So it's true: Fallout 3 is actually a Fallout in 3D! But the first shock begins to fade, as the one hour presentation of the game takes its course at the E3 Media Festival. And in the end, it turns into a very pleasant feeling of certainty: Bethesda hasn't violated the heritage of the (isometric) tactic RPGs, but instead transforms them for the current millennia.

The game starts in the legendary Vault 101, the last unopened bunker since the atomic war ended some 200 years ago. Its citizens survived not only the fallout, but also the wars between the survivors in and around Washington D.C. The player starts out as a baby and will get to know everything while growing up and aging. Naturally, you'll be able to pick your skills, attributes and looks. Once turned 19, the player will go and look for his father, who just vanished from Vault 101 and get a first peek at the post-apocalyptic world.

Fallout 3 plays a bit like Oblivion, since there's a huge world to discover, which consists of up to 25 percent of downtown Washington D.C. But, Bethesda promises, quality before quantity: Less missions and characters, while adding more depth and polish to everything. So it's up to the player, to either erase Megaton with one of the last remaining atom bombs or fight the conspiracy surrounding it.

The RPG heritage of the original Fallout 1 and 2, which both were based heavily on numerous skills, seems to have survived as well. Conversations are limited by diplomatic skills, items can only be used while having the appropriate attributes and the fallout might or might take it's toll on the player. The action is somewhat more complex as well: Even if you aim straight, doesn't mean you're going to have a hit – weapon skills and gun conditions are taken into account. And the Vault Assisted Targeting System (V.A.S.T.) is a kind of pause function, where one can target certain body parts, depending on their hit chance and consumption of Action Points (APs). How many Aps there'll be, is still subject to change at Bethesda.

After the presentation, the author of these lines was very pleased and would wish it was Fall 2008 already. That's when Fallout 3 is supposed to be out.