80%PC

Finished this on console back in the day, maybe i'll come back and do DLC someday.

80%PC

A great introduction to the FPS Fallout games. Wonderful map, wonderful characters, I just wish the story were a bit stronger. The DLC's can be a lot of fun if you enjoy getting super overpowered early-game. The Broken Steel DLC is also great, as it lets you keep playing and messing around after the story is complete (Looking at you, New Vegas...)

80%PC

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this game since I don't like fps games. But exploring the vast wastelands of Fallout 3, amongst encountering strange and humorous situations drew me into the desolate and sometimes terrifying experience. I loved the dialogue and the self-contained stories of each of the towns that sometimes added to the overall plot. It was a lot of fun.

100%PC

I have been revered by this game the moment I saw it in the old 2010 or something. For ten years I have lived with this one clear goal in mind: to finally play and complete this game. Of course there was a high chance of disappointing considering how much I expected from the game but good lord the game even exceeded my expectations. The world. The world is simply a masterpiece. It is immersive. It is atmospheric. It is alive. I would like to tell you the cons of the game but i don't have a single one - for me it is a perfect game and you have to be a **** or something to ask for more. Throughout the whole game you can feel that the game was made with love and soul. It is not even right to call Fallout 3 "a **** is a world. The fact it was released in 2008 perplexes me because the game feels like a pinnacle of gaming industry for me (please consider the fact I am quite new to the whole video games thing). Fallout 3 is nothing short of a masterpiece and I think it is a shame I can't rate it 110%.

70%PC

So far so good, very immersive with very good world building, have to wait and see how the game fleshes out. -14/6/2025
Such a large world, fitting of an rpg, only thing I can call it is immersive, it is so detailed and fleshed out the world I mean, that time seems to fly before you know it, and the side missions don't seem like a chore, I want to do it, they seem fun at times, but now that I'm pretty stacked I think I should focus on the main mission more than exploration, because I seem to be a slow hoarding type player, I might aswell take 200 hrs to complete, which is not a problem, but I have hundreds of games I want to play too, and fallout 3 seems like a giangantic game, in fact the biggest one I have played in my life so far, there is so much to do and explore, but I don't seem motivated to do so these days, cause of how stacked I am, I am almost unkillable. But regardless, it is really good, and seems to be way ahead of it's time, I can't believe it was made in 2008. -22/6/25: 40hrs

Well completed the main story line, but I feel nothing different, the game has not really left an impact on me, probably because we have lesser time to bond with the characters and the story is good at best. It's a solid open world rpg, extremely immersive and that's it, not any crazy story or characters, and I do not wish to continue playing with the dlc, the continuation after the canon ending is just not my thing. Overall the game is a solid 7, which is pretty good for something made in 2008. - 50hr: 24/6/2025

60%PC

Most overrated game ever. Horrible writing, boring art design. Doesn't understand what makes Fallout unique.

90%PC

Probably the best open world design I have played so far.

95%Xbox Series X/S

Whatta game!! I thoroughly enjoyed myself at every point in the game. FO3 seems to be forgotten in time as of late with the release of the Fallout TV show, but honesty I think this is the best one. Capital Wasteland is by far my favorite world yet in the universe. Bethesda captured the goofy humor of Fallout perfectly. Where New Vegas expands on every game mechanic, I think the world and atmosphere excel in 3. It is sooo goofy in the best way, old Bethesda really nailed that aspect. In Raven Rock, in the mess hall, seeing the piles of eating utensils dropped through the metal grate by the oh so stupid Enclave soldiers made me actually LOL. This game is freakin' hilarious. New AAA games shove every aspect in the player's face so they don't "miss out", but this game throws that aside and lets world building speak for itself. The amount of funny things I've found by looking around that could've been, and probably was, missed by lots of players, makes me adore this game. I was so damn immersed.

If you are reading this and haven't played a Fallout, I emplore you to start with F03. You won't regret it.

*I played mostly the main story and a good amount of sidequests, but i'll be returning soon to finish Broken Steel and the rest of the DLC with it. I really want to jump back into this world again

70%Xbox 360

It feels like fallout 4 but not as good...which it is.

65%PC

Jogos da Bethesta não são pra mim, não consigo me conectar com a forma deles de contribuir mundos, não me é imersivo. Fora que não gosto da jogabilidade, o combate não parece ter impacto físico.

85%Xbox One

Well I finally played the beloved Fallout 3. This game along with Morrowind and Oblivion secured Bethesda on a very high pedestal by gamers. So how does a game made in 2008 for the Xbox 360 play in 2025 on an Xbox One X?

Really well. I actually have the GOTY version on Steam but opted to play the Xbox version as backward compat takes the x360 version and upscales it to 4k. Yes sure, PC graphics likely has better textures and LOD... but I'd also have to put up with too many bugs no doubt.

But how do I review a 17 year old game and remain fair? What was the magic people felt back at launch and does that still impress? How does it compare to the 2D Fallout?

Starting with positives, the main story is compelling and well paced despite this being an open world game. Fallout 1 had a timer which elevated the tension, ammo was scarce - you had limited time to solve the puzzle and survivability was not guaranteed. F1's environment design and audio being so atmospheric, that together with the wasteland cast of NPCs it was an amazing game. Fallout 3 falls somewhere between F1 & F2 for me. 3 builds on the lore, the factions, crazy NPCs, the wasteland's desolate and haunting look and feel. It's not pretty BTW - this game is a sea of brown, grey and some sort of green. The map really captures the enormous feel but thankfully in-game travel on foot proves to be rather small. The fast travel system functions great, but like all of them, comes with the downside of disconnection where games can become a series of tasks.

F3 handles this by hiding away lots of areas to discover, loot and level up. You're also required to discover a place once before fast travelling - so I'd say F3 does a great job of keeping you connected.

Another element that helps to stay connected is that for at least the first 30% of the game, ammo, guns and consumables are not plentiful. The looting mechanics is addictive as is the levelling system. Thus despite playing nearly 40 hours I was ONLY beginning to get bored with this loop. There are very few towns where you can rest, trade and get official quests. Since every town serves core purposes, fast travelling back and forward does not loosen the connectedness.

The side quests take you on short to medium sized journeys, some I chose to do over many hours. This back and forward between main story, side quests and surprise side quests as you move about make F3 fun. Your shooting skills improve nicely as you level up which makes combat more entertaining. By the very last mission I was a walking tank absorbing 74% incoming damage whilst dishing out 1-shot critical deaths to fully armoured soldiers.

I loved finding Dogmeat and then, the customary event of losing him during a random battle - just like my first time in F1. I loved enlisting NPCs to fight alongside me, they were competent enough most of the time. What's really nice is that they give you additional 150kg or so of storage!!

Inventory management, controls and quick access buttons, general controls - all worked very well. I honestly cannot fault F3 in most aspects despite being such an old game.

OK now the negatives, which were very few.
Considering Bethesda released Oblivion in 2006 (a visually stunning game), what happened to F3 in 2008??? Wasteland does not have to be so ugly... the orginal game had trees, leaves, colour. Not everything was broken and grimy.

The 2nd negative was NPC pathfinding where very occassionally your NPS ally will get stuck in a narrow corridor requiring you to push them or simply go without them into the next area where they magically appear.

But these are really just nitpicks compared to the main issue which is that at HARD, this game was piss easy. I died early-game, ammo was scarce, guns and armour needed constant upkeep. But after 10 or 15 hours these elements pretty much disappear, losing much of the game's initial tension. I still kept playing as the level-up system and the chase for elite armour, weapons lasts nearly to the end-game (thankfully).

And that's it. I wasn't wowed, I wasn't enthralled like gamers were in 2008. These types of games were still new and yeah, F3 did everything so well that even in 2025 this game holds up very well. It'll remain playable for another 10 years or so I think and that's impressive.

I low-key enjoyed F3 due to my love for it's lore and F3 being a very competent game. It semi-captures the original game's atmosphere but is really a series on it's own. I was entertained enough and am keen to play Fallout 4 with it's *new* graphics, mechanics and house building.

85%PC

i must nuke the city

70%PC

While the game still holds up well enough today starting out really does suck and the level cap being so low at 20 really kills incentive to continue exploring when you wont get any better or stronger for doing so. All in all it is fun to return to games from this ear and reexplore them

40%PlayStation 3

This game is so boring, it literally gave me PTSD.

100%PC

много раз перепроходила, всегда в режиме бога, но мне плевать что вы обо мне думаете!!!! я люблю эту часть, хотя все её ненавидят, но из-за того что это вообще первое появление фаллаута в моей жизни - я держу особое место в сердце для него <3 когда-нибудь перепройду без читов клянусь....

75%Xbox 360

I don't Know my time played. Going to play Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition instead.

35%PC

Mr. T Howard made a something he think is a 'Game'. As usual, it's hard to play and hard to enjoy. However, it has some fun quests that at least stay in memory.

90%PC

What a great game, an absolute classic

100%Xbox 360

jank. fun. i never got to play it as a kid, but im sure i would have been as glued. 65%

70%Xbox One

This is my first introduction to the fallout series a series that I'm very much familiar with due to it's grand acclaim. For how long I've been gaming I thought it would be wise to play a fallout game despite my general apathy towards open world games due to them usually being a great big sprawl of mostly empty world where getting sidetracked is an inevitability. With this game now done I can so it's a grand "pretty alright" across the board. This game had a lot about it that I liked and a lot about I very much disliked so let's begin with the good.

Good: the rpg elements are honestly pretty good. It feels very much like dnd with general skill points, abilities you gain on level up and proficiency in skills. Every level up feels very exciting as you get to select how you will grow. Lore is fun to learn as you deal with the NPC's of the world and choosing to be good or evil is a great way to really absorb the player (I enjoyed killing everyone in paradise falls). Lastly VATS is a fun system but it's a rather double edged sword. Being able to cripple specific limbs for various effects gives this game genuine strategy as this is absolutely not a run and gun game.

bad: The world is a mostly blank nuclear wasteland so visuals are anything but nice. After a while walking around just puts you to sleep. My absolute biggest complaint however is combat outside of VATS as it's genuinely fucking terrible. Guns are so unbelievably inaccurate it honestly made be get mad a few times. Some quick saves put you in areas that nearly softlock you so you die several times and the games combat all around is honestly really jank which I've heard is pretty standard for bethesda games anyway.

conclusion: There's a lot about this game I thoroughly enjoy and a lot about it I can't stand. As a result it stands at a pretty unflinching 7/10 in my eyes. Once again this is absolutely a me problem as open world games have never been to my tastes but I must have a fallout game under my belt as it really is an influential series worthy of it's acclaim. Will I ever play another fallout game? honestly, probably not but I'm pleased to finally have experienced a fallout game.

90%Xbox 360

Fallout 3 Review -

Main Story

Deaths - 10

Honestly, I knew all the hype and prestige of Fallout 3 in the community and I had actually got this game with my Xbox One for Christmas back in 2015 but only played it for maybe 2 hours tops since I was more intrigued in playing CoD: BO3 with my friends, but boy was I missing out. Even going into this playthrough I still didn't realise the great game I was about to play.

At the beginning I was really into it since I've always loved Bethesda games like this but thought it would probably drop off a little bit but after I started focusing on the main story after doing that long ass "Wasteland Survival Guide" side quest I finally realised how good this game actually is I was so immersed in the story that I didn't even care about side missions anymore, moments like finally reuniting with your dad and when he sacrificed himself for us really made me actually react which is a feeling I haven't felt while playing a game in a long time. 2 of my favourite moments have to be when Fawkes comes to save you from the Enclave base (which made me literally jump out of my chair in celebration lol) and that final cutscene after you decide to sacrifice yourself to activate the purifier which genuinely had me tearing up surprisingly.

I really enjoyed the gameplay I mean this is the game that has basically set the standard of how Fallout games are played now the only downside would be the fact you can't sprint which wasn't really a problem as the movement wasn't slow at all I just like the option lol. The only other downside was that I did get stuck on environment areas in the middle of exploring an area meaning I had to load a save from 30+mins before (multiple times) which is really just aggravating but nothing that would make me stop playing.

Character wise I didn't really get too attatched to many characters during my playthrough except Fawkes (the goat), Dad and Amata had a really amazing character even though she was only in the tutorial. I really liked Bryan Wilks from the "Those!" side quest as I felt really bad and the quest had a really wholesome ending.

The graphics were actually really good especially considering when it was made other than some charcters faces looking weird everything was really good; the blood and gore were better than I've seen in some games made after 2015 so definitely going to give this a really good rating taking into consideration it was made in 2008. (16 years ago)

The music in the game was really good. Nothing much to go into here just a good soundtrack with good combat music but the bestsong in the whole game is the classic 'I dont' want to set the world on fire' by The Ink Spots which is just a great song in general but fits the game very very well and I can't express that enough.

Overall I had a blast playing Fallout 3 and will continue to play till I 100% it. (100% Completed on 30/07/2024.) with that being said I can't wait to play Fallout New Vegas after I finish with my time on this game.

