Fallout 3

*****
The year is 2277. It’s been nearly 200 years since the ‘Great War’ between the U.S. and China that resulted in a nuclear holocaust of nightmarish proportions. You’ve been living in a vault your entire life, sealed off from the horrors outside since just before the war. Then one day…you’re father disappears. Or…as someone explains to you…he ‘escapes’.

What do you do?

You try to find him…

And that’s when Fallout 3 really gets good. I haven’t been a gamer for some time. I’ve been playing video games most of my life…and owned virtually every system at every level…but I was lucky enough to get an XBOX 360 for Christmas, and I went out and bought the one game that really had me salivating at the notion of playing a game again…and boy did it live up to my expectations…and then some. I’ve tried to explain to people how good this game really is. Its just immense. And its not for the guy who just likes to run and gun…it’s a first person shooter with RPG elements that overwhelm you at first, but add so much to the game experience that it just boggles the mind. And for someone like me who isn't as 'quick' as he used to be, and finds the whole online craze intimidating and too 'fast' (kids these days are just a next level good at video games)...the fact that this game's timeline is completely up to you is amazing. If I want to go explore the wasteland to find ammo for my hunting rifle, I can do that from sun up, to sun down (yes, the sun rises and sets in the game.) and hope I don't run into any vicious dogs or 'Mad Max' style punks armed with lead pipes and barb wire pool cues along the way. If I want to go on a sidequest to save a town from giant fire breathing ants created by some mad scientist, I can. Or, I can keep the blinders on and look for my dad...who is out there somewhere.

From zombies and ghouls, to mutated crabs, rats and bears, to gangs of wasteland punks who will try to kill you on sight, to Super Mutants and their 'gore' bags, to a town a la ‘Lord of the Flies’, to a community built around an un-detonated atomic bomb, this game is just loaded with places to go and people (and truly scary things) to meet.

Quite possibly the greatest non-sports game I’ve ever played...and the best $70 I've spent in a long time.

(and yes...you can get a dog in the game...for real!)

Thanks Santa!