Opinion: Fallout 3 - Escape From Vault 101

[In this in-depth analysis, commentator Duncan Fyfe looks closely at Bethesda’s Fallout 3 to discuss why it’s “distinctly unlike those “choose fate, save world” games”, but is oddly affecting nonetheless.]
Bethesda were part of the story. Fallout 3 previews, between explaining VATS and the Megaton dilemma, made sure to note the long-standing concerns over whether Bethesda could pull this off.
Bethesda had inserted themselves into the history of someone else’s series: Fallout, ardently mythologized as a classic, although its commercial cachet had declined. After Bethesda cultivated their house franchise into a well-received cross-platform hit with Oblivion, they suddenly had everything to prove.
Their motivations find parallel in the story Fallout 3 tells about the player character’s father, James. One day and without any specific impetus, James abruptly leaves home and the security it provides. He risks everything on resurrecting a certain project commonly thought to be untenable after some recent failures. […]

Original Post By Google News editors@gamesetwatch.com (Simon Carless)