Why I think Fallout 3 is superior to Fallout: New Vegas

  Thanks to movies like Mad Max (Mel Gibson), A Boy and his Dog (Don Johnson) and Blood of heroes (Rutger Hauer) The post-apocalyptic wasteland became quite desirable to many fans of the films. The idea of living in a world where rules don’t apply, travelling into the unknown with only a gun and some supplies to keep you company, or the idea of travelling with a group of bandit and taking what you want when you want. It was the elements of this fantasy that helped form the basis for a series of video games that began back in the mid nineties, these games would then go on to be arguably the greatest RPG series known as Fallout.

  The Fallout games were a series of post-apocalyptic role playing games, originally made by Interplay Entertainment and Black Isle Studios but now the franchise is owned by the RPG giant Bethesda Studios which is famous for creating the Elder scrolls series. In 1988 Interplay produced a game called Wasteland that could be played on Commodore 64 and DOS (really old School consoles) and won game of the year. Wasteland today is revered as Fallout spiritual predecessor and was the basis for Fallout 1. There was a game that was supposed to be a sequel called Fountain of Dreams but it was not received very well by the gaming public at the time (that’s fancy for it sucked), and because Interplay couldn't get Electronic Arts to give them the rights to Wasteland a new game had to be made.

  So in 1997 a new game was released for Microsoft, MAC and MS-DOS titled

Fallout, it was an open world role playing video game set in a post-apocalyptic of a retro futuristic world alternate from our own (we’ll get to that later). Set over 100 years after a nuclear holocaust, you play a character that must traverse the harsh wasteland to save his people from a rising enemy called Super Mutants. The game itself gained overwhelming popularity, it own awards and was even showcased in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's “The Art of Video Games” exhibition. What made Fallout unique was that it used a completely new RPG points system called S.P.E.C.I.A.L; which stands for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. This system allowed perks and abilities that the character could use in the game. This game took off so well they went and made the sequel the following year.

  So in 1998 Interplay released Fallout 2, same setting as the first Fallout but set almost 100 years after and you play the descendent of the original protagonist and now you must save your people from an dangerous threat known as the Enclave. This game took the momentum of Fallout 1 and used to gain more or less the same notoriety but was criticised for no improvements from the first game. But in it’s still classed as the 28^th greatest role play games.

  After fallout 2 financial problems began to affect Interplay entertainment, they had to go public to avoid bankruptcy. This was successful for a while but soon the company couldn't withstand the growing competition and with advancement of consoles, making PC gaming less desirable at the time. Between fallout 2 and 3 many games of the fallout franchise was created, Fallout Tactics and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel which didn't do very well but did help create more lore and background for the Fallout universe. A large attempt at making a third fallout instalment was put in place code named Van Buren but it was not completed due to Bethesda buying the entire Fallout franchise outright and soon after this talks of an official Fallout 3 was under way, this time under the banner of Bethesda studios.

  In the year of 2008 Bethesda released Fallout 3 and to many fans of the franchise this was a very joyful occasion. The game’s story line is set roughly 200 years after nuclear war and set 30 years after Fallout 2 and it revolves around the Lone Wanderer, a young boy who is forced out his home to find his father and then save the Capital Wasteland (Washington DC) from a re-emerging threat known as The Enclave. This game was a wide success all over the world gaining a ‘Game of the year’ award in 2008, this game wasn’t the same as it predecessors, for one it gave the player the ability to switch from first person to third person unlike the original fallout 2d format, the S.P.E.C.I.A.L system remained in the game but the turn based combat system was replaced by a more simple shooting system along with a targeting system called V.A.T.S (Vault-tech Assisted Targeting System) which was really a tribute to the original combat system and it was the first open world fallout. It had five add on pack including on that continued the game and made it open ended this added to the franchises increasing popularity. This game did get some bad feedback due to the drug use and addiction, using the Hindu name “Brahmin” for mutated cows and the major changes made in the Japanese version of the game, like not being able to activate the nuclear bomb in the town of Megaton. Other than a few disagreements over names and censorship the game still retained great positive feed back, like “Game of the year” and “a huge ambitious game that doesn't come around very often”.

