The last few hours of my life have been utterly devoted to the enjoyment of Fallout 3, and they have been worth it. I haven’t gotten far at all in the game, most of the time’s been devoted to exploring the system and how characters interact excetra, but I can say from experience that this game has the systems in place to make a serious impact on the roleplaying gaming community. It’s $49.99 in most stores, with $24.99 for the strategy guide if that’s the way you swing. If you were on the fence about spending the money for the game, do it, it’s worth the cash. As a side note, watching a zombie’s head burst into peices at point blank range from a volley of assault rifle shots is so beautiful, it nearly brings me to tears.

For those of you wanting a bit more information about the game, here it is. You and your father live in Vault 101, father ends up escaping and everything goes to hell in a handbasket when he does. You have to claw your way to the vault door and open it up with the security forces and best friend on your heels. The world outside is post-nuclear, with zombies, mutant life forms, and supersoldiers galore. There are also human settlements scattered all over what’s called “The Wasteland”.

The combat system is top notch, you have to be quick on the trigger finger and movement keys at times, but when you want to experiment, you have the specially designed targeting system that you can access with a touch of the button once you sight an enemy. It’s easy to use in both systems, although preferences will be different depending on whether you want the system to take over for your targeting, and you like the slow motion shooting scenes, or you prefer to be more hands on and play it like a shooter, backwheeling and you sling bullets in the directions of ferocious zombies or massive mutant freaks.

The other RPG elements are very much there also, such as Character interaction and depth, and the ability to build your wealth of bottlecaps and armaments. One complaint I have so far is that you don’t have access to any kind of storage, and your ability to carry equipment can be limited, but other than that the itemization system is fantastic. Questing has a solid feel to it also, with the quest display being serious with ominous overtones, and the different areas you have to explore for many of the quests feel unique.

Be sure to listen in to the next episode of R&D, as well as The Leto Report, and I’ll go more in depth with my experiences with the game so far.