Fallout 3

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Another thing this stage displayed is how the world of post-apocalyptic D.C. will operate. On a couple of occasions, we got to see battles erupting between NPC factions of humans and mutants. As mentioned before, you can get involved in these battles, or choose to stay out of them entirely. Incidentally, you won't be able to join any specific faction within the game. Bethesda was quick to point out that Fallout 3 won't use the same sort of membership system that Oblivion did, so there's nothing like the Thieves' Guild to the top of which you can rise. You can make allegiances based on your karma, but beyond that, you're just a man on a mission.

All told, we came away from our demo session with high hopes for Fallout 3. If we had to name a concern, it's simply that the unique combat system might not completely pan out. It could strike a great balance between RPG conventions and traditional action, or it could end up being a case of, "You got your shooter in my RPG, dammit!" We think it looks like a cool system, but we'll reserve judgment until we get real hands-on time with the game, something we're hoping we get to do sooner rather than later. We can't yet say with any certainty whether or not Fallout 3 will truly end up being the modern Fallout game for which fans have been desperately pining, but we can say that what we saw gave us a great deal of confidence and optimism. We'll endeavor to bring you more on Fallout 3 in the coming months.

This preview was based on a developer-hosted demo featuring an alpha build of the Xbox 360 version of the game.