Statistically speaking, I don't like Fallout games.
In fact, working purely off my enjoyment of the games over time, I hate them.
The first time I played Fallout was probably in the year 2000 and I was 16! I was more interested in trying to see boobs on a dial up account than fixing a water purifier issue.
I couldn't really figure out how to play the game properly, got frustrated with the whole experience and promptly forgot about the franchise until I picked up Fallout 3 and New Vegas in a bundle during some Steam sale a few years ago.
I started playing Fallout 3 and blew through it. I loved it. Watched videos about it, read up on it, tried to find all the secrets of it, it was a grand old time. I did like New Vegas as well, but it just didn't capture me with the same fervour of Fallout 3.
And now we have Fallout 4. A game I was very excited to play, as some of you may have heard in the Podcast, and a game I have very much enjoyed playing since it came out almost a month ago.
But does it live up to the ratings?
In fact, working purely off my enjoyment of the games over time, I hate them.
The first time I played Fallout was probably in the year 2000 and I was 16! I was more interested in trying to see boobs on a dial up account than fixing a water purifier issue.
I couldn't really figure out how to play the game properly, got frustrated with the whole experience and promptly forgot about the franchise until I picked up Fallout 3 and New Vegas in a bundle during some Steam sale a few years ago.
I started playing Fallout 3 and blew through it. I loved it. Watched videos about it, read up on it, tried to find all the secrets of it, it was a grand old time. I did like New Vegas as well, but it just didn't capture me with the same fervour of Fallout 3.
And now we have Fallout 4. A game I was very excited to play, as some of you may have heard in the Podcast, and a game I have very much enjoyed playing since it came out almost a month ago.
But does it live up to the ratings?
Let me start by saying that I am by no means a professional, or even an accomplished amateur game reviewer. In fact, I have never published any review article before this, ever.
So, keeping that in mind, let's forge ahead.
Is Fallout 4 a perfect game.
Even the most die hard of fans can't answer this in the affirmative.
It has a lot of problems.
Like, a lot of problems.
Unfortunately, not a lot of these can get away with falling under the category of being iconic to the franchise either, and therefore getting a pass.
Now, I tend to be pretty forgiving in regards to issues if they are not game breaking. The mere concept of putting together something so complicated and complex boggles my mind so much that I am surprised that they manage to get anything out the door at all, let alone expecting something that works perfectly.
Having said that, lets get down to the issues that do exist.
So, keeping that in mind, let's forge ahead.
Is Fallout 4 a perfect game.
Even the most die hard of fans can't answer this in the affirmative.
It has a lot of problems.
Like, a lot of problems.
Unfortunately, not a lot of these can get away with falling under the category of being iconic to the franchise either, and therefore getting a pass.
Now, I tend to be pretty forgiving in regards to issues if they are not game breaking. The mere concept of putting together something so complicated and complex boggles my mind so much that I am surprised that they manage to get anything out the door at all, let alone expecting something that works perfectly.
Having said that, lets get down to the issues that do exist.
Graphical Glitches
I have been either extremely lucky or we are dealing with the vocal minority in this regard, because I have not really experienced any graphical glitches to speak of.
The first and almost only one I have really experienced is a little NSFW and follows.
The first and almost only one I have really experienced is a little NSFW and follows.
A tad risqué, but that is about as bad as I have had it. I will admit to jumbling some debris around and it shuddering and jumping, as if possessed, but beyond that, just some items of clothing getting caught in the body frames.
I am a little disappointed to be honest. I was hoping for some amusing ragdoll physics, some bodies to just teleport away, or rocket off into space, but my game has just been boring in this regard so I can't really comment on the issues I have seen people have.
Shits been happening since Halflife 2 at least, get used to it, would be my comment, if forced.
I am a little disappointed to be honest. I was hoping for some amusing ragdoll physics, some bodies to just teleport away, or rocket off into space, but my game has just been boring in this regard so I can't really comment on the issues I have seen people have.
Shits been happening since Halflife 2 at least, get used to it, would be my comment, if forced.
Inventory/Pipboy
Now, this is something that bugs me. With a few simple modifications, the Pipboy inventory could be so smooth and easy to use.
In my opinion, all it would take to make the interface great to navigate would be subcategories.
You pick up so many perks via books and levelling, that it can be a real clusterfuck trying to read that menu. If the perks you have were categorised to level perks and other, it would be so much better to navigate.
The rest of the Pipboy issues are the same.
Easily fixed, moderately frustrating to live with.
In my opinion, all it would take to make the interface great to navigate would be subcategories.
You pick up so many perks via books and levelling, that it can be a real clusterfuck trying to read that menu. If the perks you have were categorised to level perks and other, it would be so much better to navigate.
