Fallout 3 Preview
No, you didn't wander into a time machine and end up five-and-a-half years in the past just after the release of Fallout 3 for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. I wrote this preview for PlayStation: The Official Magazine in the summer of '08, a few months before Bethesda launched the hotly anticipated sequel like a nuke made from awesome. Since the magazine is defunct and no online scans are available (and I'm too lazy to scan my copy of the magazine), I figured I'd add the preview to my Vault for you to read. Yes, you.
As with the Metal Gear history piece, this article includes all the trimmings necessary for the magazine's production team--sidebars that highlight interesting content that didn't make it into the main body of the article, captions for the screenshots I was given by Bethesda for use in the article, subtitles to demarcate each section, and the like. I include these to provide a peek behind the curtain of what goes on in magazine production, and to preserve the article as I wrote it.
Enjoy!
--
Honorable Intentions
Gamers are a finicky bunch. While many rejoiced when Bethesda Softworks announced that they had purchased the license to develop Fallout 3, others issued angry proclamations such as “It had better not be ‘Oblivion with guns!’” Rather than take offense, Bethesda empathizes with devotees of the original Fallout games, developed by the now-defunct Black Isle Studios. Why? Simple - they’re fans of the series, too.
In fact, as both fans and developers, the pressure they have put on themselves to succeed is more intense than the collective glare of the Fallout community. “We’re the guys who did Oblivion,” says Bethesda’s Pete Hines, Vice President of Public Relations, “so there’s a lot of pressure to follow that. Whether it’s a new Elder Scrolls, Fallout, or another game entirely, there was already pressure.”
Despite lofty internal and external expectations, Bethesda’s motive for resurrecting Fallout is pure: why let Black Isle’s beloved post-apocalyptic world go to waste? Bethesda’s goal is to use its reputation as a solid developer to return Fallout to glory, not to destroy fond memories. “It’s not like we wrested this from [Black Isle Studios’] hands; it was sitting there doing nothing for 10 years,” explains Hines. “If our game [Elder Scrolls] hadn’t been around for ages, and someone suddenly tells me that [a solid developer such as] Blizzard Entertainment has the rights and is going to make a new one, I’d say, ‘Giddy-up, I want to play that.’”
As fans of both Elder Scrolls and Fallout, we went into our recent Fallout 3 demonstration with open minds, yet an unanswered question hung in the air: is Bethesda simply talking the talk, or are they prepared to walk the walk?
“War. War Never Changes.”
Purists will be pleased to know that Fallout 3's back-story is very similar to that of its predecessors. In the year 2077, mankind's infatuation with nuclear weapons utterly devastates the earth. Survivors flee into underground habitats known as Vaults, and it is in Vault 101 that Fallout 3's protagonist is born.
Character creation begins at birth, which sees the newborn character's father telling his wife that the baby's gender is exactly what they'd hoped for. Which gender? That's up to you. The child's name? Again, that's your call. Your father then wonders, as all parents do, what his child will look like when he grows up. This prompts you to choose physical features such as skin color, hairstyle, and more. Not into superficialities? Press the randomize button to have everything chosen for you.
To lend an added dose of authenticity, your father will bear a striking resemblance to your finished avatar. Familial traits such as ethnicity, build, hair color, and even cheekbones will be shared between father and son - or daughter.
A fatal bout of cardiac arrest grips your mother and subsequently fast-forwards the story one year. Your character is playing with his (or her) father before Daddy Dearest plops you in your pen and retreats to his office. After unlatching the gate and toddling around the room, players will happen across You're SPECIAL!, an alphabet board book for toddlers. Rather than teaching 'A' is for apple and 'B' is for ball, the book allows players to spread experience points across stats designated by each letter of "special": strength, perception, endurance, charisma, intelligence, agility, and luck.
