This review currently only covers the base game and not the complete game experience including DLC content.

🕗 Total time played (approx.): 63h
🏆 Completion: 100% Base Game without DLCs (51/73 Trophies)

REVIEW:

From the moment I delved into the vast wastelands of "Fallout 3", I was struck by the game's immersive atmosphere and the depth of its open-world RPG mechanics. The ability to shape the fate of my character and the world around them was truly captivating. Whether I was exploring the ruins of Washington, D.C. or forging alliances with various factions, every decision felt meaningful and contributed to the unique narrative that unfolded before me.

Completing the base game at 100 percent was no small feat, especially when considering the technical limitations of the PS3. The occasional stutters, frame rate drops, and other performance issues certainly tested my nerves and resolve. Despite these challenges, my determination to experience the full scope of "Fallout 3" pushed me to endure and persist. The sense of accomplishment I felt as I conquered these obstacles was immeasurable, and it added a layer of personal satisfaction to the overall gaming experience.

It's worth noting that the allure of the trophies and my desire to fully immerse myself in the game's world motivated me to push through even when the going got tough. The joy of earning each trophy, and ultimately attaining the Platinum trophy, became a driving force behind my dedication to completing the base game. Each challenge, no matter how daunting, became an opportunity to prove my resilience and demonstrate my commitment to fully experiencing what "Fallout 3" had to offer.

As of my current status, I have yet to embark on the downloadable content adventures that await in the "Game of the Year Edition." Despite this, my experience with the base game has been overwhelmingly positive, even if it was tempered by the technical limitations of the PS3. The fact that I pushed through these challenges to achieve a 100 percent completion rate, as well as acquire all the trophies, stands as a testament to the engrossing nature of "Fallout 3" and its ability to captivate players despite its technological shortcomings.

In closing, "Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition" has provided me with a remarkable and memorable gaming journey. The depth of its storytelling, the allure of its trophies, and the satisfaction of overcoming technical obstacles all contribute to an experience that is both challenging and immensely rewarding. As I look forward to delving into the DLCs, I am reminded of the resilience and determination that defined my quest to conquer the base game. It is a testament to the enduring appeal of this post-apocalyptic masterpiece.

⭐ Rating: 4/5

For some reason, It takes me multiple tries to fully get into a Fallout game. It took me like 5 times with Fallout 4, which eventually became one of my favorites, I've yet to fully get into Fallout NV though I have played about 10 hours, and it took me even longer to fully get into Fallout 3. Now that I have played over 80 hours of Fallout 3, I can say that this is pretty fantastic, and one of my favorite Open World games I've played.

Bethesda gets a lot of mostly deserved hate these days due to games like Fallout 76, Starfield, and games they published like Redfall. However, you can not deny, that before Bethesda's down fall, they were the very best at Open World RPGs, and this game, as well as some other titles, prove that. The Open World of Fallout 3 is not only fun to explore, but is Immersive, atmospheric, full of Unique locations, Unique Charcters, and Dangerous. The world Bethesda created, is harsh, hellish, and horrible. The world is full of things, things that only have one goal in mind, and that goal is to make sure you don't make it out of the Wasteland alive. It is quite possibly the most dangerous land to explore in any game, which can be said about almost every Fallout, but due to the great designs and mechanics of the enemies you encounter in the waste, this game feels just so much more brutal. The grey coloring and rough textures, though I really like those, create a depressing, oppressive atmosphere, one that I have yet to see replicated in anything else excluding the original Fallout games. Bethesda, at least to me, understood the Fallout product very well, and it shows in the world the created. In the other Bethesda games I've played, Skyrim, Fallout 4, Oblivion, Morrowind, the pure adventurous wonder they implement in each of these, is unrivaled, and is found here in Fallout 3 as well, with tons of places to explore and scavenge, as well as finding stories that the player allways feels is unique to their experience. Something I want to add really quick, the Towns and Cities you find in the world were all pretty memorable and interesting. Megaton is no doubt the best one, but Rivet City, Little Lamplight, and Big town, are all interesting places with interesting characters and unique themes that I love. Some left a little to be desired, but mostly no complaints, Fantastic job once again in the Open World department from Bethesda.

