Fallout 3 on the PC and XBox 360

[donniemunro]

My wife doesn't like RPG or FPS games, but a few days ago I persuaded her to play Fallout 3 on my PC and she was hooked.

 

She prefers to play computer games from the comfort of a sofa though, so we bought the XBox version for her. I've always preferred my PC for all the obvious reasons, but I was interested to see how the console version compared.

 

I have to admit that I was quite impressed by how similar it looked and worked, and the expansions were easy to download from the marketplace. There are many downsides though... The graphics are decent but not great, and there are long waits for loading in game. But the worst thing is the XBox controller; how on earth do people play FPSs without a mouse?! I suppose that was why VATS was introduced to Fallout 3 - automatic targeting helps to actually hit enemies!

 

Has anyone else played both the PC and console versions?

[Frederov]

I haven't played FO3 on xbox, but I watched a friend play Oblivion on xbox and it looked cumbersum rolling through all the menus.

 

I got to play a bit of COD on xbox and looked like a noob with that stupid controller though. Its so horrible I think I'd give up gaming if I couldn't use a PC.

 

Plus I love mods so much I never have really played FO3 (or oblivion & morrowind) without mods improving the graphics etc. When I visit friends and see their console games I wonder why they bother since the graphics are so bad and the controller is terrible. Then I think back to the early days (early 80s') when I used to play really crap games and loved them cos I didn't know any better, and its so sad to think these people think consoles are awesome... they are missing out on so much. (sigh) And if I try to tell them then I just sound like a killjoy or anti console freak.

 

Is FO3 stable on a xbox though? wouldn't that just take the cake...

[bben46]

Did you ever wonder why the online games do not have cross platform competition between players? That looks like it would be a natural. Well, It seems that MS actually did contemplate this. XBox vs PC on live. However when they tested it using games like Gears of War and Unreal Tournament mediocre PC players cleaned house on even the best console controller players. It was so unfair they dropped the idea. because it embarrassed the XBox development team. So, PC vs PC = OK, Console vs console = OK. console vs PC = Unfair to console players.

 

This is not to say that there are not games that are more suited to consoles than PC.

 

Link to article: http://www.rahulsood.com/2010/07/console-gamers-get-killed-against-pc.html

[InAComaDial999]

I got FO3 for the 360 on the day it was released, I only got it for the PC a few months ago. I thought it was really solid on the 360. It never crashed on me, didn't have a lot of bugs, and VATS really helped with the whole console controller vs FPS problem. Eventually I got to the point where I didn't mind the 360 controller at all, even without using VATS.

 

Now that I'm playing it on the PC, while my wife is playing FO3:NV on the 360, yeah the graphics are a whole lot better on the PC. No more fish-eye lens, much higher resolution, etc. I get a constant 60FPS on the PC at 1920x1080 with 2XAA/4XAF and Ultra quality, and it's a far cry from the brown soup that was the graphics on the 360. (In the 360's defense though, I do think the graphics for NV look better than the ones for FO3 did)

 

On the other hand, I really don't think FO3 actually plays any better on the PC. The keyboard controls are imprecise and laggy - if you let go the ASDW keys you don't always stop right away, VATS takes a while to come up, etc. Between that and the various stutter problems from the GameBryo engine it's really distracting.

[ThelastKaveman]

I own both versions and, personally, I don't notice the difference.

 

I can run fallout on my computer (which is broken atm :( ) at mid ~ low settings (with the help of a few mods) so the only reason I have to prefer PC over 360 is the mods :biggrin: