Fallout 4. Oh my... Fallout 4. Where to begin?
I'd never played any of the previous Fallout games, had seen a little of it on Youtube, and - when I treated myself to a PS4 at Christmas - thought at £14, it was worth taking a shot on. Maybe it'd keep me entertained for a week or two.
I had no idea what I was letting myself in for...
To swiftly sum up: Fallout 4 is set (to begin with) in an alternate 1950's USA kind of Universe. Your character signs up (in an amusing exchange on your front doorstep with a sales rep!) to be admitted into a Vault Tec nuclear bunker in the event of "total nuclear annihilation." Barely has the ink dried on your signature when the sirens go off. You (as either husband or wife, depending on your character selection) your spouse and your baby son Shaun, run to the nearby vault as the first bombs drop.
But it turns out Vault Tec has far from honourable intentions in building their vaults. Everyone who is lucky enough to be admitted to Vault 111 (which doesn't include that sales rep...) gets placed in what they're told are "decontamination chambers". I won't give away any plot twists here, but on returning to the surface some time later, you emerge to a devastated landscape. Returning back to your hometown of Sanctuary Hills, you encounter your robot butler, cleaner and nanny, Codsworth, who managed to survive the destruction... and your adventure begins.
I admit it. I fell head over heels in love with this game. I can say truthfully, I've put more time into this game, than anything else I've ever played (about 1,000 hours of play, thus far... and that's not including even more hours on a game save I deleted, to restart the game!) So it's safe to say I've explored almost everything within it.
I'm not going to kid you though. It has it's flaws. Perfect it ain't. But I'll get to that later.
What do I love so much about it? It's unique in my gameplaying experience. Set in this post apocalyptic world that is itself an alternate Universe - robot butlers? Nuclear powered cars? - and a parody of all things American, it's far from the bleak, grim game you might imagine. That's not to say it's a afraid to pull punches, it isn't. But it has a lot of humour in it too. Enter Codsworth, a beaten up (but valiant!) companion - one of many you'll eventually encounter - whose dialogue is at times, genuinely laugh out loud funny. Especially in battles. I have often stopped in mid battle, chuckling away as Codsworth - with his upper class English accent reminiscent of Terry Thomas - launches into the fray with comments like, "Call this a fight? I'm not even sweating! *mumbles* Course, I never do." Or a sarcastic "I could do this all day!". It's just one of countless touches that make this game a genuine joy to play.
Another is just how much effort went into Codsworth himself. Apparently there's something like 1,200 different names he recognizes as your character name, and he calls you BY that character's name. I can't tell you the genuine shock and amazement I felt, the first time Codsworth addressed me by my character's name when I wasn't expecting it... mind blown!
You really feel a hell of a lot of thought went into this game. The way in which exterior areas are designed, is exceptionally clever. Your eyes are automatically guided to "that cool looking new place over there", without you feeling like you're actually being guided by the game. Plus it's enormous fun to just wander. Sure there's a huge, interesting storyline, and countless side quests. But you can ignore it all for as long as you like.
Like to play first person shooter? You can switch between a 1st and 3rd person view and do just that. Wander around, kill enemies, take their stuff. or maybe melee is more your style. Not a problem. Melee away with hammers, baseball bats, machetes... or perhaps you need a break from the fighting? Relax in one of the towns, do a little shopping, talk with the locals. Or go to one of your settlements, and build some new buildings for your settlers. Or give them guns to defend themselves with. Or plant crops. Or harvest them. Or just fast travel to that last interesting place on your map, and find some new place you haven't been to yet. Or find a random character who has a quest for you. Or wants to sell you his dog (yes, really...) or... yes. The possibilities are pretty darn close to endless.
With an open world game set in an alternate Boston - and lots of references to the war of Independence abound - this is a big, big game. If you like wandering on foot and exploring, this is without doubt, the game for you. If you like challenges, there's Survivor mode, where you play the same game but with the difficulty turned up to "Mad Max" levels. If you like crafting and building, then you're going to love working on Settlements, and crafting all manner of things, from better armour and weapons, to healing and buff drugs, to different foods which also have various buffs.
And that's without mentioning the excellent DLC which - and a round of applause for this - doesn't make you feel like the gaming company is trying to mug you, just to get more money out of you.
Flaws? Yes, it has them. The first one - and it's an odd one - is there isn't any real means of transportation in the game. No bikes, cars, any of that. You can - if you side with one faction - have a helicopter transport you but it does seem an odd omission, especially as wrecked vehicles are strewn everywhere, and so much of the game involves you repairing and crafting items. Why not just fix up an old car? Or even a APC, which again, are strewn throughout the game!
Settlers. They're almost more of a hindrance than a help. They immediately expect YOU to do all the work for THEM. Food? Water? Beds? You'll have to provide them all. They farm. But not without you telling them too. Otherwise, they'll happily starve feet away from a fruit bearing tree... and blame you. Nor will they repair damaged buildings, damaged turrets, build walls or defences or doing anything actively useful, aside from scavenge for materials and farm. Yes, they'll defend your compound. But special forces, they ain't. (Best to give them something that sprays a lot of ammo. They're bound to hit something. Eventually...)
