Hey everyone,

I've decided to start the Fun Factor Battles here because I want to know your opinions. I'm sure everyone here buy their games for entertainment purposes and gaming is all about having fun. Well having said that, I want to know what you think makes a specific game fun. Is it the gameplay elements that make that game fun to play? Is it the art style? Or perhaps the characters within the game?

So basically we're comparing two games and determining which of the two provides more enjoyment and fun to you and please tell us after your evaluation of each game, which of the two games will you buy if you could only buy one of them?

Here are a few rules about The Fun Factor Battles:

1) No trolling pls.

2) If you have never played one of the two games compared but you know enough about it to make a comparison, go ahead and tell us what you think the fun factors of the game is.

3) I won't compare console exclusives to each other i.e Killzone 2 vs Halo 3 nor compare HD games that aren't on the Wii compared to Wii exclusives i.e Assassin's Creed II vs NSMBW.

4) Games of different genres will be compared i.e Bioshock vs Need for Speed Shift, etc

5) Please do not mention other games in each battle. Only discuss the two compared games.

6) Games that are released will be compared. Never will there be comparisons of one unreleased game and one released game or two unreleased games i.e Final Fantasy XIII vs Fallout 3, Mass Effect 2 vs Splinter Cell: Conviction.

So here's how your evaluation should look like:

Game A Fun Factors

- blah blah blah

- blah blah blah

 Game B Fun Factors

- blah blah blah

- blah blah blah

 Game to buy: Game A

Now let's start off the first set of battles.

MASS EFFECT vs FALLOUT 3

Does M-E have multiplayer? Never played so I don't know.
But back on topic, I've played Fallout 3 but not M-E even then I think I would give it blindly to M-E on the grounds that it (supposedly)has a better story, I did not like the storyline of Fallout3, especially the ending (DLCs overlooked), it was hyped to be this awesome beast but such a letdown. No matter what anyone says, a good story plays part in how much fun I have with a game.
I'm gonna guess gameplay wise, both are equal in terms of "fun", if ME1 ever comes to the ps3 (unlikely I accept) I will pick it up. When the DLCs for fallout 3 came to 360 I wasn't fussed, now they are on the ps3...still not fussed.

So yeah...ME ftw!!!

I don't know which annoys me more, the slow pace of ME combat or the incredibly poor battle AI of Fallout 3...

You know, I was this close -THIS CLOSE (If you could see how close my fingers are to touching right now, you'd know exactly how close.....) to buying Fallout 3 for $20 a couple of days ago. Arguments in this thread may push me over the edge.

Both games were disappointing to me but here it goes.

Mass Effect : dialogs are nice, universe is good, scenario is ok.

Fallout 3 : I love the background story, VATS is fun, exploring destroyed building and abandonned vaults.

Game to buy: Fallout 3

@asmo
Dissapointed? According to your expectations?
God! You have some high expectations and standards there sir!

Mass Effect (putting aside the various technical issues) is the best game this gen. But it is a Bioware RPG, and once you've done the side quests, there is absolutely no reason to visit a place again. So, following the story is like reading a good book, and this is fun, but you just can't play around. You have to keep going. (of course I like that).

Fallout 3 has very strong background, but a very weak storyline itself.
You can jurk around all you want, and you can keep playing for days or weeks, without promoting the main story.
On the other hand, it is a real pain in the ass if you want to start the game all over again. At least, I didn't enjoy it a lot after 140 hours in my first playthrough. And the leveliing isn;t that much fun.
Mass Effect has A HELL of replayability, with different classes and stuff.

So overall, I would slightly lean to the Mass Effect side.
Though I love both games so much...

They didn't live up to the hype for me.

Mass Effect, you would think it is better than KOTOR. For me, nope... the main quest is ridiculously short ( you visit like 4 planets rapidly and that's it ), the side missions are not very interesting.

For the exploration, there are some planets to visit but all of them have only 3 or 4 places to go to, most of the time it's just a chest to open, if it's not a chest its 2 kinds of bunkers with people inside to kill. Driving with the mako is awful, I spent most of my time trying to climb a mountain or trying to get out of a hole.

Fallout 3, well just play 1 and 2. For me it should be called Fallout Shooter. What made Fallout 1 and 2 such great games is not there anymore.

I didn't say they are bad games, they are just disappointing to me.

Hmm... both games are really different in my opinion.

I don't feel like going into depth but Fallout 3 is definitely more fun but both are fantastic games.

Mass Effect-

- Best Character creation tools ever made, if you're into creating cool characters this is definitely a lot of fun.
- Classes can be super fun to tinker with, which creates massive replayability.
- Second best story this gen after MGS4 (and it's pretty close, might be better if you're not a big MGS fan like I am), if that means anything to you.
- Stellar graphics and character models.
- The conversations are great, and it's so different than you're used to.

Fallout 3:

- VATS can be fun.
- Nearly unlimited exploration, there is just so much to do, you can do 150+ hours in one playthrough.
- Some pretty funny dialogue.

Game to buy: Mass Effect and it's not even close.

Just a quick response here, if you think Mass Effect's character creation tools are cool, you should see Champions Online (or COH COV so I've heard but haven't played). Never have I seen such a deep character creation setup, I've spent hours creating characters =)

On topic:

ME-

I liked the story, even if it was a little predictable (but what RPG isn't?), and the leveling system was alright. For the most part, I liked the combat system even if it was a bit sluggish. Exploring is BORING though (did not like the Mako).

Fallout3-

A much better leveling system. Very easy to Min/Max if you're into that sort of thing. Exploring is fun, there are many places to go, and you don't feel like you're doing the same thing over and over. And for RPG lovers that aren't so good with shooters, the VATS system can really help you out, thus making it easier for various skill levels to get into the game. MUCH better DLC.

All in all, I actually liked ME more as a game (for the story), but I think I had more fun playing Fallout 3. I've played through ME 3-4 times, and I'm sure I can't do it again. I've played through Fallout 3 maybe 3 times, but I could probably go another 3-4 times before I'm completely done with it.

So my pick: Fallout 3