Dave's Place The internet home of David Hinkle, a guy who plays way too many video games

Fallout 3 not the gaming hotness it was hyped to be

I've been playing Fallout 3 a lot lately, much like everyone else I know and converse with on a daily basis. While I was smitten with the game during the outset, a few annoying problems have stacked up to make me, well ... kind of mad. In no particular order, they are:

• Why can't I hit the B button to back out of conversation? How could you forget that?
• Stop trying to make me take the subway! I want to see the world and these stupid blocked paths really piss me off.
• Why would you make the main storyline quest about 7 hours long? Then, after that, why would you END THE GAME?
• Once I hotkey a weapon, why can't I know what is in that slot until I either replace it, or actually pull it out? This makes hotkeying things useless.
• Level cap at 20? Come on, you created an open-ended game that encourages free choice and moral consequences, yet you make it so that I have to pre-plan my character's perk route and level-by-level trait points allocation? This is Bush League, Bethesda!
• No more getting your health back while you wait? Eh ...

I'm sure there are others that aren't springing to mind as I stare at my computer screen, but it's very much not Oblivion. The prospect of DLC excites me and I'm sure I'll get all of the achievements I possibly can, but, overall, I'm just killing time until Gears of War 2 now. It's such a shame, too, because I was sure Fallout 3 was going to be my Game of the Year. I guess that will just have to go to Metal Gear Solid 4.