FROM pure colour and joy to the gritty greys and misery of a post nuclear-fallout world, Fallout 3 could not be more different from LittleBigPlanet, but rest assured it's just as compelling. This open-world choose-your-own-path action roleplayer is the latest release from the genius that is Bethesda Game Studios - the company behind Oblivion.

In development since 2004, Fallout 3 takes place in the Capitol Wasteland, around America's Washington DC in 2277, 200 years after bombs fell and 30 years after Fallout 2 took place.

However, it's not a direct follow-on from the previous games so anyone who hasn't been a Fallout follower will not feel like their missing out on something.

While you can toggle between first-person and over-the-shoulder views, the experience is far more intense from the former perspective.

That said, you are born into the world of Vault 101 - a shelter where the "last'' survivors of a nuclear fallout have been housed.

The game opens with your birth, when you choose your gender and name.

You carry on in Vault 101, leading a relatively dull life and picking up a few vital elements along the way until you turn 19 and your father disappears.

Then it's time to escape the vault and enter the real world.

As with Oblivion, you'll meet others who will trigger side quests and those who will add elements to the main quest.

There are lots of battles ahead and the combat can be undertaken like a normal first-person shooter or you can limit the risk of death by using the assisted targeting system which lets you pause the game, target specific body parts, then watch the bloodshed unfold in gory cinematic quality.

Like any good role-playing game, this one has loads of treasures to unearth.

However, beware, the more you carry the more you'll slow down.

So remember to drop in to the nearest dealer and sell of some of your hard-earned gains for the local currency.

Fallout 3's universe is a huge expanse and the keen explorer will spend days getting lost going from one side of the world to the other.

It's mid-20th century stylings are rendered to perfection and look exquisite on a huge flat screen and if you really want to immerse yourself fully, plug in the hi-fi and let the sound effects take you to another century.