Fallout 3 is perhaps the most anticipated non-MMORPG since the release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The game is set in a post apocalyptic world with the beginning of the game seeing your character emerging from the nuclear shelter for the first time.

The game pulls this off expertly, with the first thing you’ll be seeing are the bones and picket signs of those left outside to die. It’s a bit stunning at first, but heading above ground into the Wasteland is everything you would imagine it to be.

Your characters eyes must adjust to being above ground after several years underground. What’s left of the world above is what you’ve seen from old pictures detailing the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The area is a ghost town, with nothing but a few burned out cars and the remnants of a few wooden buildings.

The game’s control system is called the Pip-Boy 3000, which lets you access all local and world maps, though initially, just as in Oblivion, there won’t be any landmarks on the map. The Pip-Boy presents all the information you’ll need, including your inventory, weapons, your food items, and any information regarding your quests. It also picks up local radio stations, which change as you move around the game world.

It seems like Bethesda has really polished Fallout 3 to follow in the footsteps of the two games before it, while being both innovative and graphically superior. There are clear elements which were taken from Oblivion and implemented in this post-nuclear world, but the formula works well. Fallout 3 is scheduled to hit the shelves on October 28th for PC, 360, and the PS3.