Favorite Games of My Adulthood: Fallout 3

Side note: I'm really sorry it took so long for me to get this out. I'm lazy; sorry not sorry.

Bethesda has continuously been a great company in the gaming biz. They've brought us treasure troves like Skyrim, RAGE, and Dishonored but I know deep in my heart that the best creation Bethesda has is obviously Fallout 3. Now there will be people who are going to stomp their feet and yell because of how fantastic and "revolutionary" the Skyrim series has been, but I didn't get into the Elder Scrolls as much as I did Fallout. This brings my count of top five to my number four and here is exactly why this game earned it's spot in my heart.

Number 4: Fallout 3

Fallout - America's first choice in Post Nuclear Simulation. 

Fallout has been on everyone's radar since it was first released. I know I've heard Emalie go on and on about New Vegas when she first started playing it, and not to mention the following the franchise has as a whole. I played through the first two Fallouts and enjoyed them in general but I didn't enjoy them half as much as I did 3. Something about Fallout 3 just resinated with me. Be it the initial game play, the story line, or the love I have for decision based games, it really made a mark on me. Even to this day, I can still go back and play the game over and over, it never really gets old for me.

It's nothing I can really explain, it could be that I chose to play as a girl and the plot line follows as a daddy's girl, so in a way I felt I related and I just kind of lived out the life of my character in full effect. It could also be that this game is just ridiculously fun and a lot unlike games out there. It's really not your typical first person shooter. Since it is a Bethesda production, of course it has a lot of similar gameplay styling to Skyrim but is on a completely different level. In the process of customizing your character, you have dozens of options to completely shape the player and make it your own reality. Bethesda really goes into detail with their games to completely immerse you into this land that you want to make your own.

You, of course, have a lot of decision based aspects in the game and some of the choices in this game can really test the limits that you're willing to go to be reunited with your father. In most decision games, I always choose to be the good guy, at first, but after playing through the game a few times, I realized that playing the bad guy is a lot more fun, but mostly if you just want to get in constant shoot out battles which is always a good time. Not to mention that there are so many side-quests way beyond the plot to keep you going off gameplay for so long! Just what you'd expect from the brethren of Skyrim. Along those same lines, you can choose to upgrade certain skills about yourself such as speech, pick pocketing or thieving skills, explosives buff, all kinds of stuff. Again with the making your character exactly how you want them to be, there is endless customization to this game.

So, all in all, Fallout 3 was and still is one of my favorites. I don't think there will ever be a time that I don't want to go back and save Vault 101. The same goes for the rest of the games in my top favorites, it just nestled its way into my coveted top 5 and won't be moving out anytime soon.

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Top 5: Favorite Games of My Adulthood

So a while back on my old gaming blog, I did a top ten games of my childhood. I never finished it but it was fun to remember all the old games I used to play. Then I thought about how much my taste in games has grown so much over the past years, especially since I hit my adolescent and adult years. The spectrum of my favorite games grew and I had adapted into new favorites. I decided that it was time to mark up my favorite games of my more adult years and pretty much show you why these games deserve to be in my top five. So without further ado, I give you the first in the series and my number five.

Number 5: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Okay, now don't assume that I'm one of the jerks who sits online all day and screams various racial slurs at one another just because someone decided to camp. No, that's not why I love this game. This game received so much hype, so much hate, and from me, so much love. I cannot tell you how many times I've played this game and how emotional I got during it (don't make some smart comment on girls getting emotional when playing games either). When I first got the game, it was one of the first Call of Duty games I'd ever played. I never played MW1 until I got to a point in the game where I realized "Hey wouldn't it make more sense if I played one and then finished two?" And don't get me wrong, one was awesome. I liked it a lot, but two just trumped it for me. 

Two brought in a lot of things I like about video games. Not only does it have a great plot line, but the graphics on this game we're phenomenal. I hadn't seen graphics that realistic on a game before and I remember the whole time I was like "It's like I'm watching a movie!" The graphics were grade A to me and not to mention the immense amounts of detail they put into that game. At every spot you would see something so minuit and intricate that just makes you appreciate the hard work the team delivers to you. 

Another thing that hooked me was the characters. Ghost and Soap; easily two of my favorite characters in the Call of Duty series  I mean really, the people who thought Woods was the best CoD character were just the same idiots who thought that Black Ops was actually a good game. The allure I had toward the two was just an immediate thing and made playing the game all the more personal. On an embarrassing note, I would get so into the game that sometimes I would talk out loud like I was talking to Soap and Ghost. I would literally communicate with them while playing and going through the levels. Not to mention that I fell in love with Soap considering the fact that he met all the criteria of my perfect, war veteran, sweetheart. Another side note, I cried bawled when Ghost died. That scene where Shepard betrays you and shoots not only you, but Ghost in the face killed me. I sat on my couch, mouth agape for a good ten minutes and then tears rolled down my face as I realized one of my favorite video game characters was just shot and burned not only to die betrayed by a man they all looked up to, but to be left there and called a traitor, completely bashing their memory. It was obviously an emotional, video game moment for me, sorry not sorry. Side note: If you want to see some awesome Soap and Ghost cosplay, these two guys had this really awesome photo shoot of their costumes and you can see that here!

Along those lines, that plot though. The plot was perfect and not completely ludicrous *cough* Black Ops 2 *cough*. The fact that it all seemed so real and you watched as one of the most patriotic landmarks was burned to the ground was heart wrenching to watch. I swear, when you were in D.C., I got so patriotic and started screaming "U.S.A! U.S.A!" as I shot my way through the city that was once our Nation's esteemed capitol. And when you're in the burger place. That level was ridiculously fun. But I think the thing that hooked me was that, in a way, this was all somewhat plausible. Makarov was a brilliant villain and he made everything seem like it could actually happen. And the betrayal  I think that was the one thing that I knew marked this game in my memory. I didn't know that Shepard, who I thought was completely badass, would actually become my enemy in the end. That twist just completely shocked me to my core and I was so amazed and sad that it happened. I never knew that a video game would actually leave that much of an impression on me. 

And on a much more sentimental note, this game did a lot more than just take up time for me, it actually made me become a more proficient and avid gamer. Yes, in my childhood I played so many video games but I was never as active in the gaming world until I played this game. With MW2, I played online for the first time, I made my first online account, I became apart of a community, I discovered one of my favorite gaming websites/forums online and I knew that making video games and creating these amazing graphics and characters and plot lines was what I wanted to do with my career. It completely shaped me as a person and I owe a lot to it. 

So make sure to check back here at exploitgaming.blogspot.com and watch out for the next four of my Top 5: Favorite Games of My Adulthood!

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