Fast forward again, this time to your tenth birthday party. Vault 101's Overseer presents you with the PIPBoy, a small computer system used to track all vital statistics: inventory, health, weapons, quests... you name it, the PIPBoy tracks it. The birthday party also introduces you to quests. One of your guests, a little old lady, gives you a sweet roll. It doesn't take long for the Vault's resident bully to appear and claim the sweet roll as his own. What do you want to do? Refuse; give it to him; spit on it and then give it to him; or something else entirely? Choose wisely, because from this point forward, each of your actions determines your character's personality--and your ending cinematic.
This might seem like any other tutorial, but presentation is what sets Fallout 3's introduction apart from the pack. Bethesda has implemented a cohesive tutorial system that separates character creation from controls.
Vault 101's denizens are infamous for never venturing out into the world, so you can imagine the stir that ensues when your father suddenly vanishes. The Overseer naturally assumes that you, now 19 years old, had something to do with his disappearance. You're just as stunned as everybody else, but that's not exactly what the boss believes. Things get ugly, which means it's time to escape--but how? That depends on how your character treated others during his youth. If you were nice to your friends, they'll help you find a way out. If you were a jerk, you're on your own.
Once you've stepped out of the Vault, the real game begins. Do you want to dig through the rubble of Washington, D.C., and do some exploring, or set off after your father? Everything's up to you.
Fallout veterans will be happy to know that all players will inevitably cross paths with Dogmeat, the canine companion from the original game. When and where you meet Dogmeat is random, explains Hines, but the meeting will eventually occur. Dogmeat will prove a capable ally in battle, but he can die, so it'll behoove you to watch over him.
Ghoulish Combat
Eager to demonstrate Fallout 3's combat system, Pete entered a derelict building swarming with Ghouls, humans overly exposed to radioactivity. The walls and stairs of the office complex are rotted, the eerie green glow of radioactive waste is the only lighting available, and Ghouls cloaked in shadows announce their presence with chilling calls that sound like mucus being gargled.
A Ghoul ambushed Pete as he crept into a room, its deformed fingers straining for the character's throat. Pete paused the action with a single button tap, freezing the creature in mid-jump. This, explains Hines, is the Vault-tec Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S. for short. Simply highlight a body part, make sure you have a sufficient amount of Action Points (AP) to make the shot, and press the V.A.T.S. button again. If the to-hit percentage displayed next to your designated body part is high enough, you'll land your attack. One crippled arm and severed leg later, the Ghoul had been defeated, and we moved on.
For those who like the herky-jerky movements of real-time firing, don't worry: V.A.T.S. is completely optional; in fact, it's best used to weaken enemies. Our next opponent was a Glowing One, a Ghoul that uses waves of radiation to attack, as well as to heal nearby enemies. Pete again used V.A.T.S. to target its arms. Each V.A.T.S. attack is shown cinematically, demonstrated in this instance by a close-up of the creature's arm detaching in a spray of blood. Pete then circle-strafed the Ghoul as it lurched toward him, pounding bullets into its head until it finally dropped.
Be careful: enemies can debilitate you, too. After a few more Ghouls, Pete whipped out the PIPBoy to monitor his health. His head, along with an arm, had been weakened, which accounted for his wobbling aim and blurry vision. The ailments were rectified via a quick stim shot, but more severe problems will probably not be so easy to fix.
The final part of our demonstration took place within the desecrated Washington Mall. Pete's character was now decked out in body armor that would make a Transformer jealous, and a minigun had taken the place of his puny SMG. Pete stomped forward, scanning the area for enemies. The coast seemed clear, so he hopped into a trench and began to follow its zigzag path toward the shattered husk of the White House.
Rigged grenades began popping like flashbulbs as heavily armored foes burst onto the scene. Rockets careened into Pete's hulking form but only caused him to stumble back. Demonstrating that Ghouls aren't stupid just because radioactivity melted their brains, one rushed forward from the background, scooped up a fallen comrade's minigun, and began tearing into Pete.
Several enemy waves later, Pete reached forward and turned off the demo unit. "If you follow something that you love your whole life and then get a chance to participate in that thing," Hines says, "you don't want to screw it up. That's where we're coming from. We have to do this right, we have to do justice to this thing we love."
Judging by what we saw, Bethesda seems poised to deliver the atmosphere and immersion of Black Isle Studios’ original vision wrapped in a polished 3D engine. Whether or not they succeed is something only time - and the hardcore Fallout crowd - will tell.
--
SIDEBAR
TEXT: In addition to Ron Perlman reprising his role as narrator, stars such as Liam Neeson, who provides voiceovers for the protagonist's father, will lend their talents to the game.
--
SCREEN: nuke.jpg
CAPTION: That’s got to hurt.
--
BOXOUT
V.A.T.S. the Deal with V.A.T.S.?
TEXT: Why should you bother using V.A.T.S.? Strategy, that's why. Fighting one or two weak foes at a time isn't a situation that calls for V.A.T.S., but when you enter a room full of enemies, you'll want to incapacitate as many as possible before confronting them directly. In addition, players who struggle with real-time aiming will absolutely love V.A.T.S. -- the closer you are, the higher your to-hit percentage will be.
Remember, using V.A.T.S. requires Action Points (AP). AP can be regained by not using weapons. Duck into a corner when you need to recharge, then come out with guns blazing.
SCREEN: vats.tga
--
SIDEBAR
TEXT: One gun, appropriately dubbed Fatman, let's you launch mini-nukes. Just be careful: the detonation leaves radiation behind, which harms you as well as your enemies.
--
BOXOUT
Man's Best Friend
TEXT: Make sure you take good care of Dogmeat. In addition to being handy in combat, he's quite a capable hunter as well. If you're in need of food, just order Dogmeat to find you something scrumptious. He'll find his way back to you with something raw and bloody clamped in his jaws.
SCREEN: dogmeat.jpg
--
SIDEBAR
TEXT: Fallout 3 can be played from a first- or third-person perspective. The camera can be fully rotated around your character, which is perfect for showing off your gear.
--
SCREEN: minigun.jpg
CAPTION: Dressing like a walking tank is fun, but the heavier you are, the less you can carry.
--
SIDEBAR
TEXT: Your reaction to every significant event will be used to determine your ending, of which there are over 500 available. According to Pete Hines, that number may soon climb to higher than 1000.
As with the Metal Gear history piece, this article includes all the trimmings necessary for the magazine's production team--sidebars that highlight interesting content that didn't make it into the main body of the article, captions for the screenshots I was given by Bethesda for use in the article, subtitles to demarcate each section, and the like. I include these to provide a peek behind the curtain of what goes on in magazine production, and to preserve the article as I wrote it.
Enjoy!
--
Honorable Intentions
Gamers are a finicky bunch. While many rejoiced when Bethesda Softworks announced that they had purchased the license to develop Fallout 3, others issued angry proclamations such as “It had better not be ‘Oblivion with guns!’” Rather than take offense, Bethesda empathizes with devotees of the original Fallout games, developed by the now-defunct Black Isle Studios. Why? Simple - they’re fans of the series, too.
In fact, as both fans and developers, the pressure they have put on themselves to succeed is more intense than the collective glare of the Fallout community. “We’re the guys who did Oblivion,” says Bethesda’s Pete Hines, Vice President of Public Relations, “so there’s a lot of pressure to follow that. Whether it’s a new Elder Scrolls, Fallout, or another game entirely, there was already pressure.”
Despite lofty internal and external expectations, Bethesda’s motive for resurrecting Fallout is pure: why let Black Isle’s beloved post-apocalyptic world go to waste? Bethesda’s goal is to use its reputation as a solid developer to return Fallout to glory, not to destroy fond memories. “It’s not like we wrested this from [Black Isle Studios’] hands; it was sitting there doing nothing for 10 years,” explains Hines. “If our game [Elder Scrolls] hadn’t been around for ages, and someone suddenly tells me that [a solid developer such as] Blizzard Entertainment has the rights and is going to make a new one, I’d say, ‘Giddy-up, I want to play that.’”
