My most anticipated title of 2008 has been Fallout 3 for some time now, and having the opportunity to play it at E3 was the event I was looking forward to most during the show. Before the session began I challenged Veggie Jackson to a friendly competition to see who could get the farthest in the demo. He accepted, and we soon began our trip into the apocalyptic waste.

Walking out of the vault I was met at first with a blinding white. My eyes struggled to focus, trying to process the first natural sunlight that my pupil had ever been exposed to. For several seconds I stumbled into this new, terrifying place, and once my vision cleared I witnessed a world scorched. Endless deserts seem to surround me, with rocks spattered across the barren landscape and dilapidated buildings in the distance.

Turning left, I began towards what appeared to be the remains of a city. On the side of the road several men in armor fired at mole rats before turning to wave me on. I had no idea who they were, but assumed they were among the Brotherhood of Steel. Going off the road and cutting through the desert I was assaulted by several dogs, and I began to experiment with the game’s Vault-tec Assisted Targeting System (VAT).

While it allows you to aim and fire at different body parts just like any other first or third person shooter on the market, Fallout 3 has a modified version of its predecessor’s combat system by implementing VAT, freezing time and allowing for precise aiming at different parts of the body (while identifying the % to hit of each). Using this, I was able to take several shots at any part of the enemy I choose and watch them delivered in a short cinematic. Several attacks can be taken at once depending on how many action points I had stored up, and using all of them I was able to blow off the leg of one of the attacking dogs, crippling him. Along my way to the city I took out several dogs and rats in this fashion, familiarizing myself with the new, but interesting take on combat. It feels like you would suspect it would, a hybrid of Fallout’s turn based combat and Oblivion’s real-time combat.

As I approached the town I saw a group of vagabonds standing near a caged animal. Being the humanitarian I am, I began firing at the enemies from afar. They rushed me, and I was able to experiment with the VAT on a human target. Not only was I able to shoot several shots at any part of the body (including the weapon), but I was able to switch between targets mid-attack using the same system. When the remaining enemies were within melee range I took out a baseball bat (followed by equipping a baseball hat) and attacked.

The VAT system works with melee weapons as well, but doesn’t allow for specific parts of the body to be chosen at close range. Even so, a short cinematic of my character beating a Mohawk’d thug to death with a baseball bat was more than rewarding enough. I looted all of the bodies and was informed that my time with the game was nearing its end, so I rushed over to the animal cage and fired shots into its head, equipped silly looking leather armor and glasses, and started chasing after enemies with a rolling pin as my weapon. As expected, they took me out with ease after I took a few swings, but the fact that the game let me do it was the point. I looked over at Veggie Jackson to see how far he had gotten, to see who had won the bet, and realized he went to a completely different part of the world. He was inside of an abandoned school killing zombies while I wandered the wasteland; the game is open from the moment you leave Vault 101.

Fallout 3 is set in a nice spot to take Game of the Year awards away from Metal Gear Solid 4, Grand Theft Auto IV, and anything else that dare show its face this holiday season. I find myself thinking of it constantly now, its barren landscapes, macabre foes, and brutal scenery. For being a place I never want to live in, I can not wait to visit, and I know I will be first in line to pick this game up when it comes out this October.

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