  In 2010 Bethesda published a new stand alone fallout game developed by Obsidian entertainment name Fallout: New Vegas, and a year later they released five add on pack that developed the story and mystery of Fallout: New Vegas. This game it self was very similar to Fallout 3 but the settings and game play was more polished and fluid. Set roughly three or four years from the events of Fallout 3, you play a courier who was transporting package but is stopped and shot by a man in a chequered suit. You are later dug up by an over friendly robot who take you to the local doctor and once you wake your on a mission across the Mojave wasteland to find the man who shot you and retrieve the package, this then leads you into a three way power struggle over the Vegas strip and the Hoover Damn seeing that its one of the few reusable power sources left intact after the war. The game itself received mixed reactions, many liked it saying it was immersive and had smooth game play but many didn't like it commenting on its glitches and game crashes. All around Fallout: New Vegas did a good job of bringing elements of Fallout 1 and 2 to the modern fallout but also retain the atmosphere of Fallout 3.

  Before I go into more detail on the stories of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, first you have to understand the universe the games are set in and how it differs from our own.

  The world of Fallout is very different to our own and diverges at in the year of 1945, huge timeline changes like the late invention of the transistor, the focus on miniaturising nuclear power instead of electronic thus the computers in the game are huge and old fashioned by our standards, and due to constant exposure to radiation new medical items like Rad-away and Rad-X were invented to combat radiation poisoning. From the 1940’s up to the 2070’s the U.S.A has become a massive super power under the banner of Democracy and alongside them China under the banner of Communism.

  In 1991 the U.S.S.R did not collapse, 2052 the oil enriched nations began to run out and caused economic chaos. The European commonwealth in response begins the Resource war. The U.N tries to intervene but after many failed attempts the alliance disbands. The growth of the U.S is unaffected due to their oil reserves in Texas but this was merely temporary and with the deadly plague sweeps across the nation tension increased dramatically.

  At this time a the American government funded ‘Project safe house’ it was designed to create over two dozen underground nuclear shelters known as Vaults. China begins advancements on Alaska forcing America defend Anchorage, Alaska and so the Resource war had reached America. As the war intensified America became desperate and annexed Canada so they use their resource to fund their war machine, the new on ground super weapon called power armour which turned any soldier into a tank on legs this gain the U.S victory in Alaska and pushed China back but that was simply one battle in a high combustible war.

  And so by 2077 the tensions between the U.S and China finally broke and nuclear weapons were launched by every able country. It’s still unknown who launched first but there have been many different conspiracies through the game lore itself and the Fallout Fan community. Due to so many false warnings by the government authorities many American citizens didn't enter the Vaults. This reads like either a sick joke on humanity or downright human negligence either way 95% of the human population on the planet died on Saturday 23^rd of October 2077.

  And many months after the bombs fell and the survivors that weren't ghouls began to emerge forming small settlements, gangs and even a small army of power armoured soldiers. But it wasn't until a hundred years after the bombs fell that the vault dweller walked out of Vault 13 to find the precious water chip, in his or her travels discovers the threat of an army of giant green mutated monsters called Super Mutants led by a master. As soon the water chip is found the vault overseer implores the Vault Dweller to stop growing menace and along with the technologically advanced power armour wearing Brotherhood of Steel, they storm the Master’s base and blow it up thus saving Vault 13 and the surrounding wasteland from certain doom, but sadly the vault dweller is refused access to Vault 13 in fear of influencing younger generations to leave the vault. And so the Vault Dweller leaves and traverses the wasteland of western America only to form a settlement called Arroyo and has a daughter who later becomes village elder and the Vault Dweller disappears after writing his memoirs.

  Many years later the Vault Dwellers grand child grows up to become Arroyo’s champion. He or she put through a mystical test and receives the Vault 13 jumpsuit and is then sent to find the G.E.C.K (Garden of Eden Creation Kit) to solve their dwindling crop problem. But on there return the entire population of the village has been taken away by a group called The Enclave, the remnants of the American government that been hiding out on a giant oil rig, its up to the Chosen one to find and end the Enclave. The chosen one battles the Enclave and its own champion Frank Horrigan, after a gruelling battle the Chosen one survives and destroys the oil rig and the Enclave with it. The Chosen one and his people along with the inhabitants of Vault 13 return to the village and using the G.E.C.K to rejuvenate the village and rename it New Arroyo and the two bloodlines are reunited.

  Thirty years later from the events of Fallout 2, set on the other side of America, Washington DC a.k.a The Capital Wasteland. In this grey skied land dwells Vault 101, the only vault that hasn't opened after the nuclear fallout period. The main character is a vault dweller whose father (voiced by Liam Neeson) suddenly leaves the Vault and you forced to leave due to an insane overseer. And jus the new Vault Dweller travels out into the Wasteland to Dad. As the journey continues the Vault dweller earns a new title: The Lone Wanderer. After learning of their father’s location in vault 112, you find your father trapped in a simulation. After freeing your father you then learn of Project Purity, The Lone Wanderer’s mother and father mission to bring fresh water to the wasteland. But when trying to activate the purifier the Enclave returns to take the purifier for themselves, and sadly in the process his/her father dies so they can escape to the base of the local Brotherhood of Steel. This leads on to a giant mission to find the G.E.C.K and take back the Purifier. After monumental battle the Lone Wanderer and the Brotherhood secure the purifier, but to turn it on before it becomes unusable some must brave the radiation and punch in the code. And so the Lone Wanderer makes the sacrifice and dies activating the purifier. After monumental battle the Lone Wanderer and the Brotherhood secure the purifier, but to turn it on before it becomes unusable some must brave the radiation and punch in the code. And so the Lone Wanderer makes the sacrifice and dies activating the purifier. If the add on Broken Steel was added to game the Lone Wanderer would be resuscitated and he hunts what’s left of the Enclave down and after that the Lone Wanderer’s future is unknown.

  Roughly three or four years into the future in place called the Mojave Wasteland, a courier is tied up and robbed of their important package and then shot in the head by a man in a chequered suit. The courier wakes up in doctors house after miraculously surviving, he or she travels to the near by town of Prim for answers, there the courier discovers they were taking the package to the Vegas Strip. After travelling to various places like Novac, Nellis air force base, Hidden Valley (local B.O.S base), 188 trading post and Nipton. Finally the journey arrives at Boulder City where The Courier finds the Khans and discovers the identity of the shooter called Benny. Then the courier travels to the Strip and in the process helps the people of Freeside, the surrounding area of the strip. Once inside the strip the courier finds Benny and discovers his plan to take control of the strip and Hoover dam by tricking Mr House the ominous controller of Vegas. With the NCR and Caesars Legion warring over the dam, it up to the Courier to bring it all to an end and depending on the couriers affiliations and choices of who will control the strip and its army of robotic soldiers. Either way unlike Fallout 3 the ending is definitive with or without add-on packs.  

  So now that all of the necessary information has been laid out, I now arrive at the reason why I think Fallout 3 is far superior to Fallout: New Vegas. On paper Fallout: NV should win hands down with its improved graphics, combat system and all round gaming experience but sadly it lacks in the story and character development to back it up and all around feels completely rushed. Fallout 3 on the other hand has story development from the word go. You instantly get a good feel of what your character should or could be, your origin gives you the freedom choose what path you’ll take to reach your goal, because you literally begins as a young adult that doesn't know any better. Yet in Fallout NV you don’t really know much about your character and really leaves you wondering why you’re playing this game, you don’t have any real incentive to move forward with the storyline so instead you just focus on the side quests because they’re far more interesting but even then it feels like a chore instead of a challenge. The drive to move forward in the main storyline is really the gist of the game, Fallout 3 really lays out the main storyline in a way that you still complete the side quests along side and it only adds to the development of your character.



  I think it’s the general story of New Vegas that they failed on, Fallout 3 was a story of a character that a blank slate and this innocent soul is forced out in to a dangerous world and along the perilous journey your character learns the necessary skills for survival and if you want  have the choices become a hero of the people or a dark mercenary that only cares for his or herself and there are many more option out there. Fallout: NV though really is too linear for it own good, you a courier who get shot in the head and lives (eh?) and then you go on this revenge mission that I think is very over used storyline and then go on to take over the strip because apparently your the only one who can do it for some reason, but in fallout 3 the main character is put through gruelling tests and harsh battle grounds forcing them to make hard decisions that inevitably you end up making the greatest decision of your characters life literally. Thankfully someone in Bethesda studios and Obsidian entertainment thought it would be good idea to make some add-ons that give more depth and insight into the character you’re playing, which does help make the game ten times better but still leaves you wanting for more. Personally the only way you could improve on Fallout: NV is that the courier still gets shot but instead loses their memory, and thus you begin as a new slate and then as you play the game and the more quests complete the more you regain memory and then you’ll ask the question who was your character before being shot and were they a good person, in my mind that’s the only way make the game equal to Fallout 3.