Fallout 3 Quest Mods Review #77 by TrickyTrack00
Mod Name: Project Genesis
Mod Type: Quest/Dungeon/Location
Original Creator: Alexander J Velicky (Gunmaster95)
Original Links: Project Genesis
Well, Project Genesis is another example of the quest mod which has large amount of positive aspects, but also some major flaws which, for some reason, many people didn't see and/or intentionally didn't want to acknowledged in reviews and comment section.
I should mention in the beginning that I don't know anything about this mod creator and his "magnum opus" (at least for some users) for Skyrim - Falskaar mod. Also I didn't play his other quest mod for Fallout New Vegas and will give my impressions only judging Project Genesis for what it is (or "isn't") after so many years.
In January, 2024 it is actually my first time finally playing and finishing this old quest mod. Although I knew about it and even wanted to try Project Genesis back in 2012. But for some reason I couldn't bring myself to play it until my recent Fallout 3 Max Modded Playthrough with goal to play and review 95% of available quest/dungeon mods for Fallout 3.
So, let's begin with positive sides for Project Genesis (I will be going through some spoilers to analyze important story moments of this quest in "negative" part of ths review, first and last warning for you).
In short the strongest aspect of this quest mod (of course, only in my humble opinion) is level/dungeon/interior designs and structure. All new locations are amazingly crafted and felt fresh to explore and visit.
Interiors have so much little details and right amount of clutter and objects to fully immerse yourself in this adventure. Probably on par with many vanilla Fallout 3 dungeons.
All combat sequences were very satisfying, although don't expect much in this gameplay side of things. Mostly you are going to visit new locations, follow NPCs and turn some switches/generators here and there.
And I really liked "puzzle stage" of this quest with interesting obstacles and funny moments while trying to complete several "puzzle stages".
Additionally, yes, as some other users already talked before me about it, I should mention especially good "prologue" part of this mod (in which you need to think a little bit and understand your next task on your own without any quest markers). And intro sequence was nice, hands down...
But as with many other quest mods for Fallout 3 in which different creators tried to write full-blown new huge story, "Project Genesis" has many minor and big flaws in narrative and pacing aspects.
From gameplay perspective, as I already mentioned, most of the time you will spent by looking for different switches/terminals in new locations and just mindlessly following new friendly NPCs. And you are going to encounter at least 2 unavoidable (but also unnecessary) "backtracking" stages in this quest. The most obvious and lazy backtracking moment is when you will need to travel to new "Blue Ridge Pass" location with main friendly NPCs (just walking for around 4-5 minutes without any interesting sequences or combat encounters).
Main protagonist of Project Genesis named Dr. O'Neil is going to ask you to again return to his lab in Gene-Tec building (from which you originally started your journey to Blue Ridge Pass) to get special Prometheus Combat Suit. And when come back to him after activating transportation of this suit.
At first I thought that I will need to fight my way back through some new scripted enemy groups, but, nah, you are going to mindlessly walk back to Gene-Tec for another 5-15 minutes (even if you will use Fast Travel at some available points) and return to O'Neil without any new gameplay stage or something like that.
Overall Project Genesis has the same biggest problem like original Fallout 3 vanilla main quest. You aren't experiencing some new story which centers around you as a main protagonist, you didn't actually do anything significant in this narrative (aside from watching some dialogue sequences and "flashbacks"). O'Neil and Bishop (main antagonist of the story) are the main actors of this "show", not you. You are just another "little helper" who will turn some switches, activate generators and find keys, nothing else. Like in vanilla Fallout 3 main story in which your Liam "Dad" Nisson is a real hero, not you. You are just a viewer of someone else's story and performance.
And let's talk about "flashbacks". Yes, Project Genesis has around 5-6 short flashback moments aka "memories of another person" which you are going to encounter in your playthrough.
After another 2-3 flashback moments, it is revealed that you are "experiencing" some Mr. Krukov's memories. Mr. Krukov will follow you as a mysterious figure in some early stages of the main quest, popping here and there in Gene-Tec Building.
In the final flashback sequence we, as players are going to see his death (Bishop shot him with revolver before the Great War). And also Mr. Bishop is going to reveal himself to the player as a "ghost" or some kind of supernatural "entity" and will ask main character to "stop Dr. Bishop".
Yeah, new supernatural suff without any background explanation or "narrative meat". But this "ghost" isn't the biggest problem.
Main plot hole with all Mr. Krukov's mess is waiting for you in next stage of the quest. In later part of the quest you are going to visit Fort Verdict (in which Mr. Krukov helped Dr. Bishop to deal with some dirty work) and you are going to kill some super soldiers aka usual super mutants which were created by Dr. Bishop. One of the "super soldiers" which you are going to encounter in this section is named "Mr. Krukov". And at this moment I couldn't care about main story anymore.
If Ivan Krukov was shot by Dr. Bishop, how he would've been able to experiment on him and make him a "super soldier"? It doesn't make any sense and won't be explained in any other following sequences of the story.
Also you are going to meet Dr. Bishop face to face in Fort Verdict. Remind you, that Bishop most likely is at least 260 years old at this period of time. And, of course, you can ask him about it. And he will answer with the following lines: "Natural aging was a simple problem to fix. I have created a medication that stops my bodies aging process". Yeah, that's what lazy writing looks like.
Why won't make him at least "ghoulified" to actually fix this serious narrative flaw? Or just put him in another cryo-cell to justify his appereance after 200 years (like main creator of this mod already did with Dr. O'Neil and other friendly crew).
Of course, there are few other big plot holes like, for example, main goal of finding Dr. O'Neil's wife who went to Gene-Tec right in the same period of time when Dr. O'Neil and his gang put theirselves in cryo-chambers to survive 200 years (before Lone Wanderer is going to "thaw them").
In the final stages of the story Dr. O'Neil finds his wife in Fort Verdict. Aaaand Dr. Bishop is going to kill her right before your and O'Neil's eyes. How did she survive for such a long time without cryo-chamber? Another magical medicine from Bishop, yeah? And also why did Dr. Bishop intentionally kept her alive in his Fort? Huh, because he wanted to make O'Neil sad? :c And how did Bishop actually know that O'Neil was alive and wanted to find his wife in the first place?
Yes, dozens of questions and dozens of problems with the main story. And the ending is, sorry, hilariously bad. I truly had a smile on my face for the first time in this quest mod playthrough.
I could've gone on and on about this flaws, but let's finish with this review.
Last part which I wanted to mention is, of course, technical side of Project Genesis. Mostly this mod was stable and flawless (in technical part) until I reached final stage in Fort Verdict. That's where I encountered some CtDs and problems which were already mentioned by other users. To actually finish this quest you will need to use some console commands to trigger next sequence. So if you are going to use this mod, don't forget to check comment sections, forum pages and maybe video playthroughs of this mod to set some stages of the quest.
In the end, "Project Genesis" isn't such a hidden gem which I was initially expected to finally experience after so many years. It has decently crafted locations, well-made scripted sequences with different NPCs, tolerable voice acting and, sadly, very poor writing part.
So, should you try this mod in 2024? Yes, if you want to visit new locations and just watch some other guy's main story (O'Neil's, not yours). And no, if you can't tolerate big narrative holes and intentional backtracking sections in gameplay part.
No endorsement this time.
