Fallout 3!

My attentions have recently been divided between the new Wow expansion and Fallout 3. Wow is winning at the moment, mostly because the DK is so frikking cool!

Fallout 3 is a wicked game though. I was a bit concerned when I bought it, because I didn't enjoy Oblivion that much, and I'm not a fan of FPS. The VATS system however ensures that even the most uncoordinated gamer can take down the mobs, so that wasn't a problem. The graphics are awesome - to be expected from the Oblivion engine. The gameplay is immersive and the quests well thought out. I've been enjoying trundling through abandoned buildings and underground tunnels killing and looting my way around.

There's lots of oh-crap moments, where you see this gigantic mob and run like hell away. Or get ganked by too many raiders and you fight for your life.

***SPOILERS AHEAD*****
The sort of things you get up to though... For example, I was on my way to find a gang that was grieving a nearby town. The gang itself are possibly cannibals... won't got into that one :) But on my way I found a small cluster of houses with a massive barricade of old cars and corrugated iron surrounding them. I went all the way around, finally finding the entrance guarded by a jittery young man. Inquiring within, I found out that the town kept on being raided by super mutants. The mutants were kidnapping inhabitants for their own devious purposes. Their doctor had just been kidnapped, and one of the other inhabitants escaped but was badly injured.

So first I checked out the injured guy - this was by the way an off-hand mention by one of the people I spoke to. I was pleasantly surprised to find the chap, and I had the option to either put him down - so to speak - or to operate on him. I donned my trusty lab coat with +10 medicine, and fixed him right up.

Then I went out in search of the kidnapped folk. Those super mutants pack a mean punch, it was quite a fight to get into the main building and find them. The one was in the prison, and told me the other had been taken to... the kitchen.... So I rushed down there and saved him before he became super mutant chow. Escorted the two back to their camp (TIP - use the fast travel, don't do it the hard way like I did!).

Once back at the camp, I had the option to train them in using small guns (I had the expertise). This was quite a cute sequence where we shot at bottles for target practice. Then I helped defend the town against another super mutant invasion.
I chatted to the inhabitants afterwards... the chap I had operated on was so thankful, (and he said he liked me *grin*), that he gave me his lucky 8-ball (+1 to luck).

That is just an awesome "quest chain" that didn't feel like a chain at all. It was immersive, lots of fun, and I felt like I had initiated all the actions, instead of being pulled along by the sequence. Really really awesome :)