The Fallout series is (I am told) a famous single-player RPG. I don't think I ever played the first two installments, but I've spent far too much time playing the most recent one.
The premise of all three games in the same - in 2077, nuclear war breaks out, leaving the USA (and presumably other countries as well, although I didn't find any confirmation of that) almost completely devastated. Games 1 and 2 take place in new York, but Fallout 3 takes place in the Capital Wasteland: in and around Washington, DC.
The nukes in Fallout are somewhat less powerful than the real thing - most of the city is in ruins and irradiated, but not completely obliterated. A few people manage to survive the holocaust in underground Vaults, although many of them wish they hadn't- in addition to radiation and poor living conditions, there are new horrors.
In Fallout 3 you create a character who is raised in Vault 101 - one of the few Vaults that are still operating, and which claims to be completely free of outside influence. The character's appearance, name, and gender are determined by the player - which is nice, although since most of the game has voice acting, it means that it uses generic terms to refer to the player anyway. The character's appearance also determines the appearance of his/her father, voiced by Liam Neeson.
The game proper starts with the character learning that his father has left Vault 101 (which is supposed to be impossible) and that the Vault's Supervisor has not taken this action well - it's imperative the player escapes.
Once out of the vault, the player (generally called the Vault Dweller) can follow the main quest, searching for his/her father, or simply explore the Capital Wasteland, finding loot and killing things.
While exploring, the player learns all kinds of interesting things, especially about the Vaults - saving people wasn't their purpose at all; they were a social experiment by Vault-Tec, a company that makes current-day companies look positively benign.
Players also encounter ghouls (some humans, when exposed to radiation, lose their skin, but actually gain the ability to absorb radiation, and age slower - there are a few ghouls who were alive during the war), the Brotherhood of Steel (a group of humans trying to make sure advanced technology isn't completely lost), various mutated animals, and the Super Mutants (horribly mutated humans who have a sinister connection to Vault-Tec and the military).
While the game features modern graphics, the architecture and decoration are inspired by the past - I don't know the exact era, but sometime in the 20th century. The music mostly comes from the early 20th century as well, and the contrast with the futuristic theme and weapons works very well.
Players can shoot (with everything from a .32 pistol to a gatling laser cannon) and hit (with everything from fists to a lawnmower blade covered in gas and on fire) enemies, and most friendly NPCs as well. Characters vital to the main quest don't stay dead, but almost everything else can be killed. (Children can't be killed, but they can be sold into slavery.) Weapons and armor wear out when used, but can be repaired by other items of the same type, or by vendors. The currency of the day is bottle caps (after all, nobody is printing more money.)
Some actions earn the player positive of negative Karma, which affects dialog choices, and even causes NPCs to appear to hunt the player for being too good, or too evil. Like most games of this type, the choices are mostly over-simplified and over-the top: super-good, indifferent (which will seem rude to most people), or super-bad.
Since there's so much to do and so many choices to be made the game can be (and has been) played over and over to see different content. It's definately one of the best games I've played, especially because I've been able to keep playing it for so long.
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