Grand Theft Auto V

Well, I beat it... that is to say, to the extent that anybody ever beats one of these Grand Theft Auto games. I completed the main storyline and watched the credits role, but after that it puts you right back into the open world of the game so you can keep on going with the side quests, finding the hidden easter eggs, or just plain having fun. Remember back when you used to beat a game and that was that? Now I beat a game but the menu still says I'm only about 60% completed. That includes all the missions, sure, but also the fifty different bridges I can fly under, the various stunt jumps hidden around the map, and multiple races on the street, water, and air.

I'm not complaining, since part of this game's appeal is how it's so huge it's virtually impossible to ever complete 100%... at least for me, anyway. I'm sure there were plenty of people who completed it within the first weekend of its release. Those people are called nerds.

Anyway, earlier in the month I already gave my initial opinion of the game after having played for a few days, and it hasn't changed: This is still the best GTA game of all time, which makes it a top contender for best game of all time ever. This game and this series are that good, that fun, and that mindbogglingly well produced.

But it wasn't perfect. I thought the story was lacking. In fact, the story kind of sucked. The dialogue was just as witty and laugh-out-loud funny as you'd expect from the writers at Rockstar, but the story structure was just too disjointed and, frankly, uninteresting. Don't get me wrong: A GTA game doesn't need to have a great story to be fun, it just needs to exist and it'll be fun enough, but this story was so overly plotted and made such an attempt to be epic, the fact that it didn't work is hard to ignore. The game opens with a bank heist gone horribly wrong, and then jumps ahead a decade or so later as we meet the robbers and see where they ended up. One of our leads Michael faked his death and entered the witness relocation program, so when Trevor, his former partner and another one of our playable characters finds out about his treachery, he vows to take action... but then nothing happens. They just end up teaming up for various GTA style missions. And then later on Trevor learns even more about how deep Michael's treachery really went so he vows revenge again... and then nothing happens and they just team up for more GTA style missions.

Then there are all these various villains who come and go and are hard to keep track of. As a game, it was fun that there was so much to do and the story kept things changing from mission to mission, I'm just saying that in terms of a story, it made no sense and was unengaging.

But who gives a shit about that since it was so fun to play, and even though the cut scenes didn't always make sense, the voice acting was some of the best I've ever heard -- especially Steven Ogg as Trevor, who ranks up there as one of the best videogame vocal performances of all time, alongside Ellen Mclain and Steven Merchant from Portal, David Hayter as Solid Snake, Robert Culp from Half Life 2, and Keith David for his appearance in every videogame ever made. But everybody was good, from the main characters right down to the crazy homeless people you find muttered on the street as you walk by. I also really enjoyed the voice of Michael's son Jimmy, who I thought was Jonah Hill, but was shocked to learn it was actually Danny Tamberelli who's most famous as little Pete on Pete and Pete. I'm glad he's still working.

There's also GTA Online, which has been live for a few weeks, and even played for a few days. From what I've played, it's good, but I don't really play online games, especially not ones that are as deep and extensive as this one. I like playing games alone, especially since I only play them when I manage to find some spare time in my day. I just don't have the time to invest in online sessions, especially not if I have to join a crew where other people depend on me. But I have dipped in and out, and it seems like fun.

Anyway... long story short, this is a great game that anybody who loves videogames should buy.

Grand Theft Auto 5

I can sum this game up in one word: Fuckin' really, really brilliant and awesome and amazing. Oops. I guess I went overboard and threw in a little too much detail, but then again, so did Rockstar when they developed this game. Long story short: This is the best GTA game yet, which automatically makes it front runner for best game ever.