The rest of the Pipboy issues are the same.
Easily fixed, moderately frustrating to live with.
Difficulty Curve
This is a legitimate gripe, and possibly a fully personal one.
At no point in this game have I ever felt challenged by combat and I am by no means a optimised build. Hell, I didn't even know anything about the perk tree until I started the game!
(This did lead me to believing that the first four skill rows were all there were until about level 7, but that's on me.)
I did start the game on Normal difficulty, but within the first 10 levels turned it up to Hard, and now sit on Very Hard.
Just recently I took down a Alpha Deathclaw with a shotgun and next to no damage taken.
I regularly just stand in a room with the Overseer's Guardian (Something I just stumbled across) and pretty quickly and quietly take everyone down, maybe popping a few stimpacks.
At no point in this game have I ever felt challenged by combat and I am by no means a optimised build. Hell, I didn't even know anything about the perk tree until I started the game!
(This did lead me to believing that the first four skill rows were all there were until about level 7, but that's on me.)
I did start the game on Normal difficulty, but within the first 10 levels turned it up to Hard, and now sit on Very Hard.
Just recently I took down a Alpha Deathclaw with a shotgun and next to no damage taken.
I regularly just stand in a room with the Overseer's Guardian (Something I just stumbled across) and pretty quickly and quietly take everyone down, maybe popping a few stimpacks.
I very much doubt I just stumbled onto a over powered character build, but I guess it is in the realms of possibility that at level 41 I just haven't run into any really hard enemies.
Entry Level
This is the big one, and what I consider the main failing point of the game.
If you have never played a modern Fallout game before, walking into Fallout 4 is going to be incredibly difficult. The game tells you next to nothing about what to do or how to play.
As someone who was intimately familiar with Fallout 3 and to a lesser extent New Vegas, I was able to figure most things out, but even after 60 plus hours of playtime I still suddenly realise something simple that was never told to me in game.
I played for what must have been 20 hours before I realised that all the weapon mods in my inventory were the ones I wasn't using and I should just store them in my workbench.
Ditto for most of my Misc inventory. I realised that when I was just scrolling like mad through the hundreds of weightless notes, scraps of paper and quest items, that a lot of them served no purpose, and that finding that Raiders Note would be a lot easier if I just got rid of almost everything in there.
I can only imagine how someone that has never played a Fallout game seriously would feel getting dropped into a game that, after the initial "Press Ctrl to crouch, and that'll improve your aiming!" tips that pop up on your screen near the beginning of the game just sets you free in a wild world of game tools and too bad if you can't figure it out yourself, better get googling to figure out how to shift mods on and off weapons as you upgrade them!
If you have never played a modern Fallout game before, walking into Fallout 4 is going to be incredibly difficult. The game tells you next to nothing about what to do or how to play.
As someone who was intimately familiar with Fallout 3 and to a lesser extent New Vegas, I was able to figure most things out, but even after 60 plus hours of playtime I still suddenly realise something simple that was never told to me in game.
I played for what must have been 20 hours before I realised that all the weapon mods in my inventory were the ones I wasn't using and I should just store them in my workbench.
Ditto for most of my Misc inventory. I realised that when I was just scrolling like mad through the hundreds of weightless notes, scraps of paper and quest items, that a lot of them served no purpose, and that finding that Raiders Note would be a lot easier if I just got rid of almost everything in there.
I can only imagine how someone that has never played a Fallout game seriously would feel getting dropped into a game that, after the initial "Press Ctrl to crouch, and that'll improve your aiming!" tips that pop up on your screen near the beginning of the game just sets you free in a wild world of game tools and too bad if you can't figure it out yourself, better get googling to figure out how to shift mods on and off weapons as you upgrade them!
At the end of the day, even taking into consideration the many issues that the game might have and the degree that you might feel that they ruin the game, or make you feel nostalgia for the same issues that were in the two previous games and other Bethesda games of a similar ilk, they still haven't been enough to stop me putting almost three solid days worth of time into the game.
I am even upset that I took this free time I had and wrote this review instead of using that time to get to the next level so I can finally take that last level of Science! so I can finish upgrading my Gauss rifle.
For the TL;DR, all this boils down to is it is a MASSIVE game. Of course it is going to have issues when it first comes out.
It is still a wicked fun game though.
I am even upset that I took this free time I had and wrote this review instead of using that time to get to the next level so I can finally take that last level of Science! so I can finish upgrading my Gauss rifle.
For the TL;DR, all this boils down to is it is a MASSIVE game. Of course it is going to have issues when it first comes out.
It is still a wicked fun game though.