda's last title - Oblivion.
  2. Fallout 3 is a fantastic game that was well worth the hype and the wait.
  3. In fact, Fallout 3 is leaner and meaner than Bethesda's previous efforts, less expansive but more intense, while still offering immense replay value and quite a few thrills along the way.
  4. It's a game that rewards the long-haul with deep, inventive missions which eschew the usual fetch and kill structure, ensuring that the many hours spent in Fallout 3's wasteland aren't wasted. [Christmas 2008, p.88]

See all 57 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 16 out of 139
  1. Utterly amazing. Long hours of game-play, amazing story line, many side quests, large map, and amazing DLC. This is my favorite game, my previous being Fallout: New Vegas. Expand
  2. Gave it a second chance and i'm getting engaged with the mechanics and the environment. Turns out that's a good game after all. Complete review after completion. Expand
  3. Yggdrasil
    6
    Tries to catch the spirit of the old Fallout-Games but is only partly successful. Graphics look nice, but character-animation and graphics are a little outdated (Oblivion-engine). Some graphical hick-ups and minor bugs (GOAT-test does not start under certain conditions, etc.). In my opinion the game is only "worth" around 70-75%, but not 100%. Expand
  4. 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. Collapse

See all 139 User Reviews

Related Articles

  1. 30 Games That Emerged from Development Hell

    30 Games That Emerged from Development Hell Image
    Published: June 23, 2011
    After 15 years in development limbo, Duke Nukem Forever finally arrived in stores last week, though game critics aren't rejoicing. We look at that and other long-delayed games that eventually managed to shed their vaporware status, with results ranging from maligned to sublime.