Well, I'm back after another hiatus. While I've only made progress of two new games I've completed this year, I plan on returning to single player games from my backlog sometime soon. I completed Fallout 3 last summer and never wrote a review of it, so here it is.

Now I know this game doesn't really have the best reputation within the Fallout community and has been heavily criticized within the past decade, but I don't really care. Even though New Vegas was my first Fallout game, I still think Fallout 3 rules. There's a lot to appreciate about Fallout 3. Just to get it out of the way, I'm going to start by admitting there are not that many interesting or in-depth characters. While there are a good amount of characters to like, most are pretty static. That's unfortunately the case with the companions too as you recruit them. While the companions have entertaining personalities, they never change beyond that with the exception of Butch. The game's introduction is also my personal favorite in the series.

The only characters I can give praise to being memorable are mainly James, Butch, Moira Brown, Three Dog, and maybe a few others. While the game doesn't have many of a lot of in depth and interesting characters compared to some of the other Fallout games, it gets the job done. The meat and potatoes of this game are the open world environment, quests, and the adventure. Personally, this is my favorite open world in the Fallout series. The Mojave is a close second, but with the Capital Wasteland, I feel a little more interested. I don't know how to describe it, but maybe it has to do with D.C. being a place I'm a lot more familiar with due to how often I've been there. There are many secrets and quests to find around the world as expected in every other Fallout game, but this game absolutely nails it with the consistent quality and entertainment. It's also worth mentioning that the game is fun even though the gameplay is outdated.

My personal favorite quests were "The Power of Atom", "Oasis", "Wasteland Survival Guide", "Agatha's Song", "The Replicated Man", "Stealing Independence", and probably a few more I'm forgetting. Each quest had something to offer whether that be interesting character perspectives or moral choices, interesting twists, or just heartfelt moments. Expanding on that, I honestly don't think the main story is all that bad at all like people say it is. While the main story isn't amazing, far from it, it's still better than Fallout 4's main story and I still think this game has a decent story that is interesting. The best main quest line is "Tranquility Lane".

One of my favorite aspects about the game as well is the amount of randomized encounters while traveling across the Capital Wasteland. It gives a lot of life and personality to an otherwise dead and destructive world. It's an aspect that I wish was more present in Fallout: New Vegas. This game's atmosphere is great and a great adventure to explore little nooks and crannies. Fallout 3 was also the first entry in the series to introduce the built in radio on the Pip-Boy that became a staple in the series and I love the song selections along with the iconic radio D.J. Three Dog.

That being said, this game still has problems. While the voice acting is not great for the most part and can get distracting with the same actors being re-used, it's not worth complaining about since it's a Bethesda game. The main quest really does fall off at a certain point, there aren't many morally grey options in the main story and none at all for the ending, half of the DLC isn't very good at all, along with some other issues. Overall though, the game is entertaining and exceptionally well made. This game is the reason why Fallout: New Vegas is great.

8/10

Point Lookout is definitely some of the best Fallout 3 has to offer with its DLC. The new map to explore is a breath of fresh air since all the previous DLC unfortunately didn't have that much exploration and were mostly linear. Despite how good The Pitt was, it was lacking in this department as well. Point Lookout starts with you finding a Ferry Boat and a woman near by who asks you to look for her daughter that ran away to the island of Point Lookout.

Once the boatman agrees to take you to Point Lookout and arrive, the island is completely foggy and full of angry and high tribesmen, mutated residence, tribes, and two bitter rich people who have been fighting each other ever since the nukes dropped. One who became a ghoul, and the other who is a preserved brain. In the end you actually get to decide who you side with and both of the characters are really entertaining and fun to talk to, despite being assholes.

While the DLC does a great job at adding a bunch of new quests, places to explore, a decent story, and new equipment, I feel like it lacks a lot of flow and cohesion. While the characters are entertaining and the story is decent, that's just kind of it. The Pitt had a really engaging story to it, but Point Lookout I found to be lacking much of a connection to the Capital Wasteland. It's essentially just deciding which funny rich asshole to help out win in a 200 year war and finding a woman's daughter.

Hell, Fallout 4's Far Harbor actually re-used a lot of story elements from this DLC, especially with premise of finding Kasumi for her parents. However, Fallout 4 did it a lot better because after you find her, she doesn't just go home immediately. There's a much bigger mystery to it and you learn much more about her character. Meanwhile, I forgot the name of the girl you're supposed to find in Point Lookout and the reason she ran away was to become some sort of hippie and do drugs with a tribe.

Despite all that, Point Lookout is a good time. I'd definitely recommend it if you're going through your first playthrough of Fallout 3.

7/10