Fallout 3

Title – Fallout 3

Author- not applicable

ISBN- not applicable

Publication Information- Bethesda Game Studios

 

Plot Summary- Fallout takes place in the year 2277, 200 years after the destruction of the world by nuclear war. The player's father has mysteriously left vault 101 and gone into the greater Washington DC area, now known as the Capital Wastelands. The player is suspected in his father's escape and is forced to leave too to find his father to determine why he left. Over the course of the game, the player meets the Brotherhood of Steel and the Enclave and has to determine who is good and who is bad, and, of course, what happened to his father.

Critical Evaluation- This game has won multiple awards because like Bethesda earlier games, it has an open format for player actions. Like Dragon Age, how the game progresses is based upon earlier actions by the players because loyalties can shift depending on actions that are completed. The particularly violent (but entertaining) element of the game is the ability to target parts of a bad guy. One of the criticisms of the games is the shortness of the main quest line, but there are many more hours of play available in different quests and they sent out multiple add-ons to the game. There is a moral quality to the game. Characters may choose to be good guys or be bad guys as the storyline moves along. Each choice has repercussions later in the story although the basic outcome of the story remains the same (as a bad guy, you can nuke an entire town). I have never played the evil side, nor has my husband, but it is an option. It's also a little weird seeing all the hallmarks of Washington DC in nuclear shambles.

Reader's Annotation- You have lived your whole life in the safety of Vault 101, but when your father inexplicably leaves, you choose to see the real world for the first time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYZpR51XgW0

 

Author Information- Not applicable

Curricular Ties- not applicable

Genre Video game, science fiction

Book talking ideas- not applicable

Challenge issues- not applicable

Interest Age- 15-adult. Truly, this is an adult game, but is played by many teenagers despite the graphic violence

Why I selected this piece- It is an interesting game. My husband bought it at the urging of one of my teenage boys who loves it.