Fallout. Fallout never changes.
In the case of Fallout 4 I can’t recommended the game enough, yet still feel conflicted with what Bethesda has given us. On the surface Fallout 4 is just a visually souped up Fallout 3, but underneath there is such a good core concept that one can’t stop playing the game, no matter how much it rubs you the wrong way at times. It’s a real love hate relationship that I have yet seen many critics call the game out on.
The story in Fallout 4 is a mess. As with every single Fallout game you begin as a Vault Dweller, in this case from Vault 111. As fans already know each Vault was a separate experiment to test the human subjects inside in all sorts of crazy ways for extended periods of time. In the case of our hero Vault 111 was a test in human cryo storage techniques. As these things tend to go in Fallout, everything goes fubar and you, your wife, and infant son are the only ones to survive the process, waking up 200 years in the future. Turns out your son was stolen and your wife shot, and it’s your job to travel the Commonwealth in search of your baby boy.
It’s a nice little twist to the standard Fallout, but that goes to show you how many stories there are to be told thanks to the literary magic of having so many Vaults. The problem with the story is that once you leave the Vault you are going to quickly forget about your son and this important quest for many, many hours. In Fallout 3 this was fine as you were searching for Liam Neeson (your father) so he could wait, as he was a full-grown adult that can handle himself. In the case of Fallout 4 you feel this need to get your son back, but the game does its best to distract you from that goal. Hell, within a few hours of being free I was already a General of the Minutemen, had (and scuttled) my very first Brotherhood of Steel Power Armor, built a thriving community, joined said Brotherhood, and was wooing my favorite companion, Piper. Your dead wife has yet to thaw out, and your son is still who knows where, but I was already flirting with the ladies. Yes, all of that was incredible, but it left me conflicted and not all that interested in finding my son, or sympathizing with my character when he had a “Where is Shaun!” moment with someone.
Another personal problem I have with the game is that everything happens at what felt like a breakneck pace in the early parts of the game. By the five-hour mark I was already a killing machine and had explored a huge portion of the map. I also felt myself using the V.A.T.S. system far less than I did in Fallout 3 and New Vegas. Fallout 4 feels less like some action RPG with guns, and felt more traditional FPS in a lot of respects. This could be me, but I just felt more badass than I should have so early in the game’s story. The good thing is that all of these missions that spring up are all pretty fantastic. Characters are well fleshed out and the dialogue is well written that you always want to find out what’s coming up next. I’d often tell myself, “One last mission” only to see hours pass by. Yes, your kid sort of becomes a side story, but there is so much to do in Fallout 4 that it almost doesn’t matter. At least the main story is well done when you get really into it.
Gameplay is something that longtime Fallout fans will know, for better or for worse. The main issue with the gameplay in Fallout 4 is that the game has almost become its own punchline. Fallout, like war, never changes. Everything here is as it was in Fallout 3, if a little less at some points. The UI and perk system has been “streamlined” to allow new users to jump into the game. I actually enjoyed the way everything works, from the Pip Boy interface and the on the fly weapon/item select, to the perk system that is now one large poster that you pick from. Many may see these changes as a dumbing down of the system they are used to, and they make a valid point, but it didn’t bug me. The problem is that this Fallout feels much easier than any I have ever played. Yes, you still need to save a lot, but I found myself saving far less this time around, and when I did die the game never sent me that far back.
Fallout 4 suffers from what I dubbed Skyrim Syndrome. I coined the term as I put in 120 hours into Skyrim without ever doing the very first main mission of the game. That’s right, I never went up the mountain to talk to the Greybeards, instead venturing into the game and doing almost everything it had to offer. This was because I cared little about what the game wanted of me, as the story seemed mundane when such a large world was open to me. In the case of Fallout 4 this also happens, but the story here is really impressive and actually deserves the focus. Instead the game keeps tossing you other fun things to do that I could have done the same 120 plus hours of no story if I wasn’t reviewing the game. Another issue is the size of the world itself. Skyrim was pretty huge and the game felt big when you were running around, even with a mount. The Commonwealth of Fallout 4 just seems so small in comparison, even with loads more to do. I once forgot to set a new tag on a location that was maybe an inch away on the map. My original tagged location was about twelve inches away (almost the other side of the map) and I began heading that way without knowing. After what was only a few minutes I looked at my map to check how far I was only to see that I had nearly traveled the length of the map without even knowing it.
Graphically Fallout 4 is a mixed bag. The main NPCs are all well done and modeled, with their dialogue and animations being really solid. But those not required look far less impressive and the plethora of Raiders you will instgib tending to heavily reuse character models. The world likewise suffers as places like Diamond City looking beyond gorgeous (one of the coolest city in all of Fallout history) but much of the other fallen cities coming off pretty bland. As with all 3D Fallout games Fallout 4 is a glitchy mess at times. While we have given Bethesda a pass for so many games in this style (and many critics are doing now) I just can’t let it slide this time around. This engine just isn’t working as well as it should be, especially in this new generation. Those problems you had in Fallout 3 and New Vegas, well, they are all still here.
Clipping happens a lot, the camera freaks out during conversations, you’ll fall through the world, I had a rifle glitch out so a portion of my shoulder was always showing when used after I flipped to third-person and back, and I even found a glitch that I could repeat time and time again and hadn’t seen listed online (see clip below). Whenever there is an electrical obstacle/trap on the wall over a door or chest, once you trip it, if you look at the source and aim down the sights of your weapon you’ll instantly be teleported to a random nearby room. It happen so much that I even managed to record it thanks to the Xbox One record feature with my Kinect. So, while it’s an annoying glitch I did find the first real use for the Kinect! The game is still fantastic with hours and hours of things to do, but this is the last time we as players should give Bethesda a free pass on the broken state of their game worlds. The Witcher 3 doesn’t have these sort of issues and that series has seen incredible growth in three games. I played Fallout 4 on Xbox One, but if possible I suggest you snag it on PC as the Fallout community is always fixing the game themselves; plus you can use mods!
Audio is one of the things that Bethesda always seems to nail, and Fallout 4 is no exception. Music is grand when it needs to be and subdued when the moment calls for it. Dialogue is written very well and the voice work feels pretty natural. Sure, the non important NPCs are all cut and paste, but the main cast (which is pretty large) has some exceptional voice work. Not to mention that you can get to know each of the games number of traveling companions while out and about. Radio stations are back and they are much better than what we had in Fallout 3. There are a lot more songs that really make the experience unique and give it that Fallout charm. I played the game a little while with my dad around and he came over, sat down, and just listened to the radio stations as I played for a while. The new DJ is also pretty funny and made me laugh on more than one occasion, especially when talking about The Brotherhood of Steel when they make their presence known. There are also other stations that mix things up and add even more enjoyment. The only issue is that the music that plays when you complete a quest is so loud that it drowns out the voice audio of the NPC giving the next quest.
#XboxOne #fallout4 electric glitch https://t.co/rk06LVN6DB
— J. Luis (@_ShadowGallery) November 14, 2015
Fallout 4 is an amazing experience, but one that is really showing its age. I can easily recommend this iteration to any longtime fans, as well as those new to the series, but, and that’s a big but, we need to stop giving Bethesda a pass on releasing the same game with a different skin with the same issues. Fallout. Fallout never changes, but it sure could use a Stimpack of new life to keep this series going. It’s a great experience, but you can’t help to think that Bethesda is really resting on its laurels with this one.
You can check out our past Twitch broadcast of our Fallout 4 live stream below and even see us snag the CRYOLATOR super weapon via one of the games many glitches (skip to 01:55:05):
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