As part of our Fallout 3 coverage, TheGameReviews.com was lucky enough to sit down with Pete Hines of Bethesda Software while he showed us a walkthrough of the latest build of Fallout 3. While we were being shown the combat system, we thought this would be a good time to bring up what ESRB rating the guys are trying to hit. When asked if it could be M rated, Pete Hine responded:

“It is definitely mature. I mean we have been very clear from the beginning to anybody that would listen that this is a mature game for mature audiences for sure.”

While playing through the game, TheGameReviews.com noticed that when in combat and shooting at certain limps, they cut off. Arms get cut off, legs get cut off, heads get cut off.

“So the arm comes off and spouts blood here and it spouts blood from the arm. I mean it is kind of gross and yucky but you know you can go into Gears War and chainsaw a guy and body parts go everywhere and blood spouts everywhere. So it is you know it is not any more or less than other games,” Pete Hines explained.

But much like Oblivion, combat is not everything. “So you know in the context of all the other stuff that you are going to be doing during this game, it is not the only thing you spend all of your time doing. You could spend lots of time buying and selling stuff and you know it is much like Oblivion, you can avoid combat as a means of getting through the game.”

Be sure to check back soon for our exclusive hands on preview on what could be the best game of 2008 right here at TheGameReviews.com