Besides the areas outside of DC, DC itself, though not as open or fun to explore, was scary, dangerous, and well done. I do wish they would've had the city more open, and though there are problems with the Metro system they make you go though, I thought they were still fun to explore. I just wish they didn't block the player off from exploring freely, hopefully that is something that can fix in a hypothetical Remake.

Moving on to something I wasn't as big a fan of, the Main Campaign. The best part of this game is the side quests. So I avoided doing the Main Quest a lot, just making sure I got stronger, because from past playthroughs the Main Quest has always been a struggle for me. I'm sure playing on Very Hard difficulty has something to do with that, but it's also due to the poor balancing of enemies in the game. Besides the tedious difficulty, the Main Story has one of my favorite beginnings to any game I've played. I agree it's definitely too long, which can be said about all Bethesda openings, but I also believe it was very well done and memorable. However, the rest of the campaign seems extremely rushed and poorly paced. I believe this is due to the struggles of trying to make things work on the hardware they had to work with, as well as the Engine Bethesda uses. I'm pretty certain they wanted this game to be much bigger, especially the Main Story. There are a lot of cool and good moments, but also there is a feeling of "I never got to experience the whole story".

The rushed story, as well as the bugs in the game, makes me think this is the game that is in most need of a Remake. Not a remaster to make it pretty, but a full Remake. Yes this game is great as it is, but playing this and realizing the potential it has for being the very best Fallout game makes me want one even more.

Moving on, the gameplay was good. From the RPG mechanics to the Gunplay and everything in between, I heavily enjoyed it. However, the Gunplay would be kinda shit without the V.A.T.S. carrying it. It's just ok by itself, which can be said about all Fallouts except 4 and 76, but the V.A.T.S. is so incredibly necessary. Besides the lack luster gunplay, the RPG elements are well done, and do seem to have a good amount of "Depth" behind them. My absolute favorite gameplay aspect, something that I touched on earlier, is the scavenging for recourses. I cannot describe how much I enjoy doing this in games. I don't know what it is, but just scavenging around for useful shit in games is so satisfying for me. Fallout 3, might just be the best at this. So much stuff to find, but also a lot fo stuff you can miss that makes it even more satisfying to find. I found it so awesome when you would literally have to pull out a little wooden bin and find some chems or bullets the devs randomly thought to enclude. It takes the Immersion to an entirely different level, and I couldn't get enough of it.

Fallout 3, especially compared to New Vegas and even 4, doesn't give you much choice on in what you can do. I'm pretty sure it has to do with hardware limitations and the amount of quests, but that doesn't change the fact that in Fallout 3, you are either really good, or really evil. Sometimes it doesn't even give you a choice between the two. In NV, I felt I didn't just have two choices, I felt like I could be neutral, I could be good, but go about it 3 different ways, and vice versa with being evil. Now I always just do the morally right things in games anyway, but it would've been so much better to get more options on how to go about missions.

Speaking of things Fallout NV and 4 do better than 3, especially NV, the Dialogue was honestly, at times, bad. Now the dialogue for the NPCs were usually fine, though there was way to many lines that they just randomly through in a "Fuck". The main Dialogue issue is what options they give the player. I swear, you can either be a generic hero, or a cornball psychopath. You can ask other stuff sometimes, but compared to NV, for every 3 Dialogue options in Fallout 3, Fallout NV has 7-8 options on how you can respond. Just disappointing, but it wasn't to bad.

The Soundtrack of Fallout 3, like all the Fallouts, is nothing short of fantastic. From GNR to the music without the radio, it all gives off this unique atmosphere and tone. There are times GNR messes up the tone of the area you're in, so I would just turn it off for those.

