The Fallout series is a legendary one that really needs no introduction. The franchise was established in 1997 by Interplay Entertainment, the first two titles being top-down, isometric, open world, post-apocalyptic survival RPGs. They laid the foundation for an entirely new breed of RPG games, and set a new standard for story depth, immersion, and interesting gameplay. During the 11 year gap between Fallout 2 and 3, Bethesda acquired the rights to the franchise.
A five year wait between major releases now sees us with Fallout 4, which takes place in Boston, Massachusetts. The year is 2077, the first time a game in the series has started prior to the war, and life is going great; you and your partner just had a baby boy named Shaun, who isn't even a year old yet. A local Vault Tec representative soon shows up at your house in the quaint suburb of Sanctuary Hills, and he sells you three spots in the local vault, Vault 111, in case of the off chance of nuclear fallout. Not five minutes after he leaves, nuclear bombs are being dropped by an unknown source. You and your family flee to Vault 111, and take the elevator underground just as a giant mushroom cloud appears in the distance; the effects of which sweep overhead, wiping out everything and everyone in the area above.
Luckily for you, once you escape the vault some 210 years later, you find that your house keeping Mr. Handy robot, Codsworth, is still functional and helps set you on the path to finding like-minded survivors. From here on out, you will meet a plethora of interesting characters, some of whom will become your companion later down the road if you choose to take them in to your settlement. Some people are notably let down by the "lack" of interactive characters in this particular title, and that unlike previous games the people in the towns have been replaced with generic settlers instead of nearly endless NPCs that can be talked to.
Speaking of settlements, this newly introduced sector of gameplay is really one of the biggest down points of Fallout 4. You will establish multiple settlements throughout the wasteland, and whenever enemies assault one of your settlements, you will have a mission pop up to help go and defend it. This could happen any time, whether you're in the middle of an important main mission, or just out exploring new locations. The consistency of these attacks can range anywhere from irritatingly frequent, to hardly ever. Should you choose to not help defend your settlement, the attack can wipe out every survivor that you've worked hard to recruit. The only way to bypass this possibility is if you have the highest tech defense systems and best weaponry equipped on your settlers; either that, or just not care at all. Either way, the settlement mechanic can really ruin the immersive experience of the game, by pulling you from what you're currently doing.
The Boston wasteland is wonderfully lavish, and it has an incredible number of true-to-life Massachusetts landmarks. I played this game while streaming it for a friend who grew up in Cambridge, which is also featured in the game, and she was constantly pointing out places that she had actually visited while living in the state; such as the The Green Monster wall in Fenway Park, the Cabot House, the Witch House, Old North Church, the Freedom Trail, and so much more. It's great to see that Bethesda were diligent in putting so many famous landmarks, and even little odd touches, that make Boston the place that it is today. There are hundreds of unique locations to explore and clear out. Exploration is a huge part of being able to survive the wasteland, as you will be in dire need of every salvage item that you could possibly think of in order to build defenses, beds, and more around your settlements.
There is a huge crafting system in Fallout 4 that will take you through both armor and weapon modifications, as well as chemistry and the settlement workshop. Despite this expansive crafting system, both the weapon and armor modifications feel extremely limited. At the very beginning of the game, I found a .44 Snub-Nosed Pistol, and keeping the gun upgraded during my playthrough saw it to have the highest damage and accuracy of any other gun that I found and upgraded. The fact that a .44 pistol can out-do any mini-gun or laser rifle is beyond me, and it was really quite disappointing to go through an entire 30+ hour campaign with the same weapon; it felt very redundant, and the combat got extremely boring because of it. Likewise, you can also acquire some of the best armor early on as well, and so long as you keep upgrading it to its highest level, you'll be fine; you'll also look the same for the entire game. The settlement workshop does have a lot to offer, however, and you can customize them however you like so long as you're willing to put in the hours to do so.
There are well over 100 quests for you to complete during your time in the Commonwealth, although you will not have access to all of them during one single playthrough. Fallout 4 is split up into multiple factions that, about halfway through the main story line, you will have to choose which side you want to be on; once this choice is made, you will become hostile to most other factions. As such, a hard save is recommended so that once you complete one faction, you can go back and complete the others without having to completely restart the game. The factions that you can choose from are The Brotherhood of Steel, The Minutemen, The Railroad, and The Institute; although there are four, you only need three playthroughs to 100% the game. However, the real meat of the game doesn't lay within any of the main or faction quests, even though the storyline does, but rather in the 80+ side quests that you will find scattered throughout the game. The "main game" only consists of 11 storyline missions, and 39 faction quests.
With all of that being said, here come the major complaints: It's extremely linear. While the landscape looks beautiful from afar, any time that you are up close to anything, the textures turn to mud. This is by far the glitchiest game in the franchise, while the main story quests are generally fine, the side quests are notoriously broken and it can become seriously frustrating, especially if you do not have a back-up save; the console has fixes most of these, but not all. The enemy AI is dumb as nails, you can be right under their nose before they even realize you're there. The optimization is pretty good in enclosed and small areas (144Hz & 100+ respectively), but once you're in the heart of Boston or are flying around in a Brotherhood of Steel helicopter, FPS go south real quick (23-44); even with a GTX 1080, although I played the game with entirely maxed settings at 1080p. With that said, running over 60 FPS will see that NPC's lips do not sync with the dialogue and some lines are even skipped.
The conclusion? Fallout 4 is a decent entry into the franchise that simply tries too hard to be different from its predecessors. Bethesda changed something that wasn't broken by adding irritating settlements that require too much attention, when all you want to really do is explore, pillage, and quest. As well, the Good/Neutral/Evil system is gone. Some folks may not enjoy the lack of interactive town NPCs, but if you're like me you won't really miss it since there are a good amount of main characters to get to know. The crafting system is also a let down, so expect to look the same and use the same weaponry for nearly the entire game. However, the quests are fun (when they aren't glitching out), albeit linear, and the story is alright. When compared to Fallout 3 or New Vegas, this title doesn't have a leg to stand on though.
Rating: 3.5/5.0 - Average, can take it or leave it.The Horror Network
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