Bioshock got rave reviews as being a fantastic game but I am here to tell you it cant hold a candle to Fallout 3. I just picked up a copy of Fallout 3 on XBOX and its simply summed up as wow. Its a masterpiece and quite firmly puts the game series back on the map with top notch visuals truly innovative gameplay and some really fun story telling set in an apocalptic world.  The premise of the game is as follows;

Vault 101 – Jewel of the Wastes. For 200 years, Vault 101 has faithfully served the surviving residents of Washington DC and its environs, now known as the Capital Wasteland. Though the global atomic war of 2077 left the US all but destroyed, the residents of Vault 101 enjoy a life free from the constant stress of the outside world. Giant Insects, Raiders, Slavers, and yes, even Super Mutants are all no match for superior Vault-Tec® engineering. Yet one fateful morning, you awake to find that your father has defied the Overseer and left the comfort and security afforded by Vault 101 for reasons unknown. Leaving the only home you’ve ever known, you emerge from the Vault into the harsh Wasteland sun to search for your father, and the truth.

The game starts off a tad bit slow since you start at the ripe old age of 1 and have to do some quests that are quite simple at 1, then 16 and finally when you are in your twenties. Although slow and frankly quite boring to start you very quickly get thrown head long into the chaos and into the Apocalptic world of the USA. You exit the vault to find yourself in a ravaged Washington DC that looks like something out of the Mad Max movies or Doomsday.

Visually the game is quite impressive and takes full advantage of everything the Xbox360 offers. Where other games like FEAR dissapointed me with what looked like mediocre graphics at best FALLOUT 3 tries had to look good as well as play well. The world is well designed and although cant touch the graphic intensity of Half Life 2 for PC its still nothing to slouch at.

As far as the gameplay goes it is quite different from the first 2 Fallout games. I have been playing in First Person as if it is a shooter. You can however play it in Third person which is quite similar to the original games other then visually being far superior.  The real genius of the gameplay is the actual combat system. You can fight two different ways. Just like you would in a first person running and gunning or you can stop and pick your shots just like in the original games targetting parts of your enemies body. This second route is much more effective and really doesnt take you out of the game. I find myself using the VATS system as its called where you target body parts for the tough baddies and the regular run and gun for smaller easier to handle critters like the Ghouls and radioactive super bugs.

The world is similar to Grand Theft Auto in that you can go anywhere and do whatever you want which is a bonus since most of us really enjoy open ended games that do not tie you to a linear story. Within the first 45minutes of the game you can easily get 15-20 quests which you can then pick and choose. Each quest has multiple elements to it which makes it even more interesting and fun. As far as the challenge factor goes it is definltely a hard game but also still a ton of fun. I found myself constantly running out of supplies and getting into fire fights with huge enemies and limited ammo. The thrills are fantastic when you find yourself in an old Police Barrack hunting SuperMutants and running out of effective ammunition. Intense, and highly addictive effectively describes it all.

I think that Fallout 3 is far superior to Bioshock in every aspect and easily the best game that I have played so far this year. I am not sure how far into the game I am but I have been playing for a whole day and still have tons of missions to complete and the world is hardly even explored yet. Fans of the original games will love this game and I think fans of great apocalyptic tales will be hooked on this game! A must buy !