Bascially, it's just fun. A lot of fun, in fact, and in ways the earlier GTA games lacked. Every GTA game has been fun, of course, but they've all lacked something or had some kind of odd control quirk that was just frustrating enough to be a constant annoyance. The earliest couple games were amazing, but the top down perspective was really hard to master and never really felt comfortable. The first few 3D versions had some terribly stiff control, making the characters feel ripped out of a Resident Evil game. And GTA IV, as brilliant as it was,  had a really floaty camera in the driving sections that made it hard to see where you were going, especially when you had to turn a corner. But this game pretty much perfected all that, and it's the first entry in the series about which I can honestly say every aspect is fun, from walking to driving to fighting to shooting. As a shooter this isn't going to compare to Gears of War, but it's the first time the series has been fun and not maddeningly frustrating whenever you are forced into a huge fire fight.

Another interesting aspect is the three character structure, opposed to how every other GTA game followed only one main playable character. When I first heard about this, I'll admit I was skeptical because it sounded needlessly complicated, since these games already had story structures that were notoriously hard to follow... but it works. In fact, having three characters to switch between at your leisure made things somehow less complicated, since you're able to take a break from one character's storyline while you play around with another one. Of course, there are also moments where the game forces you to play as one character or the other, often after one goes into "hiding" after a big heist, but the best moments are when all three characters team up on a mission and the game has you seamlessly switching between all three.

Here's one example of how this works: There is one mission where your trio has to abduct a guy from an office in a skyscraper. One character flies a helicopter, another repels down the side of the building, while the last one is on a nearby rooftop with a sniper rifle. After the cops come, you alternate between all three characters, flying the chopper, hanging from a rope with a machine gun, and across the way picking off the police with a rifle, and yet it somehow never got confusing or frustrating. It was just fun and exhilarating.

Or there's the mission where one character has to shoot down a jet with a bazooka, then another has to chase after the crashing plane on a dirt bike.

I'll admit that storywise the three character structure doesn't always work, if only because the writers never seemed completely clear on the dynamics between the three characters. Trevor, the psycho member of the team who is also the most fun and memorable, alternates between hating the other characters and professing his friendship. But who plays GTA games for the stories or characters? I don't. I play for the mayhem and fun, and that's where this game excels.

There's also an online game, which just recently launched and is nearly impossible to access at this point, but the couple times I did make it in didn't thrill me. But then again, I'm a loner, a rebel, and I don't play well with others. That's maybe why I like Grand Theft Auto.

Xbox One

So I watched yesterday's presentation where Microsoft unveiled the next iteration of the Xbox. In fact, I actually watched the presentation by streaming it on my Xbox, which was kind of surreal, because I was using technology that was so uptodate that I was able to stream a fully HD video onto my Xbox where people were talking about how obsolete my Xbox is.

Basically the entire focal point of the presentation was about how Xbox is going to completely revolutionize the way we interact with our TV... because we can now change the channel with vocal commands instead of a remote control. That's definitely neat, but I don't care. I'm perfectly fine using a remote control... and I live alone. If I had roommates, the idea of having to hear somebody in the next room go, "Xbox turn on HBO" would get old real quick. Also... hasn't vocal recognition software been around for years? And, for the most part, people don't care. You want to know how I know people don't care? Cause if they did, Sony would have done this first.

It's kind of like how whenever I pay my credit card bill over the phone, the automated voice on the other end gives me the option of typing in my credit card number or saying it aloud. Why would I say my credit card number out loud? Even though I'm alone in my apartment, I'm just not going to do that. It seems dumb and feels weird. So I'm guessing that even if I had an Xbox One, I'd probably just use the controller anyway.

And if I've spent three paragraphs already just talking about how the new Xbox has vocal recognition, well, that's because that's pretty much all they talked about.

They certainly didn't spend much time talking about games. They mentioned a few and showed maybe ten second clips of some of them that, frankly, didn't look that much more impressive than what's on the current Xbox. And come on... it's the year 2013. Gamers are too sophisticated to care about pre-rendered cut scenes. Either show real, in-game footage or don't show anything at all.

Here was the most telling part of the presentation, or at least the moment that left the biggest impression on me: While showing off how easy and fast it was to switch between the Xbox One and regular cable TV, the presenter said, "Xbox TV," and it instantly switched to CBS showing an episode of The Price is Right.

