Character-driven storyline
Bethesda Softworks have finally revealed some further details regarding the highly anticipated post-apocalyptic videogame, Fallout 3. A number of press were invited to a special screening at Bethseda's HQ where they were told, amongst other things, about the deep character driven storyline and the new physics system that allows the player to effectively blow apart creatures limb-by-limb.
We find that Fallout 3 takes place in 2077 in Washington D.C., 30 years after the events of Fallout 2, in a world afflicted by nuclear fire and radiation spurred by a war with China. After the radiation subsided to bearable levels, refugees emerged from their underground vaults that kept them safe from the worst of the nuclear war. One vault, Vault 101, never opened, and that’s where your character happens to reside in the beginning.
"Ultimately you can do anything. You can base that character on you—it will change with you because it is based on you.” You begin as a baby, actually. You learn to walk, run, play with toys and pick your seven attributes collectively called S.P.E.C.I.A.L. (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck.), as in previous Fallout games. As time goes on your age advances. Time spent within an age bracket increases as you grow older, so don’t worry—you won’t be fighting off Super Mutants as a Huggies-wearing bouncing baby.
There's a substantial preview of the game over at Next-gen
