The first two Fallouts let characters with high charisma and intelligence finish the game without killing anyone, but Fallout 3 is action-packed like Call of Duty.
In Oblivion you felt as if your choices were affecting communities, but the scope of your actions in Fallout is disappointingly limited. Quests that offer up moral quandaries result in little more than raised or lowered karma (your character’s good/evil meter) and an underwhelming reward.
You can spend an hour traipsing through a subway tunnel fighting giant ants, only to find some low-level loot and a handful of bottle caps (the game’s currency) at the end. Problem is, the side quests aren’t that satisfying. The wastes look barren and empty, but every few miles you’ll bump into someone looking for help or an offer of work. The main ‘quest’ features the game’s best set-pieces, but if you want to build stats, and gather weapons and money to buy supplies, it’s wise to attempt one of the game’s myriad side quests. The game nudges you toward Megaton, a nearby shanty town constructed from the remains of a crashed jumbo jet, but you needn’t bother. The Capital Wasteland stretches for miles in every direction, and what you do now is your choice.
