When I first heard about Fallout 3, I was intrigued. It sounded like my type of game and right up my alley.....but I had a niggling problem! It was made by the same people as Oblivion and, despite the glowing reviews and recommendations of that game, I never really got on with it. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion just seemed too big, too harsh and I just couldn't see me investing lots of game time into it....wiould the same be said of Fallout if I bought it?

Then, whilst discussing games with some colleagues at work, a friend offered to lend me Fallout 3 with a view to buying it off him if I liked it. This seemed like a win-win situation so I said yes......and so began my Fallout experience....

The game begins with your birth. You get to choose what you will look like as an adult, including your sex, and then, through a series of jump-cuts, you get to see your character growing up. You have been born in The Vault. All you know is The Vault. And outside, all that remains of Washington DC is a nucleur devastated landscape.

Fallout 3 is set in an alternative future; one in which America never left the Fifties culture-wise and was bombed by Atomic weaponry in a horrifying conflict that happened before you were born. At first, you believe that you have been in The Vault all your life and that no one ever leaves because of the radiation outside. But then your dad leaves under unsettled circumstances and you quickly learn that not all you have been told is the truth! You set out after your father and slowly, over the course of many missions, begin to piece together the full story. But before you can discover any answers, your first priority is to survive!

Raiders and mutated animals patrol the wastelands at every turn and even when you find civilisation or settlements, often you are expected to carry out jobs or tasks for them before they offer you any information. There is a vast amount of things you can do and places you can go and, as with Fable, you are constantly faced with moral choices that affect what goes on around you and either adds or takes away Karma.

Your health is tallied in H.P or Hit Points and you can earn certain skills or Perks with every level increase which adds to what you can do and achieve. One of the neatest things about this game is the V.A.T.S system which comes into play during combat. By activating the V.A.T.S, you can choose where on your opponents body you want to hit and are given percentages as to your chances of doing damage. But choose wisely, because you only have a certain amount of Attack Points and once used, you must use more conventional means of attack until they restore!

As with Oblivion, this is a huge game and with 5 DLC packs you can download, will take up a large chunk of your time! It is a lot of fun but takes a bit of getting used to at first! My initial impressions were that I was not going to like this, even upon playing it, but once I levelled up and "discovered" a few places so that I could Fast Travel, I quickly became hooked!

It has even almost made me want to go out and buy Oblivion again and give it a second chance but whether or not that actually happens remains to be seen! Regardless, once you get into this I promise you will find it hard to put it down!

Yes, I'm falling in love with Fallout and can't wait to complete the main story so I can download some of the Mission Packs!