The downside to being a videogame blogger is that you have to play as many games as you possibly can if you want to keep on top of your niche. Now, you may be wondering why I’m complaining about being able to play so many games, but bear with me here. The problem is that you can’t really spend as long as you would want to on a single game, and sometimes this means that you can’t fully appreciate just what that game has to offer. There’s just not enough time in the day, and as much as I’d like to I can’t spend all my time playing video games. Sure, you can spread the love equally between games but every once in a while a game comes along that you just have to dedicate all your spare time too, even if it means falling behind on the stacks of other games that have recently been released. Do I care? Not a bit, as Fallout 3 is totally worth spending all my time with.

This post was partly inspired by an entry over at Girls & Gaming. Elysium wrote a love letter to Fallout 3 - which finally made me break down and go out and buy the game - but I’m going to go one step further and slip a ring on to the meaty finger of Fallout 3. Now ‘meaty’ may seem like a strange word to use when describing a loved one, but Fallout 3 has so much to offer that I can’t honestly think of another word that could apply to it. Fallout 3 has so much to give, and puts so much passion into its splendid offerings, that I’m going to be terribly upset when it all comes to an end. Right now I will not allow my mind to dwell on such a prospect as I seemed to have barely scratched the surface of what is possible in the post-apocalyptic wasteland of Washington D.C. When you first escape from Vault 101 - and after your eyes have adjusted to the sudden glare on irises that have been subjected to years of artificial lighting- you may wonder how such a devastated and morbid landscape can offer much in the way of excitement. You’d be wrong; however, as such a devastated landscape has never before placed such opportunity into the player’s hands.

From the moment you step of Vault 101 you are presented with a choice. There is nothing forcing you to follow the main storyline right there and then, but the burden of sudden choice on the player made me do as I was told and head to the nearby settlement of Megaton. Don’t like the sound of that? Well, do what you want and ignore the main storyline altogether for the moment. The world of Fallout 3 is an absolute delight to explore, with every nook and cranny holding something of interest or an insight into what the world was like before the bombs dropped.  Posters are strewn across half-collapsed walls, advertising underground vaults to protect against the threat of nuclear war. Checking in the mail box of what used to be someone’s home may present you with a letter from Vault-Tec saying that the householders application to join one of the vault’s has been rejected. It is only when you look in a nearby bathtub that you discover what really happened to the occupants. Computer terminals may have a diary from someone who is desperately holding out against a mob of fire breathing ants, while another will tell of upcoming museum exhibitions that were never held, and never will be. All this paints a very vivid picture of the background to the Fallout 3 universe, and the society that the player will never see but will have nevertheless partly experienced. Of course, it may look it but this bleak landscape isn’t entirely dead and it is the Capital Wasteland’s occupants that really bring the world to life. Whether they be hopeless wastelanders, psycho raiders, gigantic super mutants or ghastly ghouls; there’s still plenty of life remaining in what was once the beating heart of US democracy, even if it isn’t all friendly.

So, what do you do? Do you go to Megaton and try to disarm the bomb sitting in the middle of the settlement? Or do you activate the bomb instead and watch the settlement wink out of existence? Do you ignore the settlement altogether and visit an old hotel where people are trying to live in luxury, their only complaint about the outside ghouls whose only threat is their unfortunate zombie-like appearance? (This quest reminds me a bit of the plot to Land of the Dead) Or do you help out a town that is being plagued by daily attacks of a gang that act like vampires? I do not wish to spoil the game for you, but this is just a slice of what you can expect from Fallout 3. What you do is entirely up to you, but make it last as long as possible. Once you finish the game you will only begin to miss what is one of the most detailed, varied - and certainly excellent value for money - video games ever created.

Oh, plus there’s always V.A.T.S; and you don’t want to miss the ability to blow every limb off an enemy with the push of a single button. Let’s not also forget that once you’re done with hours of your life being taken up by Fallout 3’s post-apocalyptic wasteland you’ll be pulled right back in with the advent of the game’s DLC.

If you call yourself a gamer then you cannot afford to miss this. While you go and put down the cash I will be continuing to carry Fallout 3 over the threshold of the new home in my heart.