The idea of Fallout 3 can be categorized in quite a few subjects. The constant struggle of man in his pursuit of great power. The evolution of weaponry from a rock to the atomic bomb. It can also be considered as an infomercial of what the future may have in store for the human race. Whatever the case may be, Fallout 3 is an action/role playing experience that's not to be missed.

Fans of Bethesda's other Xbox 360 title, The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, will find a large amount of simiarities between both games. One feature is a full character customization menu. Here you can determine your characters sex, race, hair and facial features. If you don't feel like customizing a character then you can have the computer randomly create one for you, but where's the fun in that. Another similarity is the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. System (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, Luck). Early on in the game you'll assign points in these skills. As you level up during your adventure you'll gain more points you can use to increase your abilities and also gain access to various perks to enhance them. You can also skip time using the Back button as well as quick travel from place to place once you find certain locations shown on your map. NPC interaction is also the same here with the characters talking to you while the text is shown on the bottom of the screen. After they are done speaking you have a variety of reactions to answer them with. This is where the similarities end, so let's get to the story.

The year is 2277, two hundred years after the war between the US and China went nuclear. You are born in Vault 101, an underground sanctuary of human survivors from the nuclear holocaust. Your mother has died from the complications of childbirth which leaves only your father to raise you. Here in this artificial civilization you'll begin your journey into who you'll actually become. From your early childhood to near adulthood, you'll interact with a multitude of characters in which the first steps of decisions that will affect how people perceive you begins. Throughout your childhood stages you'll gain access to various equipment including the Pip Boy 3000 which is your handy-dandy access tool which keeps track of your progress, your stats, maps, and helpful items in your inventory for you to use. There is also the G.O.A.T. Test which evaluates your skills. The test is informative and pretty funny as well. Don't worry about failing the test because you can't. After the test you'll gain points assigned to three main abilities that your character can possess, but you can assign those points to other abilities if you wish.

In Vault 101, the Overseer says that "You are born here, and you will die here." If that was the case then Fallout 3 would be the shortest and most boring game on the planet. Obviously, this is not the case because near adulthood, you learn that your father has escaped from the vault into the wasteland. The Overseer will send his security team after you because he believes you are responsible for these actions. This is where the action picks up as you must escape the vault. After you succeed in your escape, the vault doors are sealed off behind you and your only choice after this is to enter the Capital Wasteland in search of your father. Once you enter this post-apocolyptic nightmare, the real journey begins.

The Capital Wasteland is huge! Day will turn into night...there is so much to explore. Good thing you have a compass to help guide you. Through the endless debris field of twisted metal and concrete, formerly known as Washington DC, you'll come across makeshift towns as well as encounter many enemies and NPCs. What you choose to do is completely up to you. You'll easily be able to tell the difference between enemies and NPCs since enemies will be marked out in red. Enemies can range from Radroaches to malfunctioning robots to even huge behemoths which may take loads of ammo to take down. The NPC characters, on the other hand, will offer you side quests or even allow you to barter with them. Although, unlike most RPGs, you can also kill the NPCs. Remember, killing NPCs can come at a price because once they're dead...they're dead, and crime can be dealt with rather harshly by a town's people. Finally, keeping yourself healthy in a radioactive wasteland is also important. If you get hurt, look for food, water, health stimpacks, or just get some sleep to improve on your situation. Walking around in a crippled state is not the way to go here as you'll become a target for nearby enemies looking for "fresh meat!"

The combat system in Fallout 3 resembles your basic first-person shooter. All combat is in real time so there is no pausing to heal yourself. Quick reflexes as well as a keen eye are keys to survival. Weapons come in two forms. One is all your guns including pistols, machine guns, shotguns, sniper rifles, rpgs, mini-nukes, and so much more. The other is in the form of melee weapons like sledgehammers, knives, bats, tire irons, and more that you can use just in case you run out of ammo. V.A.T.S. (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System), on the other hand, is a great combat alternative. The system pauses the action while you find the best place to cripple or even decapitate enemies that stand in your way, all which are shown in percentages of success. You'll also notice that sometimes a head shot is not always the best shot so go for other areas of the body like taking out their arms and legs. Once that decision is done you can watch the bullet slowly move towards your foe and watch the bloody carnage that ensues as limbs or even heads fall off or even explode. In closing, the V.A.T.S. system is a great feature, but it can only be used as long as you have "action points." Once they're used up you have to wait for them to slowly regenerate before you can use them again.

A key reminder in this game is like the old saying that "every action has an equal or opposite reaction." In Fallout 3, this is known as the Karma system. Karma is gained through your actions in various quests and come in two forms: good (halo) and evil (horns). Being a "goody two shoe" will give you good karma, while killing NPC characters or committing crimes like murder and theft will give you bad karma. Sometimes NPC characters can even trick you by thinking your doing a good deed, but in turn your doing their evil intentions. Fallout 3, unlike other RPGs, truly gives you the sense of being evil makiing it fun to be the bad guy for once. Finally, your Karma will also determine the ending of the game, and we're not just talking about a good or evil ending. There are multiple endings which helps enhance the games endless replay value.

Like The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Fallout 3 is a true RPG experience although this time your not in a medieval storyline. I will warn you that this is a long game so make sure you devote plenty of time to play because there is no such thing as a quick run here. The main campaign can run around 20 hours to finish, but this is only a small fraction of what Fallout 3 offers. To truly experience the game you need to explore the wasteland because you'll find many other side quests as well as dungeon crawling. The complete experience will run over 100 hours of gameplay with each experience different from the next. You can bet your bottom dollar that Bethesda's working on episodic content and other downloadable content (no horse armor content please?) just like they did in Oblivion. RPG gamers look no further because Fallout 3 delivers on everything your looking for.