I have invested more than 20 hours in "Fallout 3" so far, and I have no intention of stopping my adventure through the wasteland anytime soon.
Last night, I had my favorite "Fallout 3" moment so far. It was completely unexpected, had nothing to do with the main storyline and made my heart race. "Fallout 3" is depressing, but it's not scary. This freaked the hell out of me.
On the way Vault 112, which is party of the main storyline, I happened across Vault 106. It's completely optional. You might never find it. If you don't, though, you'll be missing out on a part of "Fallout 3" so exceptionally wild.
I recommend finding Vault 106 on your own, but if not…SPOILER WARNING!
There were a group of raiders just outside of Vault 106, so I'd pumped up my character with combat-ability drug boosters for battle. As I entered Vault 106, the character was coming down from them and suffering from withdrawal. Moments into Vault 106, my character started experiencing wild hallucinations and the screen began changing colors. Is there something wrong with my TV, I wondered? No, it must be a side effect of the withdrawal symptoms I haven't experienced before.
It wasn't, though. The hallucinations kept coming.
I kept seeing dead inhabitants of Vault 106…alive. Or...was this my own past? This "safe haven" was in shambles. Something happened here, but I didn't know what. There were no diaries, no computers to explain what went wrong. All I could do was delve deeper into the madness of Vault 106 -- hallucinations included -- and fend of the occasional "insane survivor."
At the end of my journey into the pit of Vault 106, 'Fallout 3' had become 'Silent Hill.'
What caused them to go insane? I had no idea. But Vault 106 went deeper into the ground and the hallucinations continued. Scientists stalked the halls as the screen went a dark purple, before I was warped back to reality. "Fallout 3" seldom messes with your visual perception, aside from splashing blood on the screen or warping your eyesight after you use a drug. This was a completely new way of messing with me.
By the end of my journey into the pit of Vault 106, "Fallout 3" had become "Silent Hill." I was nervous around every corner, dropping my controller when accidentally tipping a garbage can. In Vault 106's darkest corner, there was a scientist. She wasn't insane; she was simply holed out at the bottom in hopes of avoiding the others, who had clearly lost it.
She fought me, though, and I had to kill her. There was nothing in her possessions to explain what had happened. I had reached the end of Vault 106 without answers.
A chance encounter with a computer while on my way back up, however, explained everything. Vault 106's overseer had decided to secretly test on the residents with toxic gas -- and the plan backfired badly. The residents went insane, killed one another and the survivors simply stalked the halls of Vault 106 in a mental rage. It was all a botched experiment.
How screwed up is that? If these are the kinds of experiences I can look forward to happening on by continuing to explore the entirety of "Fallout 3," I will not put down this game anytime soon.
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