E3 2007: Fallout 3 Demonstration

The news broke earlier this month with exclusive coverage in Game Informer magazine and a flood of coverage from Bethesda’s local gamers day press event. We finally got eyes on target this week with Fallout 3 thanks to a demonstration given here at E3 by Executive Producer Todd “Tequila” Howard. Unfortunately it was the same demonstration covered earlier but the chance to see the game in action crystallized and removed some of the doubt most of the GT staff had about the transition from isometric turn-based RPG to in-your-face 3D action.

Control and gameplay was very similar to Oblivion, and the game uses an updated and enhanced version of the title. Howard expalined how players could choose their gender and appearance and that it would then alter the appearance of their father in the game. Father is voiced by screen actor Liam Neeson and serves as the catalyst for the character leaving the safety of Vault 101 for the irradiated world surrounding Washington D.C.

A few things stood out – fans of the series will enjoy the design and integration of many of the elements of the earlier game – including the robot helper Mr. Handy. Overall the combat system and design of the missions had a very Fallout vibe to it – including the stop time targeting system that allows players to halt the game and make called shots using the players skills to calculate probability. The normal gameplay is FPS like but thanks to the worlds setting and Bethesda’s appreciation for the subject matter it is by no means 100 Super Mutant Zombies running at you spewing fireballs – at least not at any point we saw in the demo. This is still a tactical game, where the player has to make choices to advance the story but now the action elements will bring new faithful into the Fallout fold.

We look forward to more Fallout 3 news in the near future and while this title is a year away from release even just this taste makes that wait feel eternal.