My Top 10 Games of '08 - #1

You might be asking yourself right about now: If I loved Metal Gear Solid 4 so much because it didn't have any technical flaws, was polished as hell, and was such a tight experience overall, why is Fallout 3, who's biggest flaws are in fact the hugely visible presentation flaws that it shows, in my top spot?

My answer to that question, astute reader, is this: Fallout 3 is in my top spot because all of what it does well, all of the little niches and storylines that have yet to be uncovered by most people, the amount of depth to the exploration that exists, all of the moments that make you say "huh, didn't know that was in here. That's actually kind of cool" everything that this world has to offer, managers to dwarf all the issues that I have with it. Self-opening doors, awkward animations, and just an overall feeling of incompleteness will distract some (I would say it could be a deal breaker for people), for me does not outweigh its ambition.

The game wreaks of the "go anywhere, do anything" mentality that developers were spouting about years earlier, but ultimately had to limit somehow. Sure, the games isn't infinite in scope, and it isn't even as large as Cyrodil, but you, for the most part, really can do anything you want. You can say "to hell with this!" mid-quest if it doesn't suit you and go do something else. You aren't forced into the "You don't want to help me? Too bad, you're going to do it" loops of toher "choice" games. You can choose to be good, evil, neutral, or just walk around the wasteland and just kill anything you see unfit to live there.

The game is expansive in what it lets us, the players, do, not in where it lets you do it. The playground may be smaller, but your parents aren't there; there is the complete sense of freedom in that area, always finding something new to do, always discovering. Needless to say, the game swept me and got me hooked more than any game has done this year. The freedom is there for you to exploit, its nooks and crannies ready to explore. More than any other game (except for, arguably, GTA IV), it manages to create a living, breathing (albeit mostly dead, ironicly), and you want to live there, in the wasteland. And for whatever reason, you want to see more of this barren playground, and the game keeps giving you more, and that's why Fallout 3 is hands-down my favorite game of this year.