As I mentioned earlier, the cast of characters you find around the wasteland, Three Dog of GNR being the best of all of them, improves your experience and tone of the game. From your dad, Amata, the Overseer, Moira Brown, Lucas Simms, Three Dog, Sentinel Lyons, Elder Lyons, Liberty Prime, Doctor Li, Fawkes, Dog Meat, Moriorty, Gob, Nora, Mccreaty, Riley's Rangers, Harold, President Eden, and many more, Bethesda did and always does a pretty great job making memorable and interesting characters.

Now, there were 5 DLC's in the GOTY edition. These include Broken Steel, Mothership Zeta, The Pitt, Operation Anchorage, and Point Lookout. I'm going to give all of these their own little reviews, as well as their own ratings.

Starting off with: Broken Steel

Broken Steel was the first DLC, and that's how I'm going to review these, in the order I beat them. Broken Steel honestly shouldn't have even been DLC. The Game should've just continued on anyway after beating it. That being said, this was a solid DLC, though definitely in the "Fall of Duty" category of Bethesda Fallout DLCs. I do wish there was a bit more to it, but there is a lot of fun action and memorable moments, and it does let you continue the game. All and all, even if it is a bit disappointing, it was still a solid expansion to the base game.

Score: 3.2/5
Letter Grade: B-

The Pitt:
The Pitt was my most anticipated of the bunch, and I was hoping for much more than the end product. It was still good, but again, like a lot of the DLC in this game, it was a bit disappointing. I didn't even mean to start this DLC when I did, but I'm glad I did. It starts off much more interesting than it eventually becomes, but the story throughout is good, but it has the same feel of the Main Story, the feeling that "I feel like I didn't get the full experience". Besides the story, I've gotta give props for the great job Bethesda did on making the area of "The Pitt" in which you explore. It honestly makes my skin crawl, as it is just full of radiation, dying people, disease, slavery, and fire. I know that sounds bad, but that's exactly what they were going for, and they set the DLCs tone, pretty much to perfection. I do wish you could do more, especially after you finish the DLC, and I do wish the characters were more intriguing, but the area they created is very well done, and the story is good enough to keep the player wanting to play it more.

Score: 3.4/5
Letter Grade: B

Operation Anchorage:

The worst DLC by far. It's just straight up mediocre. Not only is it tedious and difficult as hell, they just didn't do the concept of a "VR war Simulation" that well. It could've been so cool with the Brotherhood Outcasts, but the decided to do this weird war simulation instead. You do get some good loot at the end, and it does start out cool, but eventually just becomes tedious, and the leat Fallout feeling DLC.

Score: 2.7/5
Letter Grade: C+

Mothership Zeta:

The DLC I was most pleasantly surprise by. People often say this is the worst Fallout DLC, but I honestly might like it more than Broken Steel. That's not a very high bar, and the rating I'll give Mothership Zeta isn't going to be that high, but still, I was expecting a mediocre mess, but I got a Solid and Unique well done concept. Though yes, it is definitely way to difficult. I came in with about 120, maybe more stimpacks, and I left with, no joke, 0. The aliens are just bullet sponges, and a bit annoying to take down. The best parts about the DLC, are the characters you meet on the ship and exploring the ship. Not just exploring the ship is well done, but the design of the spaceship was nailed by Bethesda. They did a lot better with the Sci-Fi aspect than I thought. It would've been cool if there was more, like maybe stuff you could do with the Aliens, but all and all, I thought it was fun and had good moments(especially the blowing up the ship part) and characters. It also gives you some really good loot.

Score: 3.2/5
Letter Grade: B-

Last but not least: Point Lookout

Talk about "Saving the best for last". I'm so glad this was the last DLC I played. This is by far, and it's not even close, the best Fallout 3 DLC. It is the only DLC in the game that I would consider "Complete". It's a whole new open area to explore, with fun to quests, new interesting characters, and though the loot you get leaves much to be desired, feels like a rewarding experience through and through. I do think the main quest could've been a little better, but I heavily enjoyed this DLC. A great sendoff for my playthrough.

