Role-playing games offer war, fantasy
War continues, leading eventually to the fall of America and nuclear apocalypse. Washington, D.C., is a rubble of near-finality; wilting in gray heaps of sorry, ruined facades. Americans who survive the war become murderous or, if lucky, they merely go bonkers and talk in gibberish.
That is the future of "Fallout 3," one of the most anticipated video games of 2008, and certainly a game that will end up on many reviewers' best-of-the-year lists. Does its fortunetelling adventure live up to the hype? Mostly, yes. It's a giant and storied creation. But the action is a little slooow at times.
You portray a teenage guy or girl; gender choice is yours from the start. You grow up in an bunker, an insular underground town of scientists and bullies. Once you make your way to the surface, you start finding stray American survivors.
Some survivors are looney tunes, praying to unexploded bombs. Others want you to help them escape grave situations. If you choose to help, you are rewarded with a somewhat lighter journey of good "karma" points. If you don't, your travels bog a bit.
This is a quirky role-playing action-adventure, so you also have to talk to these villagers about bizarre things constantly. But then, you also kill many of them because they shoot at you.
Guns come easy enough, but you also forge new weapons. For instance, combine a wood chipper and a screwdriver gun, and hey hey, you get to shoot nails into people so that they get stuck by their limbs to walls. Let the religious theories commence.
There's a little too much slack in "Fallout 3." You run and run, sort of slowly, around villages and vast terrains of debris. That can be a drag at times.
But it is a big, creative game and a credit to the role-playing genre. I respect and am entertained by it, but it could use a little more fun.
If the prospect of this unending war freaks you out, you can do what others do and travel a more hopeful path, as you can in "Fable II," which is set in ye olden times and, befitting those times, includes ye olden street tramps.
"Fable II" is another role-playing action game. This fantasy, though, goes for charm. It looks and sounds a bit like "Harry Potter," if Potter existed hundreds of years back, and lived in New Zealand, in an enchanted land of magic, intrigue, villages and role-playing dialogue.
Your main goal is to avenge the death of a family member, while journeying through castles and villages. Eventually your mission is to destroy a villain building a "Lord of the Rings"-type tower of power.
Oh, and everywhere you go, so goes your dog, who randomly digs up gold and other treasures. Odd but fun.
Smaller missions are small indeed, such as taking odd jobs to earn money (chopping wood, anyone?). With a sword, a crossbow and magic powers, you help subheroes get rid of easy-to-terminate bad guys and big bugs.
"Fable II" is a fun game for adults, and it would be great for little kids, except it comes with condoms, marriages and a vocal if unseen wedding night.
So there you have today's pivotal role-playing action-adventures. You could go with "Fable II," a delightful romp. Or you can vote for the unending war, death and destruction of "Fallout 3." Your call, your repercussions.
("Fable II" by Microsoft retails for $60 for Xbox 360 -- Plays entertaining. Looks great. Begins easy, becomes moderately challenging. Rated "M" for blood, language, violence, use of alcohol, sexual content. Four stars out of four.)
("Fallout 3" by Bethesda retails for $60 for Xbox 360 and PS 3 -- Plays intriguing. Looks great. Moderately challenging. Rated "M" for blood, gore, intense violence, sexual themes, strong language, use of drugs. Four stars.)
Contact Doug Elfman at 702-383-0391 or e-mail him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He also blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.
NEW IN STORES
"Gears of War 2" is the biggest release of the year, the follow-up to the first "Gears," the intense and challenging shooter. "Gears of War 2" returns you to Delta Squad to fire upon big and little hordes of creatures, but with destructible cover, moveable shields and other enhancements. The online multiplayer is the big to-do, featuring 15 battlefield maps (that's a whole lot). The game retails for $60 for Xbox 360. It's rated "M" for blood, gore, intense violence and strong language.
"Resistance 2" is a follow-up to the very first PlayStation 3 buzz game. Once again, you play as a trained killer taking on evil forces, naturally, although you also have a disease ravaging your body. Serious gamers will want to play the online version mostly, in battles that will cast up to 60 players at a time (that's a whole lot), or in a big, eight-party cooperative story line games online. The game retails for $60 for PS 3. It's rated "M" for blood, gore, intense violence and strong language.
-- By DOUG ELFMAN
