The third game in the Fallout series, Fallout 3 is a singleplayer action role-playing game (RPG) set in a post-apocalyptic Washington DC. Combining the horrific insanity of the Cold War era theory of mutually assured destruction gone terribly wrong, with the kitschy naivety of American 1950s nuclear propaganda, Fallout 3 will satisfy both players familiar with the popular first two games in its series as well as those coming to the franchise for the first time.
The Story: Vault 101 – Jewel of the Wastes
For 200 years, Vault 101 , a fallout shelter, has faithfully served the surviving residents of Washington DC and its environs, now known as the Capital Wasteland. Though the global atomic war of 2077 left the US all but destroyed, the residents of Vault 101 enjoy a life free from the constant stress of the outside world. Giant Insects, Raiders, Slavers, and yes, even Super Mutants are all no match for superior Vault-Tec engineering. Yet one fateful morning, you awake to find that your father has defied the Overseer and left the comfort and security afforded by Vault 101 for reasons unknown. Leaving the only home you've ever known, you emerge from the Vault into the harsh Wasteland sun to search for your father, and the truth.
7 hours ago
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To respond directly to your comments, there are two key points.
1. All games require players to adapt to them in some respect, no matter how large or small. As an example, I'm trying to play Killzone 2 and the controls simply don't make any sense to me. It's not that they're slightly different from Call Of Duty or Battlefield, it's that they're WILDLY different - it's like comparing oysters and quarks. Switching controller schemes doesn't help - the layouts simply get more confusing and less standard.
2. Disability is an inherently personal thing and everyone is different. In the case of my particular disabilities, I can't play games on a Wii at all, and certain SIXAXIS controls on a PlayStation 3 are incredibly painful for me (I'm currently struggling through Heavy Rain and it's difficult). However, that does not mean that the Wii console is inaccessible for others, nor does it mean that the PlayStation 3 is wholly inaccessible to me, nor does that mean that Heavy Rain is fundamentally inaccessible.
As noted above, you can choose to become a member of this site and add your own review. Also as noted above, more perspectives give people more information to make a more informed choice, and provide that much more assistance to disabled gamers.
Never mind having a disability, you can't even play it properly if you're left handed!
I've found that if I change the HUD color based on my environment then it is fairly easy to use. However, the you'd be doing something wrong like stealing items are always labeled in red.
One problem is landmines. I personally can't always find them especially during the day. The blinking red light can be hard to see and once you hear the sound cue you hardly have any time to visually locate the mine.
All this said, I can play the game. I found the review accurate overall.
Thanks so much
But I'm glad we've got such a group of fantastic people here working for such a good cause. AbleGamers is really there for people who just wanna play.
Clearly, we have a difference of opinion here. As Mark noted above, the AG system allows users to submit their own reviews that are listed with the editors' review. In fact, I think you and I both reviewed Alan Wake, as one example of this.
As we all know, disabilities are inherently personal and affect different people in different ways, so I hope you'll write a review because it will give disabled gamers more information about this game and another person's perspective, allowing them to make a more informed decision. In the end, that's fantastic for all the people that we are both clearly interested in helping.
Visuals: 8
And I guess a difference in how we review something is in our review style. I think I tend to think more about how the developer intended the player to experience the game, versus if the player can just play the game. I think they both have their place, but I feel I likely ignore the second more, while you focus on it. For me I think that I would really loose something from the game if I had to focus all of my skill points and such on making sure I had enough action points to keep playing. I know when I was playing I didn't do much to boost/refill my skill points. For me playing to where I could constantly use VATS requires me giving up how I want to play the game, and if I can't play it how I want or how it seems natural, I'm not sure it should get a 10. Further more, I feel like when they made the game they were intended for people to completely use VATS. But that's just my opinion.
And I guess we just have different views on what qualifies for a 10 on visuals. It is color blind friendly, and that's great. However, turning the brightness up doesn't adjust the contrast, so it doesn't really address the problem of what I think low visuals is. I know that allowing for high contrast is something that other accessible gaming advocates have pushed for, so it was something I always considered.
I think I would have scored it as follows:
Mobility: 9
Fallout 3 is my next game after I'll have finished Mass Effect.
Just to make sure I didn't overlook anything, I went back in and played another hour of Fallout 3, in addition to the significant amount of time I've put into it since it was released, just to double-check.
I could not find any non-verbal audio cues in Fallout 3 which indicated something was about to happen like, for example, Valve's subtitling in Left 4 Dead which notes hunter growls, boomer burps, etc., even when those enemies are not preparing for attack. While non-humanoid mobs do make sound, those sounds do not indicate an imminent attack like a hunter's scream in Left 4 Dead does. Humanoid mobs are usually subtitled, but their speech also does not necessarily indicate that an attack is imminent.
In fact, the easiest and best way to tell if an attack is imminent is when a player is crouched and hidden. When a player is crouched, a status message at the top of the screen indicates whether a player is HIDDEN in the default HUD color (no danger), whether to exercise CAUTION (which is displayed in red), or whether a player is in DANGER (flashing red). The use of red is a problem, but in allowing players to change the default HUD color, color-blind players only need to look for a color change.
Furthermore, as you noted, the game is fully playable for deaf gamers as is. In essence, you're criticizing the review for not criticizing the game for not having something that you admit is unnecessary.
To address your VATS concerns, by the time players reach high-level mobs that require more action points, they have gained levels, meaning their weapons skills should be higher, their weapons should be better and they should be better armored, all of which factor into combat success. This is the point of introductory missions. While Fallout 3 is an open world RPG and players can go almost anywhere and do almost anything at any time, the old rule of doing something else to level up if an area is too difficult still applies. Between the buffs and leveling up, as well as the perks which grant additional action points, reduce action point costs and completely restore action points after killing an enemy while the player is still in combat, VATS makes this game accessible.
Finally, at any time, a player can exit VATS and kite an enemy while their action points return, or exit VATS to access their inventory and activate buffs, then re-enter VATS to resume combat. Having played the entire game using VATS (with the exception here and there of sniping from range using real-time combat), I can assure you that the game can be played this way with minimal kiting.
As one extreme example, I stood in a single location and used nothing but VATS to fight off two Enclave Hellfire troops, two Sentrybots, and another Enclave soldier in power armor. In this example, due to having the perk which completely restores APs after killing an enemy in VATS, I didn't even use buffs, but my character is near maximum level.
To address your final concern, I assess potential issues for forms of color blindness. There are no red/green or blue/yellow problems. While the game can be somewhat monotone, adjusting the brightness helps.
The button is right there called "Add User Review"
Firstly, I wouldn't have given the score for Deaf gamers a 10. If I'm right, it only has subtitles- and not full closed captioning. I think for anything to qualify as a ten for deaf gamers it should have closed captions- like in most Valve titles. This game is completely playable as is for deaf gamers, yes, but still not sure I would have given it a 10.
Additionally, I think you're putting too much emphasis on the VATS system. As someone who played it, I was very frequently out of action points before killing high level or multiple enemies. And then when you are out of action points you have to resume the normal speed playing, where you have to actually aim- not have it auto select. If you need to rely on the VATS to play this game I think you're in trouble. I don't think it can be used as you described it until you've leveled up... meaning you have to play it normal first.
And lastly I wouldn't have given the visuals a 10 either. Although the game is colorblind friendly, the game is also extremely monotone. This could cause problems for people with low vision since there isn't a way to make things high contrast.
So, yeah. I guess I would have scored this much lower.
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