Graphically on the PS4, this is not the most beautiful visual game you'll ever play. The frame rate can take a catastrophic hit at times when things get busy onscreen (most notably outdoors in the cityscape areas), and the graphics engine just feels a bit... dated. It has some amazing visual moments, don't get me wrong. But the best graphics out there? Nope, definitely not.
The weapons too - most notably the guns - don't always feel well balanced either. Some guns are excellent in terms of DPS, others... well, try the Tommy Gun. It's actually worse that the handmade pipe SMG, and absolutely useless against the various assault rifles DPS rate. Handguns too, tend not to fare well. Sniper rifles often feel hamstrung as your opponents get tougher. Who in truth wants a sniper rifle that takes maybe 3 shots to kill a single opponent?
Another odd - and not terribly well implemented - idea is that of legendary item drops. Fight a legendary enemy (basically an enemy who will - mildly annoyingly - mutate in battle and have their health go back to full, mid-fight) and they'll usually drop a legendary item. Either armour or weapon. But the buff is random. Totally, completely random. And worse, the really GOOD buffs, are rare. And I do mean, rare. In 1,000 hours of play, I have had one - count it, ONE - gun drop that does bleed damage on a hit. And I was lucky enough to pick up a shotgun with explosive AOE damage. You can't even buy guns like that in stores. Sure you'll occasionally see a legendary weapon in a store. But it's one weapon. Once bought, that's it. You'll never see another in that store. Ever. Again.
It strikes me Resident Evil: Revelations 2 had a much better way of doing this. That you had what was basically a stock weapon, but that weapon had so many slots with which you could add various buffs. Being able to "mix and match" buffs to your weapon (and remove the buffs if you found a better weapon) would have made the custom weapons much more interesting. Finding a gun with extra slots, or turning up a cool new buff from a search or battle, would have kept the game just as interesting, and without that "not another useless buff on really bad armour" discovery after beating a legendary enemy...
I could go on with the negatives, like the game occasionally crashing for no reason at all, the awful local (satellite) map which I never use, odd bugs from time to time - annoying when they prevent you completing quests - and sometimes really cool areas with disappointing payoffs. (Really, you show me this really cool, well thought out area, and all I get at the end is a typical trunk with some non legend weapons and ammo?!). Perfect this game is not. And if you're looking for a deep and immersive storyline with complex decisions to make about how to deal with situations, you might be disappointed. The storyline is interesting and complex, and choosing different factions does change the nature of the game, but compelling and immersive? I'd say not. Enjoyable yes. The next Lord of the Rings? No.
But really, all that pales when you consider just how much gameplay (and replay value) you have here. Even now, after 1,000 hours, I have yet to finish the main quest. True, I have the DLC as well. But I'd say 90% of my time has been in the Commonwealth. With 30 settlements to run, countless side quests, and mapping the entire huge area, plus all the many, many fun and interesting interactions (including some unexpected and amusing random encounters when travelling on foot!), enormous attention to detail when it comes to making the world a believable, living place, and just so much to actively discover in every abandoned shack, cave and town... this game is engrossing in a very different kind of way. Not so much for the storyline, fun as that is, but for the sheer size and scale of exploration. You're always discovering something new, somewhere. That's the joy of this game.
If you like RPG's you'll probably like this. If you like FPS's you'll probably like this. Heck, if you like farming games, you'll probably like this! It's a game with it's own unique charm, and I for one, would be happy to play Fallout 5 in the future, if it's anything like as good as this. And for less than a tenner at the time of writing this, you'll get a heck of a lot of game for your money.
So go on, treat yourself... you'll be glad you did. :)
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From the manufacturer
Fallout 4
DESCRIPTION:
Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, welcome you to the world of Fallout 4 – their most ambitious game ever, and the next generation of open-world gaming. As the sole survivor of Vault 111, you enter a world destroyed by nuclear war. Every second is a fight for survival, and every choice is yours. Only you can rebuild and determine the fate of the Wasteland. Welcome home.
KEY FEATURES:
Freedom and Liberty!
Do whatever you want in a massive open world with hundreds of locations, characters, and quests. Join multiple factions vying for power or go it alone, the choices are all yours.
You’re S.P.E.C.I.A.L!
Be whoever you want with the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. character system. From a Power Armored soldier to the charismatic smooth talker, you can choose from hundreds of Perks and develop your own playstyle.
Super Deluxe Pixels!
An all-new next generation graphics and lighting engine brings to life the world of Fallout like never before. From the blasted forests of the Commonwealth to the ruins of Boston, every location is packed with dynamic detail.
Violence and V.A.T.S.!
Intense first or third person combat can also be slowed down with the new dynamic Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S) that lets you choose your attacks and enjoy cinematic carnage.
Collect and Build!
Collect, upgrade, and build thousands of items in the most advanced crafting system ever. Weapons, armor, chemicals, and food are just the beginning - you can even build and manage entire settlements.
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