辐射 3

Fallout 3

随着《辐射 3（Fallout 3）》的发布，不难理解一些新玩家会觉得 Bethesda 之前所做的 RPG 游戏《上古卷轴（Elder Scrolls）》系列是史上最烂的作品之一。《辐射》系列的铁杆粉丝在此刻所表现出的那种失望和刻薄是我从未见到过的。

他们担心的是，以其丰富的分支剧情、充实的的剧本和复杂的角色培养系统而闻名的《辐射》会变成一个乏味的第一人称的后世界末日游戏《湮没》（Oblivion）的换皮版。

Bethesda 确实终止了开发中的《辐射 3》原型“范布伦”（Van Buren），并且决定做些他们擅长的内容：一个广袤的开放世界以及第一人称，单一角色视角。好在《辐射 3》的最终成品不仅仅是“有枪的《湮没》”。虽然缺乏其前作的风趣和黑色幽默，但是它还是有着自己的特色和风格。

主角是一个成长于避难所中的孩子，而其成长的片段则被用来将玩家引入《辐射》的世界中。在与华盛顿废土上不同的势力以及各路幸存者打交道的过程中，玩家将沉浸在一个广阔的世界，尽管这里到处都是试图重新在此地安身立命的怪咖。

Upon the announcement of Fallout 3, someone new to the genre would be forgiven for thinking that Bethesda's previous RPGs, the Elder Scrolls series, were some of the worst ever made. I have rarely witnessed the sort of disappointment and vitriol that long-standing Fallout fans displayed.

Their worry was that Fallout, known for its branching paths, rich writing and complex character development, would be turned into a vapid, first-person, post-apocalyptic reskinning of Oblivion.

Bethesda did indeed scrap the famous Interplay-developed “Van Buren” Fallout 3 prototype and decided to play to their strengths, with an enormous open world and a first-person, single-character perspective. Fallout 3 turned out to be more than “Oblivion with guns”, with an identity and atmosphere of its own – even if lacking the wit and dark sense of humour that characterised its predecessors.

From your introduction to the Fallout mythos via short slices of the character's life as a child living in a Vault, to dealing with the various factions and survivors that populate the DC wasteland, the player is immersed in a huge world, littered by odd groups trying to rediscover and reclaim their place in it.

Bethesda 为这部游戏从好莱坞雇了不少演员。Liam Neeson 为主角的父亲配音，Malcolm McDowell 为英克雷（Enclave）^[1] 总统配音，Ron Perlman 则再次成为了旁白。

Bethesda hired various Hollywood actors for the game, with Liam Neeson voicing your father, Malcolm McDowell voicing Enclave's president and Ron Perlman reprising his role as narrator.

每一个商队，每一个定居点，每一个偏僻的小屋，还有每一个隐蔽且防御周全的避难所都有其自己的故事。各种或明显或隐蔽的微观叙述为玩家描绘了一副后启示录世界的画卷。与之前几作相比，本作的很多细节经不起推敲，游戏中出现的食物和时间线也并不是太说得通，所以想要享受本作的话确实需要看开点。

游戏的战斗系统感觉像是对不同类型的奇怪缝合，它既不是有技能的第一人称射击也不是基于数值的 RPG 战斗系统。VATS^[2] 系统是本作战斗的关键，你可以先暂停时间并瞄准敌方身体的某一部分，然后再根据目标，距离和所用武器来花费行动点（Action Points）。

拜此所赐，玩家能够以一种舒服的节奏在 VATS 战术射击和即时游戏之间来回切换，在等待行动点回复时寻找掩体或直接射击敌人。但游戏中的角色成长系统则有些过于简单了。每次升级，你都能通过分配技能点来略微提升你的各项能力。

Each merchant caravan, each little settlement, each small hut in the middle of nowhere or hidden, highly secured Vault has its own story, its micro-narrative, either obvious or hidden, that helps the player assemble a larger picture of this post-apocalyptic world. It doesn't stand up to scrutiny, especially when compared to the previous games – things like food availability or the timeline don't make much sense when you think about it, so enjoying it does require a healthy dose of suspension of disbelief.

The combat feels like an odd mixture of genres, not quite skill-based first-person shooting and yet far from stats-based RPG territory. Crucial to making this approach work is the VATS system, which allows the player to pause time and target opponents' specific body parts, spending Action Points that vary depending on target, range and weapon.

This allows the player to fall into a pleasant rhythm of alternating between VATS tactical shooting and finding cover or doing real-time shooting while waiting for AP to recharge. Character development, however, is a curt affair. At each level-up, you can assign skill points that marginally increase your efficiency at a variety of tasks.

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¹ 译者注：英克雷为一个游戏中的虚构组织。
² 译者注：全称为避难所科技辅助瞄准系统（Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System）。
³ 译者注：全称为个人信息处理器（Personal Information Processor），一种游戏中虚构的腕带式个人电脑。