Ratings -

Story - 9.5
Gameplay - 9
Characters - 8
Graphics - 8.5
Soundtrack - 8.5
Enjoyment - 9.5

Overall Rating - 8.8

Overall Ratings are rounded to the nearest whole number.

Reviews by Arcemuss
Reviewed on 26/07/2024

40%PC

Was the first fallout game I've played, in retrospect I don't care one bit for it but I still remember my white haired walking perfection of an anime character. I don't know what came first, me watching or playing but it reminds me of my first hentai anime called Yosuga no Sora, that white haired boy is my rolemodel, kind and still desired hahaha. okay... I hate fallout.+40%

100%Xbox 360

Played on 360

90%PlayStation 3

This was one of my first PlayStation 3 games and I loved it so much, thanks to my aunt for gifting it to me. The game was my favorite videogame for a while, and despite Fallout New Vegas being a better game I still like Fallout 3 more. I originally had only the standard game, so one day my parents got me the edition with all the DLC, the one day in high school I gifted my base game to a friend of mine who had only played Fallout 4. I can't wait for a port of this game for the current gen consoles.

65%PC

Sadly very repetitive, and in General the storie's are lacking, main Story was cool. Im Happy i finished it though.

90%PlayStation 3

Super atmospheric. Most absorbed I've been in a game, DLC was a huge disappointment though.

80%Xbox Series X/S

Pretty Solid game overall. Was much more fun that expected given how I played it in 2023, many years after it was released. Overall it is a pretty solid addition to the Fallout universe. While not as refined and smooth as Fallout 4, it does feel a bit more open and has a few more RPG elements.

90%Xbox 360

holy shit was this game good

100%Xbox 360

Awesome fleshed out world with rewarding and engaging side quests that are a blast to discover. One of the greatest games in that era.

90%Xbox Series X/S

Fallout 3 is an amazing rpg. The Capitol Wasteland is a fun world to explore. There are lots of places to explore and quests to do. There are a few issues with the game. The leveling system is capped at 20, which you get pretty fast. This means you will spend most of the game fully leveled, which makes it less rewarding after that. I know they probably didn’t want people getting too OP and maxing out every stat, but they make it too easy to get the highest level. The Broken Steel dlc adds 10 leveled to the cap, which helps a bit. Other than that I really like this game. The story is short but very good. There are tons of quests which I had a lot of fun with. I recommend this game.

70%Xbox One

The game is not bad but no that good either for me. Maybe due to the fact it has a lot of crashes and flitches for me. Thankfully nothing game breaking. The story is meh.. I like the part were a person's belief which he/she had for a decade or more can easily just be manipulated by us. I really like the part where you can almost talk your way out of a fight all the time. But some of the dialogues are ridiculous that you would always say "I can't believe that worked". All in all it is not a bad game I actually immediately went to play fallout new vegas. Because it's not that bad. I also lost track of time when I was doing a quest. I most of the times try to focus on just doing the main scenario but tend to get sidetrack all the time. Because at the back of my mind was always wondering "what is over there, I want to explore that, I wonder what comes next after this" The game made me felt this way and the occasionally funny speech dialogues and glitches.

There was one time I thought a crash was part of the story so I waited for almost a minute then I remembered it was a bethesda game so I did a reset on my console.

60%PC

Call of Fallout 3

95%PC

Awesome fun game. Some bugs, one was really bad and I got stuck because of it (Doctor Li in the tunnels).

65%Xbox 360

Gray and dull, poor story and writing. Still fun to play though.

90%PlayStation 3

This game's super nostalgic and has an aesthetic that Fallout 4 and New Vegas don't quite capture. It's an excellent title and is definitely not deserving of all the hate it gates. Fallout 3 brought the series back to life, brought it to 3D, and did it well! Yet... all of a sudden people hate it because of one YouTube video? Nonsense.

Fallout 3's still great. It's a little dated, I'll admit that, but it still stands as a very good game.

Score: 90

80%PC

Power Suits

75%PC

Super fun, really chill, love the environment/exploration
Story was good enough, love the dream sequence, hate the ending because I had Fawkes in the room with me and he definitely could've done it instead and been totally fine. Good from a writing perspective, bad from a gameplay perspective.

80%PC

My favorite of the bethesda fallouts

40%Xbox One

Before Jan 2024, my only venture into the world of Fallout was with Fallout 4 and I really enjoyed that, clocking up about 180 hours. This one was fun initially, but the comination of under-powered weapons, too frequent enemy spawns and awful navigation (especially when in the city), completely wiped out all the fun and it became a frustrating chore to proceed.

100%PC

my fav game

70%PC

I've always had a weird relationship with Fallout 3. I think it's an okay game & have no qualms about playing or replaying it, but without a doubt it is my least favorite Fallout game. It just feels a bit empty compared to the rest, and I dislike large parts of the main story. I don't think it's a bad game by any means, but I think it is absolutely the worst out of a great bunch. Was gonna give it a 65, but I raised it to 70 solely for Moira - best character in the game.

85%Xbox 360

A great first entry by Bethesda into the Fallout series. Still holds up decently well but shows some age. New Vegas and Fallout 4 are better, but this is worth playing if you enjoyed those.

85%PC

A great first entry by Bethesda into the Fallout series. Still holds up decently well but shows some age. New Vegas and Fallout 4 are better, but this is worth playing if you enjoyed those.

65%Xbox One

More like 65%...… I thought the story kind of got lost halfway through the game which wasn't a very strong story line anyways. It got very monotonous with the grey and green color scheme after a while, but I also know that's it's supposed to be a barren nuclear wasteland too. It just got to the point where I would've like some color.

The gunplay was not very good at all. Even using the VATS system, there were always more missed shots than hits. It even got the point that I started using grenades because those were doing more good/damage than my weapons. Aside from the Fat Man, grenade launcher, flamer, and a couple mini guns, I played the entire game with just the base weapons because I never came across any of the "special" weapons - which sucks.

Although I did complete a few side quests, somehow, I never came across many other side quests. I was around 35 hours when I completed the final main quest, which I didn't know actually ended my game because I didn't have the Broken Steel DLC downloaded. Just flat out GAME OVER (bye-bye). Therefore, I could not continue searching the wasteland and completing side quests - which sucks.

Besides this game, Fallout 4 is the only other game in the series I have played, so I guess I'm a little disappointed with how this one turned out. I put about 160 hours into FO4 and gave it 100% rating so you can see I'm way off from those numbers. I'm glad I played this game, but I don't think I'll ever jump back into Fallot 3 for any reason. I'm not mad or upset, and I've certainly played worse games, but just a little disappointed in Fallout 3.

100%Xbox 360

This is not only my favorite Fallout but it's my favorite game of all time by a very large margin. There's too much to say about it but this game completely shaped who I am as a gamer and it's one that I doubt will ever be dethroned as my personal GOAT. Don't feed the Yao Gui! That is all.

90%PC

Fallout 3 was the switch from 2D isometric to 3D.

It got... interesting reception. At first, people were like, "Wow, Fallout in 3D! This is incredible!" And then after New Vegas released, the sentiment swung around to, "Damn, the writing in this game sucks! Fallout should've stayed 2D! Give the IP to Obsidian!"

I think the truth of this game is in the middle. The writing in this game was not very original, I'll say that. The plot is quite literally the same as FO2's with the start being the same as FO1's, when you think about it. Only real change is that it revolves around family. The side quests in the games were honestly pretty good, the vast majority of them gave you plenty of freedom to solve it.

Bethesda nailed the world, like they usually do. DC in ruins was incredible. Seeing the Mall, Capitol Building, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, the ruins of the White House, etc was super cool. The map itself was one of the most interesting to explore, and I loved the Metro System. Maybe it's because I knew how to traverse it, I loved getting around downtown DC. And the random encounters in this game were awesome, really felt the world was alive.

Gunplay is dated for sure, no iron sights is painful. Taking out traits was also an interesting decision. And I do wish there were more gun variety.

DLCs are kind of a mixed bag. Operation Anchorage was bad, especially with the mediocre gunplay. The Pitt is one of my personal favourites, not much has changed in Pittsburgh lol. Mothership Zeta was ???, no other way to describe it. Point Lookout was fun, seeing the hillbillies was hilarious. And Broken Steel kinda retconned the ending and let you live which I personally thought was weird.

Maybe it makes no sense why the wasteland is still dead 200 years on. Maybe Bethesda screwed up with the ending. I'll say this. Fo3 is the game that I learn the most new things about every time I go back to it, it was clear that a lot of love was poured into it.

9/10

10%PC

no map, no interface, no tutorial

100%PC

Favorite game SERIES. Favorite of the series is New Vegas.

70%PC

7.5