Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition
Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Released: October 13, 2009 (Original Release: October 28, 2008)
I saw a commercial in October 2008 (which had to be during a football game, as that’s the only time I watched TV) for Fallout 3 and what grabbed me was that Set the World Afire song (famously sampled in a Megadeth song of the same name). I had no previous experience with the old Interplay Fallout games, but seeing an RPG packaged in FPS form factor definitely looked appealing to me. the only problem was the 2008 season at my then job was brutal and being one of the key factors in that equation I just simply didn’t have time to buy or play Fallout 3.
it wasn’t until about a year later a trip to Best Buy changed all that. I came away with Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, and I believe one of those Xbox 360 controller Play kit gimmicks to use it as a PC gamepad (which I returned). as an aside, playing Gears of War 2, I decided to explore the other 360 games I had on hand and it red ringed… RROD being such a common problem for the poor Xbox 360 though, my warranty was extended and I sent it away and received a later model HDMI one in return. score? back to Fallout 3 though… some people were like “dude, why did you buy that? the GOTY comes out next week.” and I didn’t understand the context of the problem. I just said this is cool! I’ll keep playing it!
the GOTY version came with the Fallout 3 main game and a 2nd DVD with all the DLC expansions consisting of Operation Anchorage, The Pitt, Broken Steel, Point Lookout, and Mothership Zeta. the fault with the original game was the ending: the Lone Wanderer player character ultimately winds up having to sacrifice themselves to radiation poisoning in an effort to save everyone and the game just ends. when I reached this point I was like “OMGWTFBBQ” (I would be subsequently greeted to an equally poor ending with Life is Strange years later, but more on that…) I would be soon gifted the GOTY game from an undisclosed person of top secret undefined affiliation and all was well with the new ending and all the additional DLC campaigns it added. I’ve wanted to share my takes on all the DLCs but that will have to wait until a later date. hopefully I’ll update this site more than once a year then.