Score: 3.8/5
Letter Grade: B+

After all that, after all I've played, I can say that this is an experience and playthrough that I will not forget. It has it's flaws no doubt, from the bugs to the flaws in the Main Quest, and the lack of "openness" of DC, it has it's problems that I'd love to see fixed. But besides that, the Open World, the Soundtrack, the DLCs, the Characters, the Quest Lines, the Gameplay, the Gunplay, the choices you make, the Tone, the Mood, the Atmosphere, all of that, adds up to one of gamings finest experiences. If you like Open World games, or Video games in general, I'd recommend Fallout 3.

Score: 4.5/5
Letter Grade: A

__This is a review of all of the Fallout 3 DLC__
I liked the DLC overall, with some that missed and some that hit for me. While I don't think it was to the quality to Fallout NVs, it was still good. I also really liked how some parts of it were foreshadowed in the base game, like the Pitt and the Anchorage Simulation. Very solid package overall, my individual thoughts are below.

(Ranked from least favorite to most favorite)
5. [Mothership Zeta]: It was a close call between the bottom two add ons, but ultimately I think Mothership Zeta was my least favorite; it's a lot of long boring hallways and while it does have some cool moments, items, and ideas. I think it ruins them in execution with too many high health enemies and tight spaces. I do like the family dynamic of the crew though.

4. [Point Lookout]: I have a similar problem with Point Lookout that I do with Zeta. The tribals should not have the health of a dump truck, and neither should the swamp hicks. I went into all of the DLC (expect broken steel) without any of my base game gear, since I think a DLC should give you all the tools to beat it without outside help; point lookouts weapons were not up to snuff most of the time. I was putting magazines into the Swampfolk and Tribals and they were not going down. The combat really ruined my opinions on the DLC because I really liked the area, how some of the content carried over to the base game, and the fun B-movie esc story (the big punga is highlight). Still though, the stupid combat tarnished the otherwise good story.

3. [The Pitt]: I think the pit struck a good balance of difficulty and interesting story. The Pitt intrigued me with the concept of 'Troglidation' and all the encounters in the DLC felt fair and balanced. The final quest also really made me question if what I was doing was right, and I think it's resolution was a very good choice to make. Just a good DLC.

2. [Operation Anchorage]: I don't typically play Fallout for the combat, but for some odd reason I really like this combat focused adventure. Maybe it's the ability to see my home remade in fallout (albeit inaccurately), the good pacing of the missions, or the very good reward for the mission. I just generally enjoyed it. The DLC also taught me how to play Fallout on a controller, and through the lens of a tutorial, it's a very efficient one.

1. [Broken Steel]: On the one hand, I dislike how it cheapened the Lone Wanderer, and lessens one of my favorite parts of Fallout 3; on the other hand, it's very fun, the adventure takes you to new parts of the map, and does a wonderful job encouraging exploration. I really liked all of the missions, and seeing the wasteland change because of your actions was a really cool detail. I do wish some more things were changed, maybe a new Enclave leader, or if you didn't destroy Raven Rock, Eden would be in charge of the Crawler, but eh. I'm glad that this DLC exists in the first place.

This game singlehandedly made me love Fallout as a franchise. People will get caught up in Obsidian superiority complexes, but I think Bethesda absolutely knocked it out of the park here.

I will definitely say that this game is more linear than New Vegas, only facilitating 1 or 2 extra playthroughs for other endings. However, it takes that design decision and makes a Main Quest far more interesting and fun to play than a good chunk of the New Vegas Main Questline. If you're only gonna play through once - Fallout 3 is the far better choice.

