It’s no surprise that some of the match-ups in the Head2Head feel almost impossible to settle. Having spent weeks debating the shortlist of entrants, every game in the list was of top quality. Even randomising the draw with some hat-picking wasn’t going to rule out some crunching match ups, but GTA IV vs Fallout 3? This is a clash of the titans.
So, on the one hand you’ve got an innovative addition to a long running series that brings new levels of depth and a staggering amount of player choice and emotional investment to a much loved series, and on the other hand you’ve got…oh…hold on.
You can’t separate them by their commendations either - both are equally laden down with Game of the Year awards from reputable sources.
Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto series has a history of flooring gamers, be it with the top-down series original, the move to 3D in GTA III and accompanying increase in both grimness and black humour, through to the sheer enormity of the gameworld in GTA: San Andreas.
GTA IV refined and distilled the high points of the series. Liberty City isn’t anywhere near as large as San Andreas, but it’s probably the richest, deepest game world you’ve ever come across, a realistic, lived-in city in which you can track your own notoriety at the internet cafe, see Ricky Gervaisdoing stand up at a comedy club, or simply cruise the streets in a stolen car, noting the differences between the posh houses on the heights and the pockmarked tarmac of the Bohan district.
Fallout 3’s Capital Wasteland can’t quite match Liberty City’s veracity. There are times when you can’t help but question the placement of buildings and settlements the further out of the city centre you get. On the other hand, not all of Liberty City’s buildings can be entered, and the inclusion of maps and GPS mean that GTA IV falls short of offering the sense of unbridled exploration and forging into the unknown found in Fallout.
Both games have gripping stories, and while GTA IV’s wrings far greater depth and emotional involvement out of it’s characters than the more wooden Fallout 3 can manage, it then loses a few points for it’s slightly less responsive controls, needless cover system and it’s boringly grown up decision to ditch its predecessor's manic, cartoonish driving in favour of realistic car physics.
If you were to look at my Gamertag, you’d see a definite, sizeable bias towards Fallout 3. If you were to look at my gaming history, you’d see a definite leaning towards Grand Theft Auto…it seems the only way to really separate these two is to wield our selection criteria the way an angry Niko Bellic wields a baseball bat, although at far lesser cost to our soul…
- Originality - Well, even excluding the likes of Fallout Tactics and GTA London , neither game can be considered box fresh, and neither driving, shooting, crime sprees or post-apocalyptic wastelands are breaking new ground in videogames. However, the switch away from top-down play and the inclusion VATS means that Fallout 3 takes this category by a whisker. Winner: Fallout
- Longevity - At present, Fallout 3 has four chunks of DLC compared to GTA IV’s one, but it has to be said, the greatness of Point Lookout and Broken Steel are counterbalanced by the fact that Operation Anchorage stinks, while The Lost and the Damned could practically have won a Game of the Year award in it’s own right. DLC isn’t the only factor that will help a game stand the test of time, but it is the main one these days. Winner: GTA
- Graphics - Is it what you’ve got, or what you do with it? GTA might be more fluid than it’s ever been, and doesn’t suffer Fallout’s occasional texture pop-in, but Fallout 3 has the edge in detail, even if it is primarily used to bring out varying shades of ash grey, gunmetal grey and granite grey. It looks like Fallout’s going to take it, until you stop and think just how uninspired some of the models and animations are. Winner: GTA
- Sound FX - Less is more in Fallout. Where GTA IV offers 200 tracks on the radio and voice acting that has you genuinely engaging with the characters, Fallout 3 contents itself with a few some mournful themes, a few poignant golden oldies and the unexpected sound of a carnival bell every time you fire one of your many guns. Winner: GTA
- Replayability - The vast, realisitic city, the ability to stand atop buildings or chase pigeons, or find the hidden, beating heart of Liberty City are all part of the depth that GTA IV offers. But while you won’t want to leave Liberty City, we’re not sure that once you do, it won’t excercise the same siren call to return that the Capital Wasteland does. Fallout offers so many different ways to resolve the quests, from diplomacy to trickery to outright violence, and the array of different perks on offer combined with the choices between good and evil that signpost clear story divergences mean that you’ll be looking forward to your second and third play through before you’ve even finished your first. Winner: Fallout
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