I’m glad to say that, in my opinion, I was wrong. Right from the beginning stages of the game, I was sold – with the exception that the intro video, I thought, was far too long and it seemed to have gone on and on with no end in sight. But when it was finally over – it was finally time to get down to playing, and that is just what I did. Your first sights out of your character’s eyes is his (or her) birth into the world. From there, the game’s tutorial follows your character throughout his (or her) childhood and adolescent life – going from your first steps as a toddler, to your tenth birthday, your first BB gun, your first slaying of a radroach, your (sweet) 16th birthday, and ultimately – your escape from the vault.

The first half hour or so of playing in the vault, I thought, was rather uneventful and somewhat boring – but it is necessary to build the back-story, and it does build up to the excitement which is your escaping the vault. In honor to Interplay’s legendary way of making your leaving the vault a breathtaking occasion – Bethesda managed to, at least again in my opinion, completely blow you away when this happens. I found it to be a very moving event, but that’s probably just my ability to really get “in the game.”