The Price is Right? Is that really what was on CBS at that moment or was that preselected? Either way... Huh? Why would I care about how instantly I can switch away from my games in order to watch something like The Price is Right? Are the games really going to be that bad that they need to hype up how quickly you can turn them off?

So I can't say I'm excited, but that's only because I wasn't really given much reason to be. I'm supposed to be excited for an Xbox that has a Kinect built-in? I never bought a regular Kinect because I had no interest. This new technology just looks like a slightly better version of the product I already didn't want. And, frankly, there's just something weird and creepy about being able to come home and say, "xbox on," and the machine turns on. I don't really want a microphone installed in my house that is never actually turned off.

All the games have to be installed onto the harddrive that isn't replaceable. That sounds like a bad idea.

No backwards-compatibility. That's not normally a deal-breaker, but considering how the current Xbox has been out for about a decade, that's a lot of games people are going to have to shelve. That's doubly annoying considering how the current genertion of systems has been so notorously faulty.

No used games. Apparently there's going to be some kind of registration process for each game, so if you ever want to use the same game on a different console, you have to pay a fee. That's just insane, and would effectively mean I won't be buying this system. I'm poor. I would say roughly 90% of the games in my collection were purchased used. I simply can't afford to buy games new, at least not when they launch for 60 bucks. So if this console has no market for used games, then they will have pushed me out of the market too.

But, again, being able to switch TV channels with my voice sounds neat.

Quantum Conundrum

Why do videogame reviews still exist? I still read them and I still write them, but really... if you're interested in a game, go download a demo. And if you're a company who doesn't make demos for your games, go to hell. This is the 21st friggin' century already. Chop something together and put it out there. But, anyway, here's a little review for Quantum Conundrum, a game I actually beat the other day: I liked it.

I bought this after I played the demo. It's a first person puzzle game that is fun, clever, and very challenging. It's the kind of game that makes you feel proud after completing because there were times there when I never thought I would and honestly wanted to through my controller out of the window. The puzzles are very clever and of the variety that after you solve them, you'll wonder how it took you so long to work out what was pretty obvious all along. But sometimes the game is hard just because there are too many jumping puzzles. If they ever make a sequel, I'd recommend they trim those down a bit. Nobody likes jumping in first person games.

It's hard to avoid comparing this game with the Portal games, since it was created by Kim Swift, who was a lead designer on Portal, and since both games are first person puzzle games where you have to figure out how to get from one end of a room to the other, all the while encouraged (or discouraged) by the humorous narration of a nebulous voice in the heavens. Honestly, this games is no Portal, both of which were brilliant, since the graphics aren't as great, the puzzles aren't as intricate, the narrative isn't as compelling, and the script isn't as funny. But it's still very, very good... it's just not as good as Portal, but what game is?

But why are you reading this? Just go rent the demo and see if you like it. I did.

Some Games I've Played Recently

I normally don't like to review a videogame until I've actually beaten it, but I've come to the conclusion that I'll probably never beat another videogame again. The days are too short, I have too much to do, and games just keep getting longer and more complicated. Anyway, here are my brief opinions on some games I've played recently (and by "recently" I mean sometime within 2012):

Skyrim
If this game was fun, it'd probably be the best game ever. As it is, Skyrim is playable, interesting, and kind of addicting, but I dunno if I ever really experienced what I would call "fun" while I was playing it. To begin with, the controls and point of view are just wonky and never felt right. It's a first person RPG, but the field of view was so limited that I kept losing sight of the enemies, and the depth perception was weird so blocking and swinging with my weapon felt random. Most battles just turned into button-mashing-madness. There's also a third person perspective, but it's even worse and makes the game completely unplayable.

The graphics are wonderful, but honestly the environments all tended to look alike. One snow-covered castle in the mountains looked like every other snow-covered castle in the mountains. There were a few exceptions, however, where the game's locations were absolutely stunning. The characters and enemies also looked great and were animated well, but, again, they all kind of looked alike. But all complaints aside, this is a huge, epic, gorgeous game that looks pretty fantastic.

