Although Bethesda claims to be retaining a large portion of the elements that attracted most gamers to the first two instalments, there do seem to be large discrepancies. A principal aspect that is being done away with for Fallout 3 is the open ended story that was present in the first games. It has been officially stated that the game will have definitive endings to be determined by the actions you take. This greatly limits the number of potential endings that you can encounter, which is likely to be off-putting since this is what attracted gamers to the franchise originally.
So far, the game itself looks like a winner, but judging it on the strength of the teaser trailer and released artwork is risky to say the least. In spite of this, the award’s it’s been receiving are a good indication that those who are most informed like where it’s going. Unfortunately, the people that have a say in the winners of those awards comprise a very tiny segment of the gaming market and it is to the mass-market that the game needs to appeal. The trailer looks good so far, but it will take a lot more than that to persuade gamers, and particular Hardcore Fallout fans, that the game lives up to it’s predecessors. This wouldn’t have been such a problem if the first two games hadn’t set the bar so high originally.
Using the people like Ron Perlman and Liam Neeson shows two things. Firstly, Bethesda would like to ensure that at least superficially that game is going to feel the same, something that Ron Perlman’s voiceovers will accentuate. Using Liam Neeson as the voice of someone very close to the protagonist shows that they are willing to spend a lot of money on getting details right. The problem though is likely to be in the details, which Bethesda is sure to make beautiful and well rendered, but in the overall package.
In the end, the allure of Fallout 3, while it may pale in comparison to the Second Coming (see above), is likely to attract fans and the public to the game, but it is it’s adherence to the standards of 1 & 2 that will keep people playing. However, before then Bethesda needs to prove that they can release the game at some point close to the anticipated release date rather than leaving fans hanging around. Personally, I hope the Bethesda comes through and proves to us that they can take another company’s franchise and create a game that is intrinsically their own, but still faithful to the source.
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