Fallout 3

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The storyline itself takes place 30 years or so after the events in Fallout 2. The location has shifted from the West Coast locales of the earlier games to Washington, D.C. Outside you'll encounter a fully-realized portrait of the aftermath of nuclear war. One sequence we saw took place in downtown D.C., with a thoroughly wrecked Washington Monument (in which you can apparently take an elevator to the top) and Capitol building. The environmental detail looked spectacular everywhere, whether it was in a burnt-out old junkyard or a thrashed office building full of ghouls, but seeing those decayed monuments up close and personal was particularly breathtaking. Make no mistake, you'll be seeing plenty of those spectacular environments, as the world of Fallout 3 is huge. It's purported to be a smidgen smaller than Oblivion's game world, but considering the sprawling nature of that game's environment, and how much better this game is looking graphically compared to Oblivion, that's still pretty amazing.

One of the first gameplay sequences Bethesda showed us was in that junkyard, and it's something about which old Fallout fans might crack a smile. Over the course of the game, you'll be able to acquire companions to help you, and it just so happens that the one we got to see in action was a helpful canine named Dogmeat. Now, of course, this isn't the same Dogmeat from the previous games -- otherwise this would be the oldest dog in history. Rather, he's the canine compatriot of an NPC you find being attacked. The Dogmeat encounter is a random one, but Bethesda says every player will encounter it at some point. Once you save Dogmeat from his attacker, you can decide whether or not you want him to join you, and if you do, he can do everything from attacking enemies to sniffing out food and weapons in the surrounding area.

You'll also be able to gain a few different human companions over time. Obviously their roles are similar, though they'll likely be better suited for attacking enemies than Dogmeat would be. Incidentally, your companions are entirely mortal, meaning once they die, they're dead. From what we saw with Dogmeat, you'll be able to command him to stay put or even go back to the entrance to Vault 101 if you're about to go somewhere dangerous and don't want him to get hurt. If you're the sort that found the man/dog relationship in "I Am Legend" a bit emotionally draining, you'll probably want to take full advantage of those commands, lest you end up sobbing like a wrecked widow.

The people with whom you're able to align yourself depends largely on your character's karma. Karma is tracked through every action you perform in the game. If you frequently help NPCs in trouble and do good deeds, you'll be a good guy. If you're a cold-blooded killer who murders ruthlessly and talks mean to people, you'll be a bad guy. If you try to avoid conflict and rarely take sides, you'll be neutral. Decisions you make in the game are key to determining your karma, and also affect how the game itself will play out. One of the examples Bethesda showed at E3 last year was a city called Megaton, a village of religious fanatics who built their town and faith around an unexploded nuke. You have the choice to either help a psychotic real estate developer destroy the town to make way for a new, "better" living environment, or warn the town of the plot and save them. Different quest trees open up depending on which way you choose to go.