About the story I can't say much, not only because I don't want to spoil any of it, but because it's incomprehensible. I got pretty far and I do intend to finish this one, but I still have no idea what is going on, what the main plot is, or why I should really care. And just to be clear, I love fantasy novels and films and have read countless entries in the genre. This story just wasn't all that well written, so most of the dialogue sequences were boring and hard to follow, and I was never really able to understand the main conflicts going on in the game world.

But... it's a neat game and worth checking out if only because there's so much to do and so many things to see. And you get to fight lots of dragons. I say... rent it from Redbox.

Rage
First person shooter by id, the company who basically invented the genre, for whatever that's worth. This was another game that wasn't really embraced by the critics or gamers, but I thought it was pretty cool. It has probably the best graphics I've ever seen (no joke) and the gameplay (mostly shooting and driving) is solid and a lot of fun.


I don't have much to say about this one, other than that it's a pretty fun first person shooter. Check out the demo, or just buy it. I bet you can find it for ten bucks like I did. 

Blood Stone: 007
I actually beat this game!

This game took a beating from the critics, but I don't know why because it's actually pretty awesome. I think I remember them saying it's too short and too derivative of similar games like Splinter Cell: Conviction, and I can't really argue with those claims, even if what they consider faults I consider pluses. I like games that other people consider "too short" because those are the only ones I have a chance of beating. And Splinter Cell: Conviction is one of my all time favorite 360 games, so a rip-off of that game with James Bond instead of Sam Fisher is ok with me.

Anyway, this is a third person action game (with the occasional driving stage) set in an original James Bond story, complete with its own theme song, villain, and incomprehensible story. If you like James Bond and action games, give this one a try. I like it a lot, and I still log into the multiplayer every now and again, even though I'm awful.

The action is great, the story is clever, and the voice acting by Daniel Craig is fantastic. I even liked the driving stages, which a lot of critics complained about for some reason. 

The Witcher 2

Solid, fun RPG with great graphics, great gameplay, and very cool story. This is way more fun and interesting than Skyrim, but it is more linear and straight forward. There's very little exploration or crafting or the like, but the fighting is better and the story is way better written.


Check it out if you like action RPGs.

Mass Effect 3
I loved the original Mass Effect and thought it was one of the coolest games I've ever played (you can read my review here), but I merely tolerated Mass Effect 2 (you can read my review of that here). The first game was an awesome action game with a brilliant sci-fi storyline, while the second was just a rehash with slightly better control. I figured I'd skip the third game, but then I played through the demo and it was amazing. So I caved in and bought it. And Mass Effect 3 is pretty amazing too.

Sure, it's just like the first two games, but while the second game's story was lackluster and boring, this one is pretty epic and the gameplay is a lot of fun. The graphics are better, the controls finally feel right and live up to the promise of the first game's premise, and the story is awesome. I've heard a lot of people complaining about the ending, but I can't comment on that because I haven't beaten it, and at the rate I'm going, maybe I never will. But I'd like to.

Oh, and don't even think about playing this game unless you have already played the first game. Feel free ti skip the second, however, since it served no purpose and added very little to the overall storyline all things considered.

Great game.

L.A. Noire
Here's the concept for this game: What if you played a game just like Grand Theft Auto only you were a cop instead of a crook? And what if instead of it being really fun and exciting, it was instead incredibly tedious and boring?

All things considered, a police procedural game set during the L.A. of the 1950s is a pretty interesting premise full of possibilities, and searching the crime scene for clues, questioning witnesses, and interrogating suspects is actually a lot of fun. This game fails as a game, however, because there's just no variety, the gameplay is severely limited by the rules you have to follow as a police officer, and the whole story is so poorly written and conceived. Seriously, this game has one of the most profoundly stupid stories I've ever seen in a videogame, and once you make it toward the end you'll give up like I did because you just won't even care anymore.

However... it is fun for the first half or so, and the graphics and concept are really fantastic. Pick it up if you find it for under ten bucks maybe.

Quick Game Reviews

I've played a few different Xbox 360 games over the past month or so. Here are my quick thoughts:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
I literally just got back from returning this to the Redbox machine. It was so good, I seriously thought about keeping it for a second night and paying another $2.00, but that would just be crazy. Who am I, Bill Gates?! Anyway, this was a fun first person shooter that I enjoyed a lot. The graphics are amazing, the action was intense, and the entire production seemed pretty epic and extravagant. It's a good game.

I didn't understand the plot, however, since apparently it's the third part of some kind of trilogy. I haven't played any Call of Duty games since the first one came out way back when on the PC, so I didn't realize there was an on-going storyline. I tried to follow along during the cut scenes at first, but as I progressed I skipped them and went straight into the action. I didn't miss anything. Even if I knew who these characters were and what was going on, I'd probably skip the cut scenes anyway because they weren't that great. And, come on, I've only got a day. I just want to shoot some bad guys!

In the shooting bad guys department, this game sure delivers about as good as anything I've ever played. If you like FPS, check it out. It's first rate.

Alan Wake
This was a good game to play during the month of October. It's a horror game about a writer who has to deal with writer's block... and ghosts! Or something. This was a truly exceptional game that stands out as one of the best looking and most creative games I've ever played, but after I finished it, I doubt I'll ever play it again any time soon.

This might be the best looking game I've ever seen, or at least one of the most shockingly beautiful and the most moody. The graphics are just stunningly well realized and the locations, atmosphere, and effects create a sense of tension and horror that never lets up. Gameplay wise, it's a lot of fun, although it does tend to drag on a bit since there's really only one or two kinds of enemies from start to finish. The locations change and the story progresses, but the enemies stay the same as does the one method of taking them down: Shining them with a flashlight and then shooting them with a gun. The combat in this game is actually a lot of fun, it just needed more variety.

As for the story, it was gripping and well written and a lot of fun to watch progress, even though I didn't really understand what it was about or what actually happened in the game. It was clear that the game's writers really, really love Stephen King, but Alan Wake's story never really matched the quality of his novels. But, again, it was pretty good as far as videogame stories go.

Anyway... it's a short, fairly repetitive game that is definitely worth checking out for the fun gameplay, entertaining story, and the incredibly beautiful and moody visuals.

Borderlands
Now here's a fun game.

If you love first person shooters but the latest Call of Duty sounds too intense, check out this one, since it's a more laid back shooter that has a pretty good mixture of action, quests, and role playing elements. But, then again, the action may be lacking for shooter junkies and the quests and leveling system may be too light for diehard RPG fans, but I liked it. The entire production isn't up there with Modern Warfare, but the cell shaded style of graphics are quite cool and the amount of weapons you can choose from borders on the ridiculous. And the control just feels... right, which is the only way to describe a good first person shooter.

The game is a bit repetitive, however, with too many quests that feel too similar, and enemies that are just more powerful versions of enemies I already fought already. The Alpha Skag may be bigger and tougher than Skag Whelps, but from a gaming perspective, they're the same thing. One just takes a few more bullets to kill. Also, enemies respawn at a maddeningly annoying rate and the save system isn't the best. As an adult, I like games that let me save anywhere, at any time, if only because I don't have that much time to devote to videogames anymore so if I need to end my session during the middle of a quest, I don't want to have to start all the way over at the beginning every time.

But... this game is a lot of fun. If you find it cheap (and since it came out a year or so ago, that shouldn't be hard), check it out.

Goldeneye 007: Reloaded
Here's another game I rented at the Redbox, and it's another good one.

I actually didn't even know this game existed before I saw it in the Redbox machine, but I figured... how bad could it be? I knew they had remade the classic Goldeneye 007 for the Wii a little while ago to good reviews, but I didn't know it was being released on 360 and PS3 as well. Anyway, this game is awesome. It's really a remake of Goldeneye in name alone, since other than a few similar locations and plot points both game shared from the original game, it's a very different -- and better -- experience. This game doesn't even have Pierce Brosnan, since one of the updates included replacing him with the current Bond actor Daniel Craig.

Well, maybe I shouldn't have said this was a "better experience" than the original game back on the N64, since that was a product of its time and was exceptional when it first came out, but this one is exceptional right now. If you liked that game, you'll like this one, since it has a similar premise, but ups the action, translates the graphics to HD, and has some of the best control of any FPS I've ever played.

Long story short, this game is great, and I'll probably even buy it one of these days, since I'm a huge fan of shooters and of James Bond. Check it out.

Dead Rising 
I'm not sure if this was a launch title or not, but if it didn't come out the same day as the Xbox 360, it definitely came out pretty soon after. I picked up a used copy the other day for five dollars, and it wasn't worth it. This game sucks.

Dead Rising had a great concept: rip off Dawn of the Dead's basic zombies-in-a-shopping-mall plot and turn it into a videogame, but the execution was so weak that the game is nearly unplayable. Running around the mall and killing zombies with just about every item you can pick up is great fun, but the story is way too convoluted and full of cut scenes and menus you have to follow or read through seemingly every few minutes, horrible escort missions that are nearly impossibly because the friendly AI is so poorly done, and awful controls that you'll be fighting more often than the zombie hordes that are trying to kill you.

Seriously, the controls in this game felt stiff and the button layout was awkward and designed in the worst way possible. And don't even get me started on the horrible control for the shooting sections or having to switch to a camera in order to take photographs every few minutes. And here's another game with a terrible save function that seemed designed by people who intentionally want to waste my time.

I've heard that the sequel corrects a lot of these gripes and problems, but I'll never know unless I find that for four bucks, because five was way to much to shell out on a game this bad and unfun.

And that's that.

Xbox 360 Demo Roundup

I haven't done this in a while, so I figured I'd give my brief thoughts on all of the demos I've downloaded on Xbox Live over the past few months or so. In order of how they appear in my Xbox games library:

Aban Hawkins & the 1000 Spikes
If you're an old school gamer or just into retro titles, download this game. It's in the style of an old Atari game like Pitfall, with slightly updating graphics, but not by much. It's charming, funny, and literally the hardest game I've ever played. It's insanely difficult, which is why they start you out with 99 lives! Check it out. Good fun.

Apehlion 2
An indie game in the style of a Japanese RPG, only with mediocre graphics, awkward control, and boring battles. If you love RPGs, check it out, but I didn't think it was all that great. Good music though.

Arkedo Series - 01 Jump!
Weird title, fun game. Another Indie title done in the style of an old school Atari/NES game. This one is a puzzle type platformer kind of like the original Mario Bros. It's well done and worth checking out.

Portal 2

Well, this game was awesome.

In fact, this game may have been perfect, as far as these things go. I certainly can't think of a single thing wrong with it, aside from the fact that I wish it had been longer. I don't mean to imply that this game was too short, but that it was so fun, that no matter the length, it still could have been longer. This was the sequel to game that was already perfect, and while this one isn't as fresh and original as the first Portal (by virtue of the fact that Portal was unlike any game ever made, where as this one is unlike any other game, except for the first Portal), it still manages to improve on the original, adding more to it, and crafting something more epic and exciting. If you liked that game, you'll love this one. And if you didn't like that game, you probably didn't play it, because it was amazing.

The Portal games are basically first-person puzzle games, where you have a gun that shoots orange and blue portals. You can stick these portals to almost any surface in the game, and when you go through one, you come out the other. You have to use these portals to get from one end of the level to the other, although there are different traps and items and techniques at your disposable, it stays that simple throughout, and therein lies the brilliance. The levels are perfectly designed so they never feel cheap, and even when you die (which might happen a lot, especially in the later levers when things get really hard), you never feel as though the game was being unfair, but that you managed to do something stupid yourself. The puzzles are very challenging, but once the solution presents itself, you'll wonder how you didn't figure it out in the first few seconds.

The first game was memorable not only for its design, but for the rich story and characters presented. GlaDos became an instantly iconic character, and she returns here, along with a few others who are just as good. In fact, Stephen Merchant's voicework as Wheatley may even have been better than the woman who did GlaDos, and she was brilliant. Merchant is just brilliantly funny, and his voice work was just about the funniest stuff I've ever heard in any videogame ever. He should win some kind of award.

So, Portal 2. Check it out, if you like puzzles, first person shooters, or just games in general. It does kind of assume you've played through the original game since this story picks up right where that one ends, but everybody should've played through that game already.

Fallout 3 (Revisited)

I beat Fallout 3 about a week and a half ago. I've been meaning to write up my final thoughts on the game (you can read my initial impressions and introduction here), but I've been too busy playing Fallout 3. As soon as I beat the game, I immediately went and restarted it from the beginning. This game was so good, so rich with story, so full of quests that are impossible to complete in one play through, and so open-ended that every player's experience is going to be different, that I knew I had only scratched the surface of what it had to offer after completing it the first time. When I complete the quest again, chances are good I'll create another character and go for a third trip.

The games choices are open-ended and structured so you can play the game almost anyway you'd like. If a character has an item you need, you can entire try to talk them into giving it to you, go on a quest to perform some task for them, or just kill them and take it. The first time around, I played the hero, while this second time around I had more fun and terrorized the entire Capital Wasteland, killing anybody who got in my way and taking the quests that were provided by the bad guys. I don't want this to come out sounding weird, since I'm really a very nice, moral person in the real world, but there is just something very cool about a videogame that lets you kill just about every non player controlled character in the game. 

Here's an example of what I'm talking about: Early on in the game you are approached by a shady character who asks you to detonate a nuclear bomb in the town of Megaton because the criminal syndicate in which he is involved wants it wiped off the map. When I played as a hero, I said no way, then went and turned him into the sheriff. This time around, I said sure. Blowing up the town cut off he quests you could acquire there, but it links you up to other quests from the criminal syndicate that would've been closed off otherwise. Also, the view of the town blowing up in a giant mushroom cloud on the horizon was one of the most astounding visuals I've ever seen in any videogame. It was suitably beautiful and horrifying.

Even forgetting about the quests and missions entirely, it's still fun just wandering around the wastelands of the post apocalyptic D.C. At one point while wandering around at random, my radio picked up a strange signal that sounded like gibberish. As I began to investigate, moving closer to the signal's source, I discovered a crashed UFO with a dead alien lying next to it. After searching the wreckage,  I found an alien blaster that kills just about every enemy in the game with one hit, disintegrating them so only a pile of ash remains. I don't care who you are, that's just bad ass, and it's only one of many little secrets and easter eggs I found littered throughout the game. The world is huge, but it pays to go exploring.

The game isn't completely perfect, however, since I found a few bugs here and there, though never so frequent or so catastrophic that they ruined the experience. Sometimes my character will slide around even though I'm standing still or I'll jump a few spaces after killing an enemy. Once my character got stuck to a wall, and another time the game froze up completely, but luckily I save often so nothing was lost except the time it took me to restart my Xbox. Also, while it's nice to have the in-game radio (with the lovable DJ Three Dog and some wonderfully atmospheric big band tunes), it got really repetitive after a while, because the DJ keeps repeating the same news items over and over again, and there are only about five or six songs that keep playing.

However, having said all that, Fallout 3 is my new favorite game on the Xbox 360, and one of the most fun and satisfying games I've ever played in my entire life. Even though it came out about two years ago, I'm still getting hours of play out of it, and I don't see the end of that coming any time soon. Even after I do complete it again and find myself ready to move on, there is downloadable content to add on and even a sequel set in Vegas, although it is supposed to be very buggy and not as good, but I'm sure I'll pick that up once it comes down in price. If you haven't played this game, check it out because it works both as the best action and RPG title I've ever played. And if you have played it, get back in there and play some more.