14 DAY TRIAL // When Bethesda announced that it was doing Fallout 3, a lot of people, especially veterans of the previous two games in the series, expressed a lack of trust in its ability to make a game that was true to the franchise, while also bringing something new and different to it as a whole.
Since then, the Oblivion creators, now re-imagining Fallout, have been hard at work and they have even shown off a few bits of the game, mainly of the new combat system, which seems to be a very interesting cross between a turn based system and a real time one. Some of the old skeptics were convinced that the developers were creating something worthy of the Fallout name, but other said that, even if the gameplay mechanics were spot on, the plot of the game and the general storytelling would be the department where Bethesda failed.
But, to see that things might work out fine regarding Fallout 3, one needs to look no further than to this piece regarding the Brotherhood of Steel and the importance it has to the player as he makes his way through the ruins of Washington D.C. It's well written, beautifully composed and creates a backstory for the faction that ties in with what we know about the Brotherhood from the previous games, while also making a clean break with the Brotherhood of South California. The story of the Washington Chapter is one of humanity and understanding, and also one of loss and the apparent implacable defeat of humanity.
The Brotherhood is no longer content to just search for the precious technology leftovers that they can exploit for their purposes; now they are the in the front line of the battle against Super Mutants, even if their resources are dwindling rather quickly in the face of adversity.
It's true that such a background piece might not be representative of the whole story of the game, but it sure says something about the commitment of the team at Bethesda that is working on Fallout 3.