Preliminary Fallout 3 Details Surface

NeoGAF forum member Sallokin has posted a quick summary of the information contained in the latest Fallout 3-branded issue of Game Informer Magazine. Consider this information unconfirmed until more people get their hands on the new issue:

– 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 you’ll 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 is 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

– XP based system, most XP comes from quests

– Level cap is 20

– 9 – 12 possible endings based on your actions in the game

– No level scaling like oblivion, you walk into a high level area, you die horribly.

– There are NPC’s you can hire, but this is not a party based game.