clickbliss — Fallout 4 Review

Fallout 4 Review

Fallout 4
Developer - Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher - Bethesda Softworks
PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
Rating - Mature

It’s been five long years since the last sequel to the Fallout franchise, Fallout New Vegas, explored our favorite post apocalyptic wasteland in 2010. And now with the long awaited release of Fallout 4, I can say it feels so good to finally be back.

Now that the astronomically nuclear hype for Fallout 4 has settled, it’s time to take an in depth look at what we thought about the game. For those still not initiated into the Fallout scene, Fallout 4 is an open world action role-playing game, set in a post apocalyptic Boston. Or as the native people of the land call the area, the Commonwealth. In this land of rusting sky scrapers and old world heritage, it’s up to you to find your son, while looting, killing, and exploring your way through all that the Commonwealth has to offer. And believe me, it has quite a bit to offer.

While not as vast as Fallout 3’s Capital Wasteland, the Commonwealth is very densely populated. Unlike the vast stretches of desert and wastes in the Mojave and Capital Wasteland, the Commonwealth has something new at every corner. A large emphasis on verticality, helps command a very urban feel to much of the land. City rooftops and overpasses offer great vantage points of the Commonwealth, as well as great opportunities to sneak and snipe. Still, don’t be too surprised if you find yourself occasionally hitting the borders of the map. For some, the Commonwealth may feel a bit undeniably small. But don’t be discouraged. 75 hours in, and I’m still finding new places to go, things to see, and characters to interact with.

From a visual standpoint, the Creation Engine does a solid job of bringing the Commonwealth to life. Textures have seen a noticeable improvement over older titles such as Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas. Common textures such as rubble and dirt no longer feel as plastered on and out of place. The grey skybox of old has also been ditched for a wide array of new weather effects, including a clear blue sky, rain, fog, and my favorite, the deadly radiation storm. Character models have been improved, but still suffer from a lack of variety. This is most evident in the character creator. I’ve heard many players complain about the downgrade in face and body customization options when in comparison to titles such as the Dragon Age series and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. On the upside, the art direction breathes life into a more colorful rendition of the Fallout universe, capitalizing on a richer more colorful palette, without losing any of the war torn wasteland feel. You’ll find a few locales in particular, that could not have been possible without this new palette.

But it’s combat that’s king in Fallout 4. Skills and stats have been brought under a single perk tree, that allows you to allot an attribute point into a skill or a perk every time you level up. In theory this system works well, allowing more customizable methods of gameplay that you can explore beyond a twenty to thirty level cap. But a lack of total skill points over the life of an average game, will feel sluggish for players with less time on their hands. Gunplay is more reliant on your precision with sights than stats in perception. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Some may say this makes the gameplay feel more akin to a first person shooter. But I personally don’t mind, as fights feel more in your control, as opposed to relying on RNG. VATS has also been reworked, now slowing down time instead of pausing it. Successful hits on enemies with VATS now builds expendable critical strikes. I’m particularly pleased with this new feature as a really neat way to incentivize luck as a consistent, more reliable stat. Action points can also now be used to sprint and hold your breath for steadier shots. Of course this depletes your AP very fast, so it never feels too overpowered. (Even with endurance and agility enhancements to your AP pool) This plethora of options gives you a lot more ways to start and finish a fight, so don’t feel too discouraged to invest points down a different set of perks. Just remember that an average play through can typically be achieved at roughly level 30-45.

Some performance issues still linger across all versions of the game. On the PC version (the version I spent most of my time), frame rates rarely dropped below 60 frames. I did encounter plenty of bugs that had me restarting my game, including audio drops, clipping, and awful interface bugs. Luckily most of these issues seem to have disappeared, as more patches have come out, though I’m sure bugs will continue to plague players for a long time. The list of bugs varies widely between players, ranging from the occasionally laughable, to outright frustrating. Hopefully these issues will be smoothed out in further patches throughout the rest of the month. Oddly enough, the Xbox One and PS4 versions my friends played did not suffer from any bugs, but did see a drop in frames, especially with the PS4.

Furthermore on the list of gripes, was a long lineup of decisions by Bethesda that bothered many fans and veterans of the series alike. A lack of variety in radio songs and a large recycling of old songs was a big letdown for me. Broadcasts interrupt too frequently and barely deviate as much as they did in previous titles. (They really should have brought back Three Dog) Companion interface, particularly AI, is still hilariously abysmal. (Paladin Danse, I swear to god if you trip that mine field again you big clumsy oaf…) This is highlighted by the immortality of all companions in combat. A necessary, but lazy band aid to a largely untouched issue. The world map fared pretty well, but the local map was nearly useless. Though the most annoying problem, was chiefly Bethesda’s decision to consolidate players choices in a way that amounted to just an illusion of freedom. Dialogue opportunities are split between four different choices, but often arrive to the same conclusion. Even with the disposal of the karma system, there is still no excuse for the heavy amount of streamlining of dialogue and decision making. Recent mods have alleviated some of these problems, and over time will hopefully be set to fixing more along the way. (I really hope someone brings back New Vegas’s ammo crafting and hardcore mode) Really though, these are only a few problems out of the dozens that I couldn’t ignore.

Taking all these complaints into account, Fallout 4 still managed to engross my attention in a way very few games could. Exploring in Fallout 4 is addicting as ever. It’s easy to get sidetracked from quests entirely, and to begin wandering from landmark to landmark. There’s definitely no shortage of fantastic side quests and superb points of interest. Most of the thirteen obtainable companions have fully fleshed out back stories, combat perks, and quips of dialogue that make for some of the best moments in game. Look out for Deacon, Curie, and Nick Valentine. Forget the dog, or else you’ll miss out on all the great banter from your other companions. Base building and weapons/armor crafting are two of my favorite parts of the game. Items in the world can be scrapped for raw materials that are used to produce weapons, armor, and bases. Base building is a fun distraction for the architecturally inclined, nor does it ever feel forced onto the player. Just don’t expect people to come flocking in droves to your new settlements. But weapon/armor modification is where the creation system shines the most. My hours of searching for pencils, aluminum cans, and vacuum tubes, were always rewarded with a mind boggling array of customization options for my gear. Which would usually result in another quest to hoard as much junk as physically possible, thus renewing the cycle. If you prefer to loot your favorite weapons you can always hunt for legendary enemies, who drop armor and weapons imbued with special traits. 50% increased damage to mirelurks? About damn time. This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to things I really enjoyed about the game.

As a whole, my feelings for Fallout 4 were often at ends. More time was definitely needed to fine tune bugs and glitches. And I’m disappointed in some of the decisions Bethesda made for the game. But Fallout 4 is quite honestly the most addicting game I’ve played in a while. So many great aspects of the game will be overlooked by fans obsessed with the flaws of the game. But considering how much fun I had, and remembering all the hours I’ve sunk and will continue to sink into the game, I still believe Fallout 4 should not be passed up. Perhaps I’m just coming off the post launch high of playing such an anticipated game. Or perhaps I’ve just become too accustomed to so many of the quirks and frustrations that come with a Fallout game. Well, what I am certain of, is that this is just the beginning of a new era for the world of Fallout, and a bold continuation of the saga.