Fallout 3 trailer!

[Mord]

UK, May 8, 2007 - Bethesda Softworks has revealed that world-famous actor Liam Neeson has signed up for a major role in Fallout 3 and will appear prominently throughout the entire game.

Speaking about his role in the upcoming post-apocalyptic title, Neeson said: "It's been a pleasure bringing the father to life and working with the wonderfully talented people at Bethesda on Fallout 3. I hope the fans of the franchise and the game will be excited by the results."

Todd Howard, executive producer of Fallout 3 said the role of the father was written with Neeson in mind and he "provides a dramatic tone for the entire game". He also added that Liam is "absolutely amazing to work with".

Bethesda has a strong history of signing famous actors for its games. Both Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean provided voices for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

[HEEGZ]

All good news so far. The gameplay will be the key though. Erm, and the story.

[ayergo]

I liked the Corvega ad in the backround. Perfect!

*wipes a tear from his eye* Its like seeing the 'vette of the future. They gotta put one in the game!

In fact, i bet thats how the brotherhood got to the east coast!! Driving a bright red 'vega, drinkin' nuka-cola, and eating iguana-on-a-stick!

[Grand Fromage]

The article is based on an hour long demo GI was given. I'll list the high points

- Game runs on an evolved version of the Oblivion engine. Third person view has been reworked since the verdict was that the Oblivion version sucked balls.

- Game starts with your birth and your mother's death in a vault hospital. This is essentially the character customization part of the game. Your father hands you up to have your DNA analyzed and you get to pick out all your character traits. Your dad takes off his mask to reveal similar traits to the ones you picked.

- You grow up in the vault and as you grow you get your first book titled "You're Special" which allows you to choose you baseline stats for each of your 7 primary aptitudes. You'll also get your first weapons and wrist computer (menu) as you get older and take tests to determine the initial layout of your skills and traits.

- Every aspect of character creation is based on S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system. Of your 14 skills you can tag 3 to grow at a faster rate than the rest as you level up.

- Battle system is called the Vault-tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.). The article states. "While you'll certainly be able to tackle enemies in real time using first person shooting, V.A.T.S. lets players pause time and select a target at their leisure". Battle system still uses action points, but once you've used them up you'll still be able to fight targets in real time while they charge back up.

- Game is still violent and gory. One of the featured screens is of a guy's head exploding in super gory detail. Apparently all gory deaths in the game will be in slow motion.

- More than one way to play the game. Go balls out and kill people, or sneak past situations, or perhaps talk your way out of situations.

- Enemies can target you just like you can target them, so you can get injured in very specific points on you body. This in addition to an all new health/radiation system. This new system has you measuring how radiated certain things (like water) are and how they affect you when you consume them.

- Karma system returns

[. . .]

It doesn't say anything specifically about party members, but there's a section that talks about how integral NPC's are to the game, and that a lot of the progress in the game will be made via quests.

EDIT. A little caption under a screen shot says you'll be able to hire henchmen to help you out but this is definitely not a party based game. Also Bethesda confirms that there'll be a dog in the game.

[. . .]

As a matter of fact they do. The game does not scale like oblivion, so if you enter a high level area expect to be promptly murdered.

Also, I just read a little caption.

Level cap is 20.

Definite ending to the game, but there are 9 - 12 possible endings.

[. . .]

It is XP based. Most of your XP comes from quests.

First rumors of the Game Informer article, subscribers are getting it now and it'll be out officially next week. Two game sites have reported some of this information as well (specifically the real time/turn based hybrid system), so I suspect it's legit.

[Veilan]

Liam Neeson is win.

[Grand Fromage]

Scans of the article are up. http://www.nma-fallout.com/

[KalevD]

This game has officially taken the number one slot on my wish list.

As to whether or not the teaser trailer was a pre-rendered cutscene or used the in-game engine.....you know, its getting harder and harder to tell the difference any more. Many game engines have advanced to the point where there would actually be a drop in quality if they used pre-rendered as opposed to a simple scripted in-game trigger. The latter also usually gets better accolades from the gamer community (except when the developer happens to be Blizzard).

I also think Bethesda is the only company that could have done the Fallout license justice now that Interplay is out of the picture. They have the experience with open-ended style gameplay, the commitment to good storytelling, the ability to get appropriate voice actors (as opposed to those games that just get a celebrity voice for the sake of having a celebrity voice), and their game engines have been cutting edge.

All in all, save your money for this one folks!

[mxlm]

I also think Bethesda is the only company that could have done the Fallout license justice now that Interplay is out of the picture.

*cough*Obsidian*cough*

Goof, thanks for the link.

Oh, yes, for anyone who doesn't know how to use google's cache, click here