Here’s a quick rundown of what we learned from Bethesda‘s demonstration of Fallout 3.

Story: Post-apocalyptic teen ventures out of underground vault in which he’s been born and raised to find his dad and his fate in new-post nuclear world. Mutants, animals and humans hate you.

Setting: Washington DC, both downtown and outskirts.

Look: It’s Bethesda. Of course it looks good - for a post apocalyptic world. Very cool mix of art deco and post-modern ‘50s kitsch.

More after the break.

Features: If it was in Oblivion, it’s in Fallout. In fact, you could say that Fallout is “Oblivion: The Geiger Scrolls.” The game changes as the player makes decisions on which quests to do, how to dialogue with NPCs, and build of character. Even your dad changes to reflect how you decided to make your character look.

Gameplay: An FPS for non-FPS players. (Although you can play from top-down and third person perspectives.) Some aim-and-fire play, but can be bypassed by using an automated targeting feature called VATS (Vault-tec Assisted Targeting System), which allows you to stop action to choose a foe’s body part and calculate the hit/miss percentage. Fire off the VATS and you’ll be treated to fully automated, slow-motion carnage. Probably not very rewarding to twitch players, but you don’t have to use VATS if you don’t want to. Mostly this game rewards good role play, but doesn’t entirely remove the shooting.

Notables:

-Did I say carnage? I meant over-the-top, severed-head-spewing-blood, eyeballs-rolling-down-the-street carnage.

-Right now, one of the most foul-mouthed games I can remember in a while. Think of a swear word even you wouldn’t use. It’s probably in there.

-Excellent choice in music. Not your average soundtrack, as it features depression- and WWII-era hits. Sounds dorky, but totally works within the game’s aesthetic.

-Four good words: Personal Atomic Grenade Catapult. Oh yeah.

-Four bad words: Drinking from dirty toilets.

-Damaged weapons can be repaired using parts from other weapons of a similar type.

-Expansive world with NPCs that have schedules and behaviors which continue even when you’re not there. Again, Oblivion-esque.

-Favorite chuckle: Handmade sign left outside vault where humanity been holed up since atomic blast: “Let us in, M***er F**kers!”

-Customizable character (male/female, different races and probably facial features - like Oblivion)

-Some of the same voice actors as Oblivion (you’ll recognize them), but Bethesda devs PROMISE better dialogue acting. From what I saw, it was better, but still slow and overacted.

-Approximately 20 quest thread lines. You will not be able to do them all on one character as some will disappear as you complete others.

-Not all the atomic bombs have dropped. What’s one more bomb’s-worth of radiation, anyway.

[Ed. Note: While unconfirmed, this game may potentially contain similarities to “The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.”]