Fallout 3 (again)

I'm still playing Fallout 3 on the Playstation 3 when I'm still only half-way through the main quest of Oblivion; it's just so much more fun to play.

Quests can be easy to find, levelling isn't some arcane ritual, and the fact that the world doesn't level with you means you can have some fun going back later to that spot where the Raiders chased you off and dealing with them. That's not to say it's easy at high levels, it's easier, and that's what you should expect as some reward for your experience. You can still wander into trouble though if you blunder into a camp of five Super-Mutants even at level 20 you've got to be careful.

Other petty little things make it more fun - ammo is weightless, unrealistic but it saves on the tedious inventory shuffling; the VATS ability compensates for the less precise (then PC) control system; it also has much more replayabilty as quests can be solved in various ways depending on what skills you've decided to increase - up your Strength and intimidate them, increase your Speech and smooth-talk them, increase your Sneak and simply steal what you want from them.

It also has no game-breaking moments such as the 101% Chameleon Suit, it doesn't restrict you from popping pills (they just have no additional effect), but you can become addicted to them if you rely on them to heavily.

That's not to say it doesn't have its problems, I've had a couple of freeze-ups, the arbitrary level cap at 20 is darn annoying, and the karma system can be a pain - case in point I'm warned by a town resident to get away and to check the shed or basement to see why. Both are locked and unlocking them gives me a negative karma hit. I'm then confronted by the other residents and they attack me, no negative karma hit for defending myself, but checking in their houses every item they have that I can take would be classed as stealing... they're dead, they attacked ME and I can't take their stuff? Bizarre.

The biggest annoyance can be with VATS when you're hiding next to an object. Hit R2 pick the torso at at 95% chance to hit and watch as you fire nine rounds into the side of the wall you're crouched against. Oddly enough if I'm aimed at a wall I'd consider the percentage chance to hit at a lot less then 95%.

There are thirteen songs available in full via GNR radio, which seems a lot but they'll soon be bingle bangle bungle stuck in your head. Despite that I still have the urge to keep the radio on.

I think once I'm finished the only thing that'll interupt me from delving back in is the Bioshock DLC or possibly Resistance, but return I will.