Lost Myself in Fallout 3

Well guys and gals I feel that I owe you an apology for the criminal lack of updates. This is singlehandedly down to Fallout 3. This latest update to the Fallout series is the proper business and a world that you could quite happily lose a good fraction of your life in. You would start playing one evening and then emerge just around the time your wife declares you legally missing and all you can talk about is your sadness towards your favourite combat shotgun that just broke. No more shooting people in the face. Sad. I know...

I'm going to assume that while you read this you have already played Fallout 3 or at least are aware of what it is about, but for those who have been living in a cave for the last 18 months or so here's a quick rundown.

You play a character of your own creation right the way from birth to eventual death - yes - Fallout 3 begins in a hospital with your birth. Its at this point you choose your name, how you will look when you are older and what your specialities will be. Not bad for being only a few minutes old. This is your new life in vault 101, retro 60's style nuclear bunker straight out of any old dodgy B movie. Leaping ahead Castaway style to your tenth birthday you get your own Pip-boy - your inventory, quest tool, stats etc. A great enhancement to what could have been a pause screen. Leaping ahead again like a kangaroo on acid you are now 16 years old and it's exam time. Thankfully there are no wrong answers here and it's merely a test to begin to determine whether you will become the son of god or an absolute cunt. It's not until you are 19 when you awaken to find that your dad has buggered off and the vault boss somehow thinks you are involved so it's now time to leave vault 101, review any of your life changing options (yes, just before your leave the vault you are asked whether your time in the vault was satisfying and whether there are any aspects of your childhood you wish to change, meh) and begin your quest into the wastelands.

It is at this point that Fallout 3 truly begins. The wastelands are your oyster. It has been a good while since I have played anything that gifts you with so much freedom. This is a game that everyone should play at least once and one which you can easily lose yourself in.

Fallout 3 is one of those games that I will come back to when the faith in gaming is lost and I need a reminder that not everything is simply 'Generic Shooter 12'.