Friday, June 26, 2009

Signs that you have been playing Fallout 3 for too long

I played Fallout 3 all day yesterday (11am to 2am, with a few breaks) and half of today (11am to 3pm) on Alec's 360. I'm not even close to being done with the plot. So many maps to explore (and get lost in) so many random things to find, so many things to buy and sell, so many people to talk to, so many mutants to shoot, so little time. The game is set 200 years after a nuclear war. You grew up in a fallout shelter that was supposedly locked shut for that whole time. You leave to look for your father, who left the shelter under mysterious circumstances. You wander the Capitol City Wasteland and the ruins of D.C., fighting baddies and stealing their stuff, etc. Its gameplay is first-person shooter RPG: For the most part your perspective is like a FPS (you can only see your hands), but like an RPG, you level up with experience and can chose which skills to develop, and you can choose to play it good or bad (my character is currently "very good," and my title is "Ranger of the Wastes" Edit: Now I'm a "Protector").

Anyhoo, thanks to my experience thus far, here is my list of signs that you have been playing Fallout 3 for too long:

7. Your finger is sore from where it rests on the underside of the controller.

6. The sides of your hands are sore from where they've been resting on your lap as you hold the controller.

5. You go to bed because you are tired, and know that sleeping will bring your health bar back up to full.

4. You begin to look at objects around the room as though they are items that you would consider picking up to sell.

3. When you approach a light switch you expect to see a prompt asking you if you want to "activate" it.

2. You begin judging plots of movies and TV episodes in terms of what parts would be made into quests, and what the quests would entail.

1. You sleep poorly, because you keep being woken up as you finish parts of an entire quest that you complete in your dreams.

That's only seven. Maybe I'll have more after I play longer. Oy.

Oops. I need a picture. Here's a poster from the game:

Oh, and did I mention that Liam Neeson does the voice for the father? That alone gives the game big bonus points.