Fallout 3 to me will always be a odd game to rank or rate. Such being simply put down to the conflicting ideas I have on what this game is. Because on one end I can endlessly agree with all the aspects of Fallout 3 that others consider to be "Bad." The true ending being locked behind DLC, the story and quests feeling shallow, or iron sights. But on the other side I can also see the positives. Being the first game in 3D and all that they where able to introduce to the fallout formula from such, combined with the relatively good ability on the developers to port old fallout concepts and game play mechanics to a newer medium; and how, at the end of the day, Fallout 3 is still a fun experience, and a not bad game.

I wholeheartedly believe this game is overhated. Sure it’s not better than New Vegas but if you appreciate it for what it is it’s a solid good game. Since it’s set in Washington DC instead of the Mojave Desert it’s gonna look more depressing but it actually feel more dystopian and fallout-like seeing these huge completly destroyed apartments everywhere you go compared to just a desert where it’s just sand. Also the main missions ain’t that bad and if you hate it just download a mod to skip it or do it later. After all it’s a bethesda game which means everyone does the side missions before the main.

Embarked on a journey to 100% complete this game again and get all the achievements on my current Xbox account (lost access to the account I originally did it on). The game is showing it's age but I still had fun! Nostalgia clouds my judgment but there's still something special about walking out of Vault 101 every time! Finding Megaton, traveling to Rivet City, exploring the ghoul-infested metros, and fighting Super Mutants in the ruins of Washington D.C. will forever be burned into my memory. No matter how many times I play, the Capitol Wasteland keeps surprising me with unmarked locations and subtle visual storytelling.

Glitches and crashes along with random bugs, broken quests, and horrible AI are tiresome and immediately break immersion. However, there is a theory brewing in my head, that if you let Stockholm syndrome set in, you will look past these problems and your mind will adapt to still pull enjoyment from playing. Bethesda really tanked the story in terms of respecting established lore, so that is frustrating. However, many threads of potentially fantastic stories are interwoven throughout the game. One can tell when the team had random, neat ideas they wanted to implement but the engine or time did not cooperate. And even though the main quest is the most vanilla, white-bread, cookie-cutter plot, there is enough to stay hooked through the world-building on its own.

Obviously, the soundtrack is phenomenal and this game sparked my interest in early to mid-20th-century music. And an interest in 50s Americana and culture also developed thanks to this game. So even if it has its issues - Fallout 3 stands as an early 2000s icon of gaming and is deserving of the praise despite the flaws!

Hundreds on hours on PS3 finally on PC. If you can get this game running on a modern rig which I finally did after a year by God get ready for one glorious experience. Modding like in NV and 4 make the game even better and allows you to do things like get Iron sight etc. My favorite fallout.

And if you guys need a modding guide I got you covered with both essential and QOL mods: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2945198896

Heres a bonus. Full modded walkthrough here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZSV6Ef0rTR4zTp9KlXQZAFX5oNg2TI1Q

(Difficulty: Very Hard)
A true work of art. If you have a propensity for open world rpgs at all, then this game will knock your socks off.
Fallout 3 is rewarding and amazing. So much depth and consequential decision making. Everything you do and say has a real effect on your relationships and environments.
Actual moral dilemmas, fun weapons, great voice acting. Funny as hell. The writing and delivery is strong, self-aware, and intelligent.
Value levels are off the charts with Fallout 3. Just under 40 hours for my first playthrough but I left SO MUCH undiscovered. This game could eat 100 hours easily from me.
DLC's are very fun and unique.
My only gripe is that the game will likely crash at an inopportune time and you might possibly get stuck in between two rocks which inevitably leads to a restart.

Игра в жанре, путешествовать/жить в вымышленном мире около ста часов
Мир очень красивый , стильный, звук вкупе с эмбиентом, очень играет на атмосферу
Но вот диалоги и сюжет, настолько крижовые и нереалистичные, что постоянно портят тебе погружение
Но дин плюс есть, они намного вариативнее чем в нью вегасе
Плюс тут есть один мой фетиш - заброшенный постапокалиптичный город
Дополнения классные, особенно зе питт