So I accidentally finished Fallout 3 over the weekend. That's a problem, of course, because when you finish the last quest, the game is over; the credits roll, and that's it, and I still had a bunch of stuff I never finished doing, as well as a bunch of other stuff I never saw. I (fortunately) had a save point right before the last mission, and so I've taken advantage of this rip in the space-time continuum in order to keep playing and exploring. This also means that I can start messing around with the DLC and still be super-powered.
Fallout 3 is a very impressive game, on many levels, but it's also problematic. After all the hours I've put into it, the combat still hasn't ever really felt totally satisfying - come to think of it, I had the same problem with Mass Effect. My favorite thing in the game, ultimately, is simply exploring and finding new points on the map, and yet this is also a little bit of a bummer because everything kinda looks the same. Still - the amount of content and the level of detail is absolutely staggering, and Bethesda did a really great job revitalizing this franchise. I'm going to be keeping this game in my rotation for quite some time to come; I've got a few more Achievements to score, of course, but really there's just so much more in the world that I've yet to see.
Played a bit of The Maw, which is one of the better XBLA titles to hit in some time. It's pretty simple but very enjoyable, although I'm not sure there's a lot of replay value. (I tend to prefer my XBLA games - as well as my handhelds - to be either puzzles or just straight-up arcade titles, as they don't get too repetitive.)
Speaking of which, I actually fired up my PSP this weekend and tried to play the latest Star Ocean title. Unfortunately, I stopped giving a shit about 10 minutes in; endless, unskippable cutscenes plagued the pacing and I'm a little tired of cookie-cutter JRPGs. I would regret buying a PSP more if I remembered I still had it. I came very close to trading it (and all my games for it) towards Wii Fit this weekend, except (of course) Wii Fit was sold out everywhere.
Finally, I fired up the Resident Evil 5 demo this morning before I left for work. Not ideal circumstances for trying highly anticipated titles, but whatever. I saw what I needed to see, and what I saw is that it's basically a hi-def RE4 with slightly less clumsy controls. I'm hoping to try it tonight via online co-op; maybe that'll make the experience less disappointing.
1 comment:
The best thing about exploring the Fallout 3 world is happening upon a location that has no connection to the main story (or even an official side quest) and finding content there.
In the very southwest corner of the map, for instance, there is a building that contains an elaborate narrative complete with half a dozen notes and even some fucking hallucinations.
Someone took the time to put that in there even though it had nothing to do with the plot — or even with achievement points. That's the sort of thing that drove me to explore even after I'd completed all side quests, and even after I'd maxed out my character and could no longer gain experience.
Post a Comment