Fallout 3 (18)

360, also PS3 and PC
Mad Max meets the Jetsons
So, i'm walking through the wastes of DC, heart of the capital wasteland. A vast nothingness surrounds me, just dust and rubble, empty shells of buildings offering little shelter to wastelanders. Empty bottles of Nuca-Cola litter the floor amid long-burnt-out husks of flying cadillacs, posters for kid's cereals flapping in the strong nuclear breeze, buoyed by the sound of happy-go-lucky 1940's popular music.
Like Oblivion before it, Fallout 3 attempts to create a vast, believable world, using small scale details to populate the
free-roaming adventure. What Oblivion achieved was technically great, but ultimately fell short. Fallout 3 ups the technical ante, while narrowing its focus into a more determined adventure, to mostly great
affect.
Comparisons to Oblivion are obvious and expected, as are the claims that it's 'Oblivion with guns'. That claim is correct, but it is also much more. The amount of detail thrown into the wilderness is stunning, swapping the green rolling hills and castles for dense rubble and towns built from scrap metal. Obviously its not a pretty sight, but it is a sight to behold.
All this wasn't meant for your eyes though. As a Vault dweller, you were born in the safety of a nuclear bunker, instilled with the traditional values of a retro-futuristic yesteryear. Your dad's unexpected departure leading you out into the blinding sunlight for the first time, your doorway to a new, harsh world of freedom.
Looking and playing like a first person shooter, Fallout 3 is an RPG at heart, replete with skill upgrades, chat trees and inventory management. RPG-like, pausing combat is an option too, allowing you to target at your leisure, rewarded with slo-mo cinematics and lots of blood. In times of paniced gun fights it's an indispensable and strategic tool, but it's always enjoyable to do the work yourself when you can.
As a 'post apocalyptic simulator', Fallout 3 does a startling job, but is ultimately a divisive game. Some could find the prospect of walking through a decimated grey/brown landscape for hours on end rather boring... some might argue those moments of quietness add to the tension. Whether or not Billie Holiday's 'Crazy He Calls Me' defeats that tension is a moot point.
8/10