Fallout 4 is a game that scratches an itch. An itch that is all about being dropped into a world and being told “do whatever you want”. Fallout 4 lets you explore the Commonwealth (a post-apocalyptic Boston and surrounding areas) and while exploring you can do anything. You can talk to people and make friends or shoot everything and take what you want. Fallout 4 received an overhaul in a few key systems.
In my opinion the standout improvement to this game from previous installments is the combat. Fallout 4 feels more like a shooter than any previous game with the addition of an actual targeting reticle to allow players to more easily land shots without aim down sights or V.A.T.S (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System), which also received a change. As opposed to the old system of freezing time and critical occurring at random, time now slows and as you make successful hits a critical bar fills, allowing you to activate a critical at your command. This makes combat much more strategic. Another system to receive a change is the perks system. Now each SPECIAL contains 10 perks that can only be accessed depending on the base level of the specific SPECIAL (meaning that you can only acquire the level 6 strength perk if your strength is at 6). You can distribute points into perks to reach a higher level of that specific perk, get a new perk, or just increase the level of a SPECIAL by 1. You get to distribute one point each level with no actual level cap. This means theoretically you should be able to max out every perk and SPECIAL at level 272. Bethesda also removed the skill portion of leveling up, meaning you no longer put points into specific skills such as guns, energy weapons, speech, etc. Speech options that require certain levels of speech do not technically exist. In Fallout 4 when you receive dialogue options, some may be a different color. These are charisma checks. Essentially you can accomplish a charisma check no matter what level your charisma is, but you have a higher probability to succeed the higher your charisma. The difficulty of the options are color-coded from yellow being the easiest to red being the hardest and orange being in the middle. Crafting this time around is a little different. Crafting requires components that are found in junk throughout the map. This gives a use to those pointless items (Toy cars and what not) in the world and a reason to pick them up other than selling them. Fallout 4 also adds an interesting system that allows you to build settlements throughout the Commonwealth. This system is an interesting addition. You only need to use this system at the beginning of the main quest line as a tutorial, then you can either ignore it or use it all you want. This system adds an almost Minecraft-esque element to the game. The downside is that this system is at many time clunky and hard to use. I believe the settlement system needed more time in development. Fallout 4’s standout feature is not its narrative. Like past installments, Fallout 4, has a chain of quests that take you across the map to accomplish the “main goal”. In all honestly Fallout 4’s main quest line is not very interesting: a tale of a parent trying to reclaim a lost child. This is one of the few times I will say that I wish that the campaign was shorter. There is too much of run point A to B for a long winded conversation to then be set off on a retrieval mission or just go talk to someone else. The narrative is just weak and does not do a good job of making you care for the characters. Side quests are what save this area. Side quests at times have a stronger narrative than that of the main story. Another problem I had with Fallout 4 was not only the overabundance of load screens, but the amount of time they take. I understand that this is a massive game with many working parts, but they constantly break immersion. I experienced few game breaking glitches in this game; the worst being stuck in a wall or in a crevice. The biggest technical issue I experienced was the amount of frame rate drop. Once again this is an ambitious game and all, but I’m not talking about small drops. I’m talking about massive drops especially in key moments like combat. Fallout 4 may not be the game you look for if you want an outstanding and immersive story. This is the game you play if you want to explore a world filled with fascinating people and creatures. You can get lost in the amazing amounts of locations to loot and explore. This game gives an amazing experience and is easily one of the top games of 2015. Rating: 8/10
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AuthorI am A.J. Goelz. I'm a gamer first and a writer second. I hope you enjoy the content on this page and check out the rest of my content on YouTube. Archives
April 2019
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