If the radiation doesn't kill me, the bleak view will
Who would have guessed a nuclear fallout could be so depressing? I'll concede that, during such a catastrophic event, most people would die and the tortured living would be crazy with the smell of death enveloping them. I'll even admit that buildings designed to withstand a 4.0 shake on the Richter scale may not be able to stand strong during a 40 megawatt blast. Yes, shades of gray dominating the landscape seems like a plausible consequence for setting off a massive bomb. But does it have to look so darn uninviting?
I have been playing Fallout 3 the last few days and I feel like I am the unlucky survivor of a digital, yet still quite powerful, blast. A large part of the appeal of playing games as a whole, and specifically open world games, is the joy in discovering new places that not only provide enticing gameplay opportunities, but offer a visual treat as well. It's why I so eagerly traipsed through Stilwater and Liberty City this year, roamed the lands of Albion twice, and place Nippon at the top of my virtual vacation resorts. I search for diversity, beauty, and exhilarating new areas... and Fallout 3 doesn't have any of that.
Everything looks identical in post-apocalyptic D.C. One town melds into the other, each awash in a sea of indistinguishable crumbling buildings and a gray palette that has never heard of the word "pigmentation." Fallout 3 is an ugly game, almost too ugly to play. RPGs are an escape, a way to experience the world in a consequence free environments. To interact with people in a way you would never dream of in real life and see sights mere humans have not been privy to. Yeah, the game captures what the world would be like after the bomb hits, but is that really a good thing? There is no imagination, no life, no reason to explore in Fallout 3.
I am not a stupid man. I understand that, to create a post-apocalyptic wasteland, you have to eschew the majority of the color scale. I knew going in that this wasn't going to be as warm or enticing as Nuts & Bolts or Oblivion. The sheer lack of imagination is startling, though. I am not impressed with a strict representation of what our world is destined to look like. They could create a virtual cow intestine or factually correct landfill and I wouldn't want to experience those either. Fallout 3 has become a monotonous, arduous experience. Apparantly, a perfect recreation of human destruction makes for a lousy game world.
I have issues with the shooting (the worst aspects of First Person Shooters and Role Playing Games in one tight package!) and the character interaction (three choices, none of them what I want to say), but it's the bleak aesthetics that's keeping me away. Is there a reason to keep trudging through this desolate landscape? Or should I shelve it for a world actually worth visiting?
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I disagree though about the "Fallout 3 is ugly" basis. I love the atmosphere of Fallout 3, mainly because it is so desolate compared to everything else. You mentioned Fable 2, and how it's a vibrant and lush world (to simplify your point some). Yeah....but, we've seen "fantasy" world a thousand times over. Namely, Fable 1, Oblivion, Morrowind, basically most rpg's that have come out in the past decade, that use Direct X.
I don't particularly find Fable, or Oblivion an escape. Because it's super unrealistic, in terms of world structure (more so Fable, than Oblivion). Stilwater and Liberty City are good, but still a bit clouded, because you can't go "everywhere" in the game world.
I find the world of Fallout 3, incredibly unique, and vibrant on a whole different level. You never know what's beyond the next hill, whether it be a wild dog, or 4 Super-Mutants just lying around.
But, hey. That's just my 3 cents.
After a bit of exploring, I have found all kinds of interesting places and people: There's this guy who lives 2 other women, he offers them protection in exchange for sex. There's this slave camp where you can trade in kids for caps or free every single slave, depending on what kind of character you are role-playing. And then, there's this one wife that suspects that her husband is cheating on her, and sure enough, if you stalk him, you can see that he actually sleeps with another woman. This is but a glimpse of the kind of things you can find in Fallout 3's world.
Sure the whole place is a dump, but in a way, the 'Capital Wasteland' feels more real and alive to me than Liberty City, Albion or any other game world.
Though Oblivion had the generic fantasy look, I would still wander through the forests, taking in the beauty of this simulated nature and shaking off imagined chills when traversing the snow-covered mountain ranges. I think that Fable II captures such a pleasant aesthetic feel greatly, though wherever I look in Fallout all I see is dirt, mud, stone, and destroyed buildings. Instead of exploring a world that I want to be a part of, I'm instead left with a feeling of "I really don't want to be here."
While this is surely the intention, as the main character must be having much the same feelings, I'm not going to extract as much enjoyment out of a game if the world isn't something I want to be a part of. I think Fallout 3 is certainly a great game, and an even better revival of a long-dead franchise, but I'm still forming my own more personal opinions about it--primarily because it is such a downer.
Still, can't wait to see what Bethesda does to The Elder Scrolls V, though.
The shooting does feel a little clunky at times. I find getting head shots with sniper rifles while you're sneaking usually kills people like it should. Of course there's no ammo but..