Fallout 4 pc - digital download

5.0 out of 5 starsEverything you expect from III with some improvements

Platform: PC [Download Code]Edition: StandardVerified Purchase

Fallout is one of my favorite franchises - if not my favorite full stop. This review assumes you've played Fallout 3 and/or New Vegas and focuses on how the new release compares to those. (no spoilers!) Disclosure, I have not finished the game yet but have played enough to appreciate the mechanics, world, plot and differences. Also note that there are naturally glitches with the game, but