As fans of both Elder Scrolls and Fallout, we went into our recent Fallout 3 demonstration with open minds, yet an unanswered question hung in the air: is Bethesda simply talking the talk, or are they prepared to walk the walk?
“War. War Never Changes.”
Purists will be pleased to know that Fallout 3's back-story is very similar to that of its predecessors. In the year 2077, mankind's infatuation with nuclear weapons utterly devastates the earth. Survivors flee into underground habitats known as Vaults, and it is in Vault 101 that Fallout 3's protagonist is born.
Character creation begins at birth, which sees the newborn character's father telling his wife that the baby's gender is exactly what they'd hoped for. Which gender? That's up to you. The child's name? Again, that's your call. Your father then wonders, as all parents do, what his child will look like when he grows up. This prompts you to choose physical features such as skin color, hairstyle, and more. Not into superficialities? Press the randomize button to have everything chosen for you.
To lend an added dose of authenticity, your father will bear a striking resemblance to your finished avatar. Familial traits such as ethnicity, build, hair color, and even cheekbones will be shared between father and son - or daughter.
A fatal bout of cardiac arrest grips your mother and subsequently fast-forwards the story one year. Your character is playing with his (or her) father before Daddy Dearest plops you in your pen and retreats to his office. After unlatching the gate and toddling around the room, players will happen across You're SPECIAL!, an alphabet board book for toddlers. Rather than teaching 'A' is for apple and 'B' is for ball, the book allows players to spread experience points across stats designated by each letter of "special": strength, perception, endurance, charisma, intelligence, agility, and luck.
Fast forward again, this time to your tenth birthday party. Vault 101's Overseer presents you with the PIPBoy, a small computer system used to track all vital statistics: inventory, health, weapons, quests... you name it, the PIPBoy tracks it. The birthday party also introduces you to quests. One of your guests, a little old lady, gives you a sweet roll. It doesn't take long for the Vault's resident bully to appear and claim the sweet roll as his own. What do you want to do? Refuse; give it to him; spit on it and then give it to him; or something else entirely? Choose wisely, because from this point forward, each of your actions determines your character's personality--and your ending cinematic.
This might seem like any other tutorial, but presentation is what sets Fallout 3's introduction apart from the pack. Bethesda has implemented a cohesive tutorial system that separates character creation from controls.
Vault 101's denizens are infamous for never venturing out into the world, so you can imagine the stir that ensues when your father suddenly vanishes. The Overseer naturally assumes that you, now 19 years old, had something to do with his disappearance. You're just as stunned as everybody else, but that's not exactly what the boss believes. Things get ugly, which means it's time to escape--but how? That depends on how your character treated others during his youth. If you were nice to your friends, they'll help you find a way out. If you were a jerk, you're on your own.
Once you've stepped out of the Vault, the real game begins. Do you want to dig through the rubble of Washington, D.C., and do some exploring, or set off after your father? Everything's up to you.
Fallout veterans will be happy to know that all players will inevitably cross paths with Dogmeat, the canine companion from the original game. When and where you meet Dogmeat is random, explains Hines, but the meeting will eventually occur. Dogmeat will prove a capable ally in battle, but he can die, so it'll behoove you to watch over him.
Ghoulish Combat
Eager to demonstrate Fallout 3's combat system, Pete entered a derelict building swarming with Ghouls, humans overly exposed to radioactivity. The walls and stairs of the office complex are rotted, the eerie green glow of radioactive waste is the only lighting available, and Ghouls cloaked in shadows announce their presence with chilling calls that sound like mucus being gargled.
A Ghoul ambushed Pete as he crept into a room, its deformed fingers straining for the character's throat. Pete paused the action with a single button tap, freezing the creature in mid-jump. This, explains Hines, is the Vault-tec Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S. for short. Simply highlight a body part, make sure you have a sufficient amount of Action Points (AP) to make the shot, and press the V.A.T.S. button again. If the to-hit percentage displayed next to your designated body part is high enough, you'll land your attack. One crippled arm and severed leg later, the Ghoul had been defeated, and we moved on.
