ThreeSpeech gets some quality hands-on time with Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic open world RPG, out Friday (31st).

The latest open world RPG from the makers of Oblivion trades its pretty fantasy setting for a dirty dystopian future where man has finally gone and nuked the world. In a gaming first, you start the game by being born. It’s here you choose what you’ll look like when you grow up – sex, race, facial features, skills and stats - and cleverly, your dad, whose voice (Liam Neeson) is the first you’ll hear, will also take on some of your chosen physical characteristics. You grow up through a tutorial until you’re an adult and it’s time to finally leave the nuclear shelter to look for dad, who’s gone AWOL. Outside, what was once Washington DC is now a huge and ravaged post-nuke wasteland of bombed-out buildings, radioactive rivers and abandoned vehicles.

It’s probably not as big a playing area as Oblivion, but then you have to explore everywhere by foot. Try as we might, we couldn’t get the pre-war nuclear-powered cars to work. Although if you shoot them, they provide a satisfying little nuke complete with mushroom cloud. You can play either in third or first person and the combat system gives you the choice of free-range fighting or RPG-style turn-based combat, which can be useful in taking on multiple enemies as you slow time down to target parts of the body. Another RPG element is the need to level up through experience.There is no HUD, but you do have a handy wrist-worn computer system called a ‘Pip Boy’ that you can access for maps, inventories etc.

As well as friendly survivors, some of whom have banded together into scrap-metal towns, there are hostiles including raiders, mutant humans and mutated creatures, such as giant ants. Luckily there are plenty of weapons around, including a mini-nuke gun and laser rifles, plus drugs that temporarily improve your stats and performance. You’ll also have to keep your eye on radioactivity levels and treat yourself for sickness.

There are missions to progress the game, but also loads of side quests and places to explore, such as old gas stations or schools that have been taken over by raiders, and NPCs that pop up asking for help.
The game is fully free-roaming and supposedly allows for any moral outcomes, so you can help people or be a bastard, the consequences of which massively vary your game experience.

The graphics, animation, physics and AI are all pretty sweet, and the 1950s atomic age stylings are very cool. And like Oblivion, there is potentially hundreds of hours of gameplay if you want it.