Preview Impressions: An Hour With Fallout 3

It’s always interesting to throw yourself into the middle of a game where you don’t know exactly what’s going on. That’s what I did last week at a demo for one of the years most anticipated games – “Fallout 3.” I had one hour to explore as much of a post apocalyptic Washington D.C. as possible, and trust me, you need a lot more than an hour to really sink your teeth into “Fallout 3.”

The demo started off at the exit Vault 101 as my character (who was pre-created) was headed into the outside world for the first time, ever. As you emerged on to this desolate wasteland you could tell that something very, very bad happened to our nation’s capital. Armed with only a handgun and my stat-managing PIP-Boy 3000 I exited the vault, and set forth to find out about my father. Unfortunately, I’m not able to talk about the main quest of the game any more than that, so, instead, I set forth to find out about some side quests.

In a previous demo I was shown what was to the right when you exit your vault, a city called Megaton, so I decided to head left, and see what I could find. Using the game’s navigation system, the first point of interest I encountered was Springvale Elementary School – a wonderful place for a child to get an education, or get shot by the Raiders that now roam the hall. As I opened the front entrance to the school I was greeted with a barrage of bullets from the balcony above (consider yourself warned, for when you play). Luckily I survived, and took out the Raider. Prior to this encounter all I really needed to shoot were the mole rats that roam the hillside, and taking down a human always feels a little bit different. [Continue Reading]