Fallout 3

I'm going to start by saying I absolutely hated Oblivion. It felt clunky, uninspired and irritating to play. Aside from the visually astounding graphics (which, let's face it are not hard to come by anymore) and the awesome voice acting from Patrick Stewart (Uriel Septum, Emperor of stupid names) and Sean Bean, the game held no merit for me.

Fastest Plot NPC Death ever?

Fallout 3 on the other hand. Oblivion with guns? Hang on a minute....Whatever Bethesda did, they fixed everything I hated about Oblahvion. The game is set in a post apocalyptic future, where nukes have gone off and the ol' US of A is effectively a sinder. Oh yeah but not everyone is dead. Some chose to hide out in mystical underground bunkers called 'Vaults', only to emerge after the bombs have dropped to find everyone is either dead, emaciated by radiation or an idiot. Mostly the latter. You are a denizen of Vault 101, you were born (apparently) and raised there. Your father is Liam Neeson (Fantastic choice, I wish my Dad was Liam Neeson) but one day in your late teens; he disapears off into the wastelands, and naturally you go after him. So begins the epic tale of Fallout 3.

There goes....everything!

Now that mindless sword slashing and bunny hopping (that's right, in an RPG) had been replaced with gun fire and heavy weapons, I felt much more at home. The one think that did irk me was the random accuracy issues with nearly all weapons. When you fired a weapon, rounds would literally just float in whatever direction suited them best at the time, it's almost as if Mr Vault 101 had a nasty case of the shakes all the damn time. This is probably to at least make killing enemies a challenge, otherwise you could probably just sit back with the hunting rifle and kill everyone with headshots. That and you have the wonderfully convenient Vault-tec assisted targetting system ,or V.A.T.S, which allows you to freeze time and choose a body part to mutilate with your weapon of choice, at the cost of action points per shot (or burst of shots in the case of automatic weapons).HaaaaaAAAARRGGGHHH...

You have your main story quest which is obviously starting out your search for Daddy dearest, and the usual bevy of side quests which rear their ugly heads in the form of various peoples' annoying problems that generally involve you going to some bat shit mad area of the Capital Wasteland, oh yes its set in and around D.C., to be rewarded with what is usually a good quantity of items/bottlecaps (the currency) etc but occasionally bugger all (see: a pat on the back). Traversing the wasteland can become quite fun, instead of the monotonous task you'd think it could be. There's varying enemies, different camps of raiders etc scattered over the land as well as the occasional settlement (sometimes bombed out). On top of this you still have the option to quick travel assuming you've visited the location first.

So secure you'll never be allowed to leave!

I feel like a could gone for pages about the depth of the game, it has the standard of most RPGs, statistics, perks/talents, leveling up, good path/evil with separate endings, but the game also has so much more depth and character than most RPGs. I can honestly say that Fallout 3 is one of the most deep and well written RPGs I've ever played. Most importantly however, it has what Oblivion lacked most, consistent immersion. When you played Oblivion, just when you were getting into it, the game would trip and fall on it's arse, wiping any sense of truly being part of the game world. When you play Fallout 3 you can sit and play for several hours without ever breaking focus, and when you eventually have to stop to eat/sleep/excrete bodily toxins, you wont want to. When a friend recently asked me what the best RPG available on the PS3 (as well as Xbox 360 and PC) was at current, I immediately answered with "Fallout 3." and I'd say the same to anyone else. Buy this game, you need it in your life.