For those who like the herky-jerky movements of real-time firing, don't worry: V.A.T.S. is completely optional; in fact, it's best used to weaken enemies. Our next opponent was a Glowing One, a Ghoul that uses waves of radiation to attack, as well as to heal nearby enemies. Pete again used V.A.T.S. to target its arms. Each V.A.T.S. attack is shown cinematically, demonstrated in this instance by a close-up of the creature's arm detaching in a spray of blood. Pete then circle-strafed the Ghoul as it lurched toward him, pounding bullets into its head until it finally dropped.
Be careful: enemies can debilitate you, too. After a few more Ghouls, Pete whipped out the PIPBoy to monitor his health. His head, along with an arm, had been weakened, which accounted for his wobbling aim and blurry vision. The ailments were rectified via a quick stim shot, but more severe problems will probably not be so easy to fix.
The final part of our demonstration took place within the desecrated Washington Mall. Pete's character was now decked out in body armor that would make a Transformer jealous, and a minigun had taken the place of his puny SMG. Pete stomped forward, scanning the area for enemies. The coast seemed clear, so he hopped into a trench and began to follow its zigzag path toward the shattered husk of the White House.
Rigged grenades began popping like flashbulbs as heavily armored foes burst onto the scene. Rockets careened into Pete's hulking form but only caused him to stumble back. Demonstrating that Ghouls aren't stupid just because radioactivity melted their brains, one rushed forward from the background, scooped up a fallen comrade's minigun, and began tearing into Pete.
Several enemy waves later, Pete reached forward and turned off the demo unit. "If you follow something that you love your whole life and then get a chance to participate in that thing," Hines says, "you don't want to screw it up. That's where we're coming from. We have to do this right, we have to do justice to this thing we love."
Judging by what we saw, Bethesda seems poised to deliver the atmosphere and immersion of Black Isle Studios’ original vision wrapped in a polished 3D engine. Whether or not they succeed is something only time - and the hardcore Fallout crowd - will tell.
--
SIDEBAR
TEXT: In addition to Ron Perlman reprising his role as narrator, stars such as Liam Neeson, who provides voiceovers for the protagonist's father, will lend their talents to the game.
--
SCREEN: nuke.jpg
CAPTION: That’s got to hurt.
--
BOXOUT
V.A.T.S. the Deal with V.A.T.S.?
TEXT: Why should you bother using V.A.T.S.? Strategy, that's why. Fighting one or two weak foes at a time isn't a situation that calls for V.A.T.S., but when you enter a room full of enemies, you'll want to incapacitate as many as possible before confronting them directly. In addition, players who struggle with real-time aiming will absolutely love V.A.T.S. -- the closer you are, the higher your to-hit percentage will be.
Remember, using V.A.T.S. requires Action Points (AP). AP can be regained by not using weapons. Duck into a corner when you need to recharge, then come out with guns blazing.
SCREEN: vats.tga
--
SIDEBAR
TEXT: One gun, appropriately dubbed Fatman, let's you launch mini-nukes. Just be careful: the detonation leaves radiation behind, which harms you as well as your enemies.
--
BOXOUT
Man's Best Friend
TEXT: Make sure you take good care of Dogmeat. In addition to being handy in combat, he's quite a capable hunter as well. If you're in need of food, just order Dogmeat to find you something scrumptious. He'll find his way back to you with something raw and bloody clamped in his jaws.
SCREEN: dogmeat.jpg
--
SIDEBAR
TEXT: Fallout 3 can be played from a first- or third-person perspective. The camera can be fully rotated around your character, which is perfect for showing off your gear.
--
SCREEN: minigun.jpg
CAPTION: Dressing like a walking tank is fun, but the heavier you are, the less you can carry.
--
SIDEBAR
TEXT: Your reaction to every significant event will be used to determine your ending, of which there are over 500 available. According to Pete Hines, that number may soon climb to higher than 1000.