I don’t usually play computer games.. well, you wouldn’t say that if you knew me 10 years ago… I was a complete game nut then and would spend probably 90% of my waking life playing games. I would sometimes play way into the night and vastly diminishing my sleep time.. in fact, I think it may have stunted my growth… when you’re growing, especially during puberty, you grow most in your sleep and, of course, if you didn’t get enough sleep, then perhaps you didn’t grow so much!!!

Anyway, I am going off a tangent here but generally, these days, I don’t like to play too many computer games. I can’t help feel that they are a waste of time and effort. The other thing that I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten older is that time flies… life is indeed short and there is so much. You will only live this life once so you should make the most out of it! Games are great entertainment but hours, days can just disappear on you and you’ve achieved nothing… except that your ingame character is a level 20 arch-mage or something! In the real world, this means nothing of course.

With such a negative feeling towards video games in particular, it’s not like me to play any games. I do love technology however and do like to see how graphics in games have progressed. I particularly like to watch my friends play games and admire the graphics (and not have to deal with the stress of doing poorly in the game).

However, I got a copy of the game Fallout 3 and heard that it was a good game. I loaded it up on my computer and thought I would give it a go to admire the graphics. The first thing was that the graphics were ok.. they weren’t spectacular but I was drawn into the game immediately. You start off (in training mode) watching yourself being born.. your head is out of your mother’s, er, womb and when you finally do pop out, your mother dies…

The next level, you’re a little kid… you can’t do much in this level but it’s a way for you to get used to the controls and moving around.. this is the training level.

Fast forward a few years and you’re having your birthday party.. you get the chance to interact with people and depending on how you do this, you can build your character. I particularly like the dialogue you have with people in the game.. it all goes to building a story and your character.

Although the game is predominately a first person game, it has the character building elements of a role playing type game. You also choose the direction of your development as a character.. you can be a nice guy and help everyone out or be a mean ass and blow everyone to smithereens… however, the game neither encourages or discourages you from choosing either so there is a huge element of openess in the game. You can’t really get stuck for doing the ‘wrong’ thing.The dialogues you have with the other characters in the game also influence what happens.

There is a main story to follow but there are so many small missions to follow or you can just go wandering around the wilderness blowing up raiders (to gain experience and hence enhanced skills) and/or collecting items to sell for money (to get new guns, upgrades, armour etc).

The game is so vast that I have lost over 8 hours playing this game and I’ve only done a couple of levels. I feel really guilty for playing this game but it really addictive… games like these should have a health warning (like those on the front of cigarettes). The game has had rave reviews and as a non-hardened gamer, I recommend it.

Just so you know, I played the game on PC but it is available also on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

I have compiled a list of where you can get it at the best prices: