Bethesda designed Fallout 3’s VATS system to differentiate it from Call of Duty and Battlefield, drawing inspiration from KOTOR and Burnout: “Think of car parts as eyeballs and guts!”
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Gunplay was one of the many hurdles Bethesda faced while developing Fallout 3. With years since their last bullet-based game, they had a fresh canvas to redefine shooting mechanics. This led to the creation of VATS, influenced by various sources.
In a retrospective, Emil Pagliarulo, a quest designer for Fallout 3, noted their awareness of the competitive landscape in first-person shooters. “While there are melee weapons in Fallout, most of the combat in Oblivion is melee,” he reflected.
“Fallout’s combat is primarily ranged,” he added. “We realized that, given our time and resources, we couldn’t match the gunplay of Call of Duty or Battlefield.”
For context, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare launched in 2007, just a year before Fallout 3, while Battlefield: Bad Company followed in 2008. Competing with these genre leaders would have been unrealistic. VATS emerged as a creative solution, inspired by cinematic moments from Burnout and a classic Star Wars RPG.
“It’s reminiscent of Knights of the Old Republic’s phase-based combat, where you can strategize,” Todd Howard, director of Fallout 3, explained. “And then there’s Burnout, a racing game known for its spectacular crashes.”
Howard recalled a “little presentation” that introduced the concept to the team. “Imagine if the car parts were eyeballs and guts!” he humorously pitched during the meeting. The goal was to allow players to strategize, even if it slowed down the action.
“You could pause the game and make decisions for your character,” Howard described. “This is where you really felt your character’s stats, rather than just running and gunning, which we also incorporated in various ways.”
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Despite VATS “coming together really well,” Howard felt it “somewhat handicapped” the shooting mechanics. “It doesn’t feel great in your hands because, at the end of the day, it’s not the best first-person shooter, even for its time,” he admitted.
Todd Howard noted that Fallout 3 feeling like “Oblivion with guns” was a natural progression, as it was Bethesda’s follow-up to Oblivion.
