7 Popular Video Games That Aren’t Actually That Great

6) Fallout 3

Fallout 3 brought the troubled franchise back into the spotlight in 2008. Utilizing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion’s Gamebyro engine, it was basically a type of Elder Scrolls game merely set in a retro-futuristic time. And though this does make for some fun combat scenarios, utilizing the very sweet V.A.T.S. system, it also paves the way for some frustrations with the world as a whole.

For starters, why do cars explode with a mushroom cloud explosion if fuel is a valued commodity in this area? And, why is the town of Megaton built around an atomic bomb when the whole world was devastated by nuclear weaponry? It would be like a town ravaged by lava building itself around a giant volcano. That there’s a cult that worships the bomb is something that could be construed as a satirical commentary on the nature of zealotry, but for the game’s purpose it serves to simply be a church for the player to donate to in order to ward off their evil karma, which brings us to our next point: the morality system is nonsensical.

Granted, this was a giant criticism of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, but the fact that Bethesda chose to ignore the critiques in favor of implementing the same thing into Fallout 3 without any changes is mind-boggling. Set off the aforementioned warhead and destroy the entire village? Don’t worry, a couple thousand bottlecaps to the nearest church will let you off the hook. It makes no sense whatsoever, and only hurts the game in the long run.

Then comes the grand insipid finale, where the player is forced to kill themselves in order to purify the land’s water supply. This, in spite of the fact that you’re given a partner immune to radiation. While Bethesda did admittedly amend this with a patch, it just goes to show how little planning was actually done for some of Fallout 3’s integral story moments.