The Fallout of Fallout 3: Revitalized Legacy or Another Tragedy?

After ten years of hibernation, the once-epic Fallout series has been woken up and taken off of life support courtesy of Bethesda Game Studios. The makers of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion promise to champion the franchise back to its sardonic, grisly roots with insanely detailed graphics and a dynamic world where even the most mundane of choices could have earth-shattering consequences. Long-time Fallout fans have reason to rejoice…or do they?

Although Fallout 3 has the ability to bring the franchise back to its former glory, it also has the ability to be an abysmal failure. Take Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel for instance. Not only was it a commercial failure, Fallout: BOS was so universally derided by fans that it earned the nickname “Fallout: POS” and even garnered a Duck and Cover article that listed 27 reasons why the game sucked so horribly. Not only does Bethesda have to live up to the high quality of its predecessors, it also has to make up for the atrocities of that previous attempt to restart the Fallout fanfare.

Bethesda doesn’t seem to be going quietly into the night, however. A large assortment of screen captures have already been released, showing off a beautiful world of post-apocalyptic terror filled with sporadic bursts of hilarity and head-shots. Even the official website of the game has been designed in classic Fallout style. With first and third person camera angles, the return of Dogmeat, and other nifty features such the ability to combine weapons and the VATS fighting system, the good folks over at Bethesda seem primed and ready to bring Fallout back into its full genre-setting massive-selling glory.

Diehard and first-time gamers alike will have to wait until ‘Fall 2008′ before they get to slip Fallout 3 into their PC, Xbox 360, or PS3 disc tray. Only time will tell if the folks that brought us Oblivion can also bring us “salvation” to the franchise that saved RPGs on the PC and helped redefine the RPG genre.