Media Consumes Me

Plants Vs. Fallout 3

Until recently, my computer was incapable of running the latest of the game industries “big hits”. After my much needed upgrade, I was reminded of Fallout 3. Once I remembered it existed, I HAD to have it. I explored and digested every bit and pixel of its predecessors, perfected every numeric value of my character and played through them again with a completely different build. Fallout and Fallout 2 were such rare cases of perfect game design, where Charisma could beat Strength and Intelligence could beat Perception. I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into this piece of meat. Unfortunately, we can’t always get what we want, but if we try sometimes, we just might find…

We get what we need.

When I received Fallout 3, a little underdog was hidden on the disk with it. A gift. “Try this, too, it’s great”, they said. Plants Vs. Zombies. What in the blazes? It sounded bizarre, so naturally, I had to try it. While Fallout 3 installed itself I went and checked out the first few levels.

Here’s the quick rundown; Plants Vs. Zombies is your basic tower defense game. You get 5 to 6 lanes on your front lawn and use Sun (which is collected by clicking it as it pops up, like Whack-a-mole) to purchase plants. These plants have an assortment of abilities; some blow up, some freeze, some kill, and some generate more cash. As you collect sun and lay down your foliage of defense, zombies slowly make their way in from the opposite side of the screen. Should they reach your house, they eat your brains. Game over.

The music is grand. The art is spectacular. The character instilled into the plants and zombies is reminiscent of the old SNES days. The whole game reminds you of classics like Zombies Ate My Neighbors. The worst part? It’s terribly addicting. My wife, who’s not even a gamer, played through the entire game and unlocked about 95% of the seemingly endless content.

So there I was. This bizarre new title I had never heard of and Fallout 3. Once Fallout 3 was done installing, I told myself, “Enough of this kids game… let’s go shoot up some Psycho and kill Super Mutants!” Long story short, I played Fallout 3 for about 4 hours total in a week. My plant platoon was far more exciting. What I dubbed as a kids game I shouldn’t be playing, I fell in love with. Point? Don’t shy away from a good game. There’s a reason you want to play it!

Fallout 3 lacked all the elements of Fallout I desired. Charisma was a useless statistic. Intelligence was only important because it raised your skill points, which all focused on one aspect of the game – shoot first or be killed. Was it a first person shooter? Was it an RPG? Whenever I tried to use the RPG elements of the game, I was countered by a bizarre super action combat mode and the entire environment trying to slice my throat open. Oblivion with guns. Either give me Oblivion, or give me guns, but please God, not both.

Fallout 3 is a clunky hybrid game. Most of the RPG elements don’t work because you can gun your way through the entire experience without blinking an eye. The developers must have realized this, because even if you have no combat skill, you can’t progress without a solid weapon and the ability to aim it. You would think, then, it’s a First Person Shooter. Even if I max my charisma, I played Tribes and America’s Army. I KNOW I can shoot these fools. Wrong! You’ll find all the weapon damage you deal completely gimped without the proper skills and traits.

Vampire: Bloodlines, the sad buggy state it was in, was the closest I ever played to the perfect mix of First Person Shooter and RPG. Fallout 3 did contain an interesting story, but the annoying game play killed my interest in finishing it. Would it be so hard to create a game as graphical beautiful with an isometric view and serious RPG/Adventure elements? This is where I finally reach my point.

Today’s video game industry is filled with these atrocities. Developers overlook simple design and the basic concept of fun and sacrifice it for intense and original game play or insanely beautiful graphics. Consider our contenders.

Plants Vs. Zombies likely had all of their graphics done by one guy with a pen in Photoshop. They are 2-D, beautifully animated and robust. The color is vibrant and inviting. The music is quirky and catchy (there’s even a music video at the end!). The game play never stops giving. They hand you dozens of plants to work with and limit you to a choice of 7 per level. You’ll spend 5 minutes deciding what to go with, designing new strategies and carving out clever tricks and patterns.

Fallout 3 has one goal wrapped up in a bunch of tissue paper. Talk to this person, talk to that person, spam E on every container you find hoping it’s ammo, but your main goal, the primary focus is to shoot the bloody hell out of everything. Each level is trivial, unexciting and experience seems more common than radiation in the Capital Wasteland. The game has no progression other than story, which is great for a novel or a movie. This is a game. When I level up, it should have impact. If I reach 10 Charisma, I should KNOW. The closest the game has to game play progression is in your weapon selection, but be warned; no heavy weapon skill and your minigun can unload on a molerat and only bring it to half health. Give me a first person shooter with weapons progression and storyline, like Bioshock or Half-life 2. Give me an RPG with levels, meaningful statistics like Bloodlines or Baldur’s Gate.

Just don’t give me a half-assed version of both and call it a game. That’s not design; that’s lazy.

I give 10 kudos to the developers of Plants Vs. Zombies. They created an amazing game without an in depth story on a fraction of the budget Bethesda had.  Bethesda could learn a thing or two from that team. The basics of game play and fun factor will always exist.

You know, that’s not a half bad idea. Fallout 3 might have kept me going with a few Gatling Peas and Sunflowers!