I headed north, past endless crops of bombed-out buildings. At night, the mood of Fallout 3 turns dark. In the daytime you feel alone in a giant desert--but when the sun goes down, you're alone on another planet. The atmosphere is spot on, with an appropriately sparse placement of enemies and notable features. STALKER-esque, for sure.

The world may seem barren at times, but I feel this was clearly necessary to punctuate the events that you do encounter. For instance, when I rounded the corner of another mound of rubble and found a group of mutants fighting eachother, it didn't feel like something I'd seen before. When one of them started incinerating the others with a flamethrower, it felt like something unique I had stumbled across, rather than something common.

Not that the mutant kept his flamer for long. I had a chance to mess around with the hunting rifle, the minigun, and the flamer--all were incredibly entertaining in their own way. The flamer especially was a treat, one of the more punchy flamethrowers I've used in a game.

Heading far into civilization, I ran into a National Guard Depot, a giant "Enlist Today" sign above it. Outside, numerous robots guarded the doors, all very reminiscent of Fallout 1 and 2 machines. The "Robobrain" was like an irate version of the Lost in Space robot, all tube-like arms and powered by a human brain encased in liquid. Shooting the brain was the quickest way to kill it.