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Those corpses suggest that raiders are nearby... or that someone really, REALLY needed to make a swing.
Those corpses suggest that raiders are nearby... or that someone really, REALLY needed to make a swing.Those corpses suggest that raiders are nearby... or that someone really, REALLY needed to make a swing.

There are a whole bunch of people waiting to get their sticky hands on Fallout 3, and they fall into different categories. Many of you reading this will have little or no experience of the previous games; you've probably been attracted by the growing hype, the unusual setting and the attention-grabbing VATS system. A lot of you will be fans of Oblivion and the rest of the Elder Scrolls series, and some of you will simply be interested in what might be the biggest game of Q4 2008.

Then, of course, there are the Fallout veterans. If you're part of this camp then the chances are that you have strong feelings about this game, either for or against. The Fallout series has had a rocky time of it over the past few years. After the sheer pleasure of the first RPGs in '97 and '99, we were given the slightly odd Fallout Tactics - a reasonable squad-based strategy offering, but a sidestep nonetheless. Next we were subjected to the foul, maggoty turd that was Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, a deplorable bastardization of the license that deserves no further mention here.

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What the Fallout community wanted was a proper third game from their beloved Black Isle Studios. The development of this elusive quarry, codenamed Van Buren, seemed to be going well - until that cold, cold winter of 2003 when Interplay rolled over and the project died. When Bethesda announced their purchase of the license, some four years ago, there was a mixed reaction from fans. While Oblivion was widely regarded as one of the best games of 2006, it wasn't to everyone's taste - and it was certainly a far cry from Fallout. After so many years of setbacks and disappointments, it's somewhat understandable why hardcore vault-dwellers are approaching this new entry with caution.

All this preamble is intended to explain my own relation to the series. Wez's previous preview did an admirable job in covering as much general Fallout 3 detail as can be gleaned from a short brush with the game; rather than going over the same ground, the aim of this article is to present some initial impressions from the perspective of someone who's played the previous games a lot. That's not to say I'm solely addressing the fanboys here - I'm just providing a context for the comments that follow.

An Enclave vertibird. If this shows up, you're probably in big trouble...An Enclave vertibird. If this shows up, you're probably in big trouble...

Aside from just wanting to dive headfirst into the post-apocalyptic wastelands of North America, my aim at Leipzig was to see and do what Wez didn't. To this end, I asked one of the Bethesda team for directions to Megaton, and then promptly made a plan to head in the opposite direction. After rolling back the colossal door to Vault 101, I scurried down the warren-like tunnel and through the boarded-up hole that led to the outside world. One detail that's certainly worth repeating is the bleached-out blur that overcomes your vision as you step in the the sunlight for the first time, with the ruined landscape slowly bleeding into focus. It's a really neat touch, one that conjures the feeling that you're a naïve newcomer in a wild, unknown place.

After pausing a moment to admire how pretty everything looks (if post-nuclear devastation can be said to be pretty, that is) I set out in the direction of Capitol Hill, or what was left of it. I soon came across an Eyebot, a floating spy drone belonging to the Enclave - the fascistic remnants of the US Government. With a tug on the left trigger I summoned the VATS system, to the pleasing tones of Fallout's familiar "combat mode" whir and bleep sound. I cycled through possible target areas with the left analogue stick, then paused. Damaging the Eyebot would cause it to notify its jack-booted masters; while I was keen to see what might happen as a result, I figured that pissing off the Enclave might be a bad idea so early in the game. I slunk off into the wilderness in search of a less dangerous target. You have to walk before you can run, after all.

A minute later I found the opportunity I was looking for, padding around underneath the twisted wreck of a motorway overpass: a wild dog. Summoning VATS once more, I lined up three shots at Fido's torso, then let rip. The first round found its mark, while the other two went wide - not good. In real time I backed away, blasting - but the dog closed the distance between us in seconds and leapt forward, snarling. I re-entered VATS, freezing him in mid-air. Only one action point was available at this point, but my new best friend was so close that I had a 95 per cent chance to hit his face. The next shot resulted in a massive spray of claret, and the hound's lifeless corpse hurtled over my head in a spectacular - if slightly improbable - display of violence and physics. Nice.

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