Fallout 3 (2008)

Centuries following nuclear war, a teen leaves the safety of an underground vault in order to find their father, who left in hopes of creating a water purifier.

Director:

Todd Howard

Writers:

Emil Pagliarulo (lead writer), Erik J. Caponi

Stars:

Liam Neeson, Malcolm McDowell, Ron Perlman

5 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Liam Neeson	...	James - Father (voice)
Malcolm McDowell	...	President John Henry Eden (voice)
Ron Perlman	...	Narrator (voice)
Odette Annable	...	Amata Almodovar (voice) (as Odette Yustman)
Jeff Baker	...	Stanley Armstrong / Hannibal Hamlin / Sergeant RL-3 / Herman Gomez / Gary Staley / Button Gwinnett / Edgar Wellington II / Gary Clones / Mel / Ernest 'Uncle' Roe / Bannon / Dusty / Willy Wilson / Bronson / Stevie Mack / Paul Hannon Sr. / John Kendall / Officer Richards / Officer O'Brian / Officer Park / Officer Wolfe / Doc Hoff / Drifter / Knight Dillon / Henry Young / Ian West / Jack Smith / Jotun / Junders Plunkett / Knight Captain Colvin / Silas / Harkness (pre-transformation) / Branchtender Linden / Pappy / Frank / Paulie Cantelli / Roger Rockwell / Ronald Lauren / Rory McLaren / Scribe Bowditch / Stockholm / Micky / Carlos / Willy / Ymir / Scavengers / Brotherhood of Steel Initiates / Brotherhood of Steel Scribes / The Wasteland Junkie / Hunters / Hitmens / Escaped Slaves / Megaton Refugees / Wastelanders / Brotherhood Outcasts / Megaton Settlers / Patients / Tenpenny Tower Residents / Desmond Lockheart - Point Lookout DLC (voice)
William Bassett	...	Elder Owyn Lyons (voice)
Karen Carbone	...	Catherine - Mother / Moira Brown / Red / Suzie Mack / Sydney / Anna Holt / Belle Bonny / Brianna / Cherry / Crimson / Fantasia / Lana Danvers / Nova / Rosie / Susan Lancaster / Scribe Yearling / Rivet City Security Guards / Brotherhood of Steel Paladins / Brotherhood of Steel Knights / Brotherhood of Steel Initiates / Wastelanders / Caravan Guards / Children of the Atom / Escaped Slaves (voice)
Johnny Contino	...	Grouse / Sam Warrick / Mad Johnny Wes / Regulators / Slavers / Wastelanders / Tenpenny Security Guards / Brotherhood Outcasts / Brotherhood of Steel Paladins / Brotherhood of Steel Knights / Brotherhood of Steel Initiates / Caravan Guards (voice)
Erik Dellums	...	Three Dog (voice) (as Erik Todd Dellums)
Paul Eiding	...	Nathan Vargas / Abraham Washington / Tree Father Birch / Evan King / Arkansas / Daniel Littlehorn / Dr. Zimmer / Walter / Father Clifford / Mister Lopez / Dr. Julius Banfield / Herbert Dashwood / Irving Cheng / Harris Smith / Breadbox / Tinker Joe / Officer Taylor / The Preacher / Bill Steward (voice)
Shari Elliker	...	Beatrice Armstrong / Reilly / Star Paladin Cross / Victoria Watts / Bleak / Brailee Ewers / Brick / Carolina Red / Christie Young / Cindy Cantelli / Cutter / Knight Captain Dusk / Ellen DeLoria / Holly / Scribe Jameson / Janet Rockwell / Janice Kaplinski / Jenny Stahl / Jessica / Karen Schenzy / Kimba / Linda Smith / Lydia Montenegro / Mabel Henderson / Branchtender Maple / Martha Simpson / Martha Wilson / Mei Wong / Millicient Wellington / Defender Morgan / Pat Neusbaum / Silver / Simone Cameron / Sonora Cruz / Tammy Hargrave / Tanya 'The AntAgonizer' Christoff / Child Slaver / Wastelanders / Tenpenny Residents / Slavers / Brotherhood of Steel Paladins / Brotherhood of Steel Knights / Brotherhood of Steel Initiates / Brotherhood Outcasts / Captives / Female Raiders / Caravan Traders / Megaton Settlers / Hunter (voice)
Peter Gil	...	Colonel Augustus Autumn / Confessor Cromwell (voice)
Gregory Gorton	...	Jonas Palmer / Dave / Horace Pinkerton / Vance / Daniel Agincourt / Officer Armstrong / Protector Casdin / Doc Church / Crow / Branchtender Cypress / Dominic D'Ellsadro / Ken Ewers / Herman Gomez (Trouble on the Homefront) / Michael Hawthorne / Seagrave Holmes / Paladin Hoss / Anthony Ling / Lug-Nut / George Neusbaum / Scribe Peabody / Initiate Pek / Dr. Preston / Shorty / Leo Stahl / Leroy Walker / Sister / Carter / Laszlo Radford / John Malleus / Museum of Technology voiceover / Hunters / Caravan Traders / Megaton Settlers / Scavengers / Caravan Guards / Brotherhood of Steel Initiates / Brotherhood of Steel Scribes (voice)
Duncan Hood	...	Overseer Alphonse Almodovar / Dukov / Scribe Reginald Rothchild / Tobar - Point Loockout DLC (voice)
Jake Howard	...	One Year Baby (voice)

Storyline

In the far future where Earth has become a devastated wasteland, you are the child of the noted scientist James in the underground Vault 101 that is in the Washington DC area. Upon reaching adulthood, your father has mysteriously disappeared into the outside for some unknown purpose. Soon, you are forced to flee outside yourself from the murderous tyranny of the Vault Overseer who will not tolerate such dissent. Now, you will begin the search for your father as your adventures begin that will either bring hope to that dismal world or destroy it..

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Plot Keywords:

wasteland | cult video game | slavery | nuclear holocaust aftermath | father son relationship | 

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Taglines:

Prepare for the future.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

M

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 October 2008 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bethesda Game Studios,Bethesda Softworks

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The sound when you use VATS is the same as the sound that was used at the beginning and end of combat in the original Fallout.

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Goofs

In the game, you can see the Washington Monument from Germantown, Maryland. This would be impossible in real life, since the two locales are more than 26 and a half miles away from each other.

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Quotes

[In Underworld upon approaching Patchwork for the first time]
Patchwork: Huh? Aah! Jesus Christ! Don't... don't sneak up on me like that. Last fella... last fella to do that damn near lost my arm. You're new here. Yeah. You must be since you're actually talking to... talking to me. I'm Patchwork, but just Patches if you like that. I'm... shit. I forget.
Player: So, you're the town drunk, huh?
Patchwork: Why, yes. Yes I am. And... proud. Proud of it. I mean, if I weren't, I'd probably just spend... a lot more time... c-cry, ...
[...]

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Connections

References The Hyrule fantasy: Zeruda no densetsu (1986)

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Soundtracks

Dixie
(uncredited)
Written by Daniel Decatur Emmett
Arrangements by Craig Riley (as Kelly Richmond) (SOCAN)
Published by Westar Music Publishing (SOCAN)
Courtesy of Westar Music
Featured in Enclave Radio

User Reviews

Deeply impressive and engaging mix of RPG and shooter with varied game-play and plenty of it

Hard to believe that I didn't even hear of this game when it came out and it was only a colleague telling me it was "my thing" that made me aware of it. I had thought about it but all the stories of the many bugs put me off and I had also heard people describe the game as "walking through an empty landscape for 30 minutes". Eventually, over two years after release, I got it and wondered what the fuss was as I had to take baby steps to learn controls and design a character I didn't care about or even know if I would stick with – this feeling only lasted a short time because the story gets moving, the action starts, ramifications of decisions are felt and it is not long before you are out in the open, facing a massive landscape and with an entirely blank map.

The first town you enter is a potted summary of the entire game. You have characters in there that progress the main story but you have more characters that have side quests that you can do. These side quests not only get you out exploring the world but also earn you money and experience which you need to build up your character to be better equipped for the wide world. The main story is quite linear and your decisions and actions in it will only vary it so much – this was fine by me as I didn't want to feel I was missing out on loads by taking a certain path (missing out on a friend or a specific weapon is OK). I guess it must be possible to rush the quest and, although you'll be poorly equipped throughout, it might be possible to ignore the wider world and just push on this one path. To do so would be a mistake though because there are a very strong collection of side-quests – some of which involve you going to one maybe two places, others (such as the Wilderness Survival Guide) take you to loads of places and defy the term "side" quest by taking many hours to complete. Or, if specific quests don't take your fancy, you can simply head out into the wild where the many, many places awaiting you include abandoned drive-in cinemas or complex buildings overrun by mutants or human gangs. Of course many of these places will also produce side-quests for you to do so it is very easy to suddenly find yourself struggling to decide what to do next as your options are so vast.

The game play is varied and enjoyable. The exploring, trading and building up a character's skill makes for a great RPG feel without ever becoming a chore or really detailed pain. The use of dialogue choices and the range of ways to interact with people also makes it interesting – you can kill almost anyone you want, be rude, be polite, be helpful or be unhelpful, you can ask questions or simply ignore people; all of them will have ramifications (however minor). The FPS aspect is not as good as dedicated shooters, but the VATS system is good and free-firing is reasonably good. The key thing is that all of these aspects are combined and mixed well so that you never feel like you are totally in a RPG or totally in a FPS etc and it is surprising how well they all work together to pull you in. The lock-picking and terminal hacking annoyed me at first but soon I "got" them and enjoyed using logic and skill to do them.

The design of the game is also key outside of game-play. The idea of an alternative world frozen in the 1950's and then destroyed by nuclear war sounds daft but yet it works wonderfully because whether it is music, iconic items or the way people speak, the "All-American" feel of it contrasts really well with the reality of the wasteland; the adverts looked cool but the whole game captures this and uses it very well. The soundtrack in particular is great. Not quite as great is the voice acting. The characters are pretty well designed but the acting for the majority of them is only so-so. Most surprisingly the "big ticket" names don't have much to do and I was surprised by the lack of impact of Neeson; McDowell didn't have too much more time but he added more I felt. The incidental voices are disappointing since many characters are given identical voices and phrases and personally I would have liked them to have simply given me more voices in the minor characters.

This is a minor gripe though because I genuinely love the game. The stories of "walking through nothing" didn't come true because the fast-travel is possible once you discover a place and exploring is part of the fun. The bugs didn't affect me too badly – although I saved regularly just in case. My console froze a handful of times and one side-quest bugged out on me but otherwise it was perfect. The graphics are a little dated perhaps but they still look great and the world is well designed and engaging. The ending of the game is poor – I'm not a fan of how Red Dead did it, but at least it let you continue to explore after "the end" – at least Broken Steel will change this for me.

Overall Fallout 3 is as good as I had heard. It mixes talking with fighting, exploring with trading, a roughly linear story with consequences and overall produces a really great game. Like many others I found that it easily gave me over 100 hours of playing time – and, more importantly, I enjoyed them all.