Have I mentioned recently that Akra is a star?

I’ve been thinking about getting Fallout 3 for a while – it’s a Bethesda game, and I adored the Elder Scrolls series (Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion). In fact, Daggerfall was what got me into RPGs (and later MMORPGs) in the first place.

The problem is, it’s not available for Mac. I don’t have an Xbox 360, and Bethesda have pretty much stated that they aren’t interested in doing a port themselves. I can boot into Windows on this machine (I have Windows XP installed on Boot Camp) but I hate doing it. I’ve pretty much made a policy not to buy any more Windows-based games and spend all my time on Mac OS.

My resolve started slipping though when a friend got it for Christmas and kept telling me how wonderful it was. I finally decided to hell with the policy on Saturday and here’s the bit of the story where I tell you how great my husband is. He not only went straight out to PC World to get it for me on Saturday morning, but then took the kids out in the afternoon so I could play it!

Because, no… it’s not a game you can play in front of young children. This game has earned its 18 certificate. Not just the bleak subject matter – a futuristic post-apocalyptic RPG where you have to fight every inch for your survival – but a lot of graphic violence and colourful language.

It is awesome. I haven’t been this immersed in an RPG for years. In fact, I don’t think I got this excited about Oblivion – previously my favourite single player RPG out there. I didn’t think I would get into Fallout 3 as much, because I prefer my RPGs to be full scale fantasy with dragons, knights, swords and magic. I also hate the first-person shooter genre which I’d imagined this game to borrow many elements from.

But no, I am totally gripped – I’m struggling to avoid the main quest (I’ve been warned to leave this for a long while and do lots of side quests, like the Elder Scrolls series) because I desperately want to find out what happens next. I’ve had two very late nights, got to level 6 and haven’t even scratched the surface of the story. I’m actively counting down to my next play session.

I have a few criticisms so far. The tutorial was very cleverly done, but didn’t really give enough information on how to play. In particular, I ended up getting extra advice from friends on V.A.T.S (the fighting system), lock-picking and computer hacking as it just wasn’t as intuitive as it might have been. Similarly, the manual wasn’t very instructive until you’d already spent a few hours in the game figuring out the concepts.

That said though, it’s a highly addictive totally immersive game with a very compelling storyline. I’d recommend anyone to play it.

Just not in front of the kids!