Fallout 3 - Game Of The Year Edition (PC DVD)

I bought this game after playing The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion as it was built on the same engine, offering more of the same type of game play (Free roaming RPG) but with a completely different storyline/universe. I really enjoyed the game from the moment I started. After over a 100 hours of gameplay I still have not been everywhere on the map and only completed one of the add-ons (Mothership Zeta, which in my opinion could have happily not been included). This game is not a tactical shooter, the shooting mechanics are acceptable at best, with a variation of Auto-Aim enabled often you will see bullets curve to reach their computer determined target not the one you were aiming at. An annoyance for any avid fan of FPS games.However I do offer a warning that this game is very buggy. As many fellow reviewers have experienced problems also; all I have to say is those bugs can be fixed easily if you are willing to persist. My initial bug was to do with the AA being enabled in the game despite my computer being more than capable of playing this game on maximum settings with AA enabled the game would not start, crashing to desktop after a few seconds. With AA disabled from the launcher I was able to start the game, this then brought on more crashing at random intervals (These are known problems with the game and engine, and are well documented with fixes on the internet). In response to another review, this game will run on Windows 7 without needing to use compatibility mode.The fix: iNumHWThreads=2, is a fix for most systems. However if you have more than 2 cores feel free to experiment with this up to the limit of cores you have. I have an 8 core CPU and I have this value set to 8, lower and I was limiting the performance the game could access (Which did appear in framerate testing) and I have no problems with random crashing.Not all people who buy this game may experience these issues but those who do; be methodical in your approach, changing one setting at a time. Do not let those small issues detract you from playing a brilliant, well designed and thought out game with plenty of replay value.There are also plenty of mods and tweaks available for this game. Most tweaks for bug fixing and general improvements can be done through editing the FALLOUT.ini file, I advise you to refer to the tweak guide before editing any settings and to always make a backup before you start.Overall I loved this game despite it being a very rough diamond, but with time spent editing you can make it shine more and you will appreciate the time spent editing files.

This game is great compared to the other copies for the Xbox 360 and PS3. The graphics are much better and you have the ability to use a wealth of modded content or make your own, allowing the game to go on forever. Bathesda usually make very glitchy games and one wonders were the money was spent for the debugging team, even if they tasted their own games out.. But with the PC version you can fix those bugs yourself or download community made bug fixes.The game is installed easily enough and as long as you have installed a game yourself in the past, this won't be much of a problem. If you do have problems installing this game for any reason I find the internet is the worst place to look for a fix. Many forums give false information and reasons as to why the game won't work on your computer and rest assured they will give every reason but the one you are facing. This works on windows 8 ultimate perfectly yet be sure that if you can't get it installed or able to play, you will be told it's a compatibility problem and it's Windows 8 that is the problem. For anyone having a problem getting the game passed the menu screen or crashing after leaving the vault, a simple DLL file is all that is needed. For anyone having problems beyond that, a simple change in compatibility mode - low graphics mode will fix this. I have installed this on 8 computers now, just to test out problems with the installation process and it all is fixed using a DLL file. Windows Vista, 7, 8, 64/32. All works perfectly.

Fallout 3 is a post-apocalyptic game in which your character, The Lone Wanderer, must travel across the world and fulfil a variety of quests. Besides the main story (which is of a reasonable length), there are many side-quests and unmarked quests which you can fulfil a variety of objectives from the simple to the bizarre. In one mission you must participate in a virtual world and perform actions in order to free yourself.Exploring the world is a great way to spend your time in this game. The graphics of the wasteland help to represent the idea that this is a destroyed and wrecked world. The random encounters with wild and dangerous creatures help to immerse the player in a world which is not all as safe.You deal with the enemies in an FPS/RPG mashup. There is a slow-motion feature called V.A.T.S. which is exciting to use, as you deal with probabilities of hitting the target and watching the events play out in a cinematic way. The voice acting and NPC interaction works really well and brings you into the game's amusing and complex story. Each mission has several objectives and outcomes, which allows for interesting plot developments and allows the player to feel the reprocussions of each major choice. The ending is fantastic and really reflects the game's tone.Overall, Fallout 3 is a fantastic game and well worth checking out. The graphics and story segments particularly make this game one of the most finely crafted pieces of videogame history.

I bought this game despite the warnings about Windows 7 compatibility, because I thought the minor installation problems could be sorted out. They could not. It is a pity as this is obviously a great game and it is not necessary to have a Steam account client downloaded to your computer (I hate that!). For Fallout 4 that is a requirement. Microsoft states Fallout 3 as not compatible, the software manufacturer states that on its website (cryptic!) Fact is that I was not able to get it installed on my Windows 7 machine. These installation problems are not minor. I spent quite some time trying to install it, used the tricks of other reviewers, but I failed.

Just love this game overall