Review of Fallout 3: Game of The Year Edition

I pre-ordered this game from Amazon and it arrived right on the release date!I was very happy with that.

Now, I had already been an owner of the base Fallout 3 game, and when I found out the GOTY edition was going to be released, which included all five "expansions" (Operation: Anchorage, The Pitt, Broken Steel, Point Lookout, Mothership Zeta), I knew I had to have it!This is especially considering PS3 owners had to sit back and wait while XBOX360 owners had them available months and months ago.Each of these expansions were selling for $10 for 360 owners, but now we can have the original game ($35) plus the DLC ($50 total) for $60 (total savings of $25).Not too shabby.

People have a few concerns with loading time, crashing, and save files not carrying over.I haven't experienced any issues with crashing (my original Fallout 3 crashed once in my 30+ hours of gameplay), but perhaps I can help shed light on the other two concerns.

1.) Long load times - When I first exited my house in Megaton, the game took about 2-3 minutes to load.This is *much* longer than usual.However, this is because the new content is initializing.Instantly, Point Lookout and The Pitt showed up in my quests.Next, I fast-traveled somewhere and again the load time was 2-3 minutes.Upon arriving at my destination, the remaining three quests (Broken Steel, Point Lookout, Mothership Zeta) became available.After this, load times were back to normal.Also, there were some frame rate issues at first coupled with the game freezing for one or two seconds periodically, but this ceased after about an hour or two of playing.I attribute these issues to the new quests being available and the game syncing up with your particular save game.

2.) Save files not carrying over - This is a regional issue.In the U.S., most players are not having difficulties.However, in Canada, I'm hearing a lot about how they only have an option to start a new game in the GOTY edition.This is because they played the U.S. version of the original Fallout 3 and obtained a copy of the Canadian version of the GOTY edition.For some reason, save files are not compatible between these two versions.I'm sure a patch will be released soon to address this problem.

All in all, each DLC quest will add anywhere between 3-4 hours of additional gameplay (so about 15-20 more hours total).There are also new enemies and weapons introduced.The most significant DLC is Broken Steel, which adds an additional 10 levels to achieve, 14 new perks, and 6 new achievements to unlock, and probably the largest addition to gameplay time.As for sheer enjoyment, Point Lookout and The Pitt offer great excitement due to their intricate story lines and engaging environments.

If you are a PS3 owner and Fallout 3 fan, this is the compilation that you've been waiting for!More missions, more guns, more enemies, more perks, more hours of fun!Even if you own the original copy, I would advise you to re-sell it and pick up a copy of the GOTY edition.Also, keep in mind that the issues people are having are only a patch fix away.I feel these are rare (or just misunderstood), and your gameplay experience will not suffer in the least.The 2008 game of the year just got better in 2009!



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