spoiler alert

there is a big problem with being named game of the year by umpteen gaming sources. you may have the physics engine perfected (for now). you may have gotten liam neeson, malcolm mcdowell and ron pearlman to voice act. you may have gotten scorsese to write and direct the storyline. you may have created one of the most mind-bogglingly immersive worlds created since the first seven days. you may have all of these things.

but, eventually, as most good and decent things do, the game must end. what then? not so "game-of-the-year" now, are you you fucking assholes? two major complaints: 1) how dare you place the level-up cap at 20 rather than, say, 3029.1? or at least 30? i understand the initial logic: eventually people will cap out, explore the map, finish all the side missions, etc., lose interest and the game will burn itself out. however, 2) this directly results in the game ending with the storyline. maybe this works with games like gears of war or halo, the types of action/adventures reserved for guys who spend most of their time shooting cans in the backyard with a .22 rifle, but it sure as hell doesn't fly with the kind of character creation one encounters in fallout 3. i had schematics for the railway rifle and bottlecap mine as well as many of the nuka-cola quantums for sierra petrovita saved up. i was going back for the t-51b armour. i was going to be somebody, not just some paradigm of humanity. i coulda been a contender!

the whole storyline is very well constructed, the world realized beautifully. the map is easy to get lost in and does require a little attention paid (for the first time ever i actually used the in-game maps provided. thx pip-boy). the atmosphere shines when the sun is out and when you're inside little specks of dust float by, just out of soft focus. the report of the shotgun is different than that of the pistol. there are details in this game beyond comprehension but it means nothing when you can't keep going.



...

what should i name my new character?

-e

ps. i have been doing homework and the new andrew bird album is tugging at my heartstrings.