I could legitimately write a college thesis on why Fallout is the greatest game ever to grace our planet, but I am so excited I know I won't do it justice in this review. Fallout shattered my life - I was four years old when it came out but I didn't discover it until I was 20, and within my first year of owning it I played it through fully six separate times. Fallout takes the RPG mould and melts its eyes with a turbo plasma rifle. It is simultaneously deadly serious and darkly humorous. I laughed at farts, South Park references, and butt scratching. At the same time no video game has ever matched the feeling of sheer desperation and haunting loneliness that Fallout instilled upon my soul. I still listen to Mark Morgan's soundtrack and just bask in the atmosphere while I drive home from work sometimes. This is a game that lets you play how you want. I've murdered children with bazookas, but I've also done a playthrough with zero kills (not even the final boss). Fallout 3 can't boast either of those two things. I've spent dozens of hours on a single playthrough, and I've done a 12 minute speedrun. I played a character so stupid that I tricked drug dealers into thinking I was high. The most important thing I can say to someone buying this game (and everyone must buy this game) is that your first playthrough can change your life. Don't look up hints or advice, just enter the wasteland with an open mind. My first character's stats were an absolute disaster, I accidentally murdered the whole population of the second settlement I visited, and I never even managed to get the iconic power armor. And yet, somehow I completed the game. I still think it was a fluke, but It's an experience that redefined gaming for me. I could speak a thousand more reasons why you should play this game, but the point is this: Exciting, tactical, emotional and borderline spiritual; Fallout is an experience that every gamer must have.
