Fallout 3 Xbox One X Enhanced Preview

Fallout 3 (2007) is one of the most well known games of all time and to see it get updated all these years later was certainly surprising. It was one of the chosen few launch enhanced Xbox 360 games and this update helps make one of the best games ever made even better for console players.

This Fallout 3 Xbox One enhancement brings the game to at least 1080p (textures, awaiting confirmation on final resolution and any FPS changes from 30FPS). Note that it does display in 4k resolution as per the images we were able to capture. Other noticeable aspects include the render distance though no HDR support is present. The biggest difference, at least for me was to see so many finer details within the game that were previously blurred or not visible from certain perspectives.

It makes the whole experience run much smoother than before while also greatly minimizing the loading screens. It all runs very well and for players that love these old games, there really isn't much more you can ask for in a ten year old title. It still has that classic apocalyptic look, but for console players it is now a much better experience. Gone are the days of long loading between buildings or travel since it feels practically instant or any sort of performance drops. It just runs smoothly and makes any visit into the wasteland now a pleasant almost modern one.

I wanted this revisit to be something special so I brought a friend along to check it out, or well mostly just let him play. He decided that in this playthrough he would just be completely hostile to everyone while on a drug binge and it was hilarious. He was mean to everyone, horribly sarcastic and just tried to cause trouble.

This was especially true to his child hood friend and The Tunnel Snakes! Because they rule. It was also great to see how excited he was checking out one of his favorite games. I know I got that same sense of intense hype from seeing Halo 3 enhanced and knew that Fallout 3 would have a similar effect on him. The excitement of seeing the details on a lock pick, the extra little patches along the vault gear and how much better the third person looks.

It may not be an update that completely revamps or remasters the experience, but it's enough to really satisfy fans of the series. It's a great excuse to now check out the game for the first time to see it so fresh or to go back and play a certified classic. The wasteland has never looked so good on a console and until it gets perhaps remastered some day this is the best way to play Fallout 3 (again, on a console). Another success for the enhanced Xbox 360 games on the Xbox Backwards Compatible program and I've love to see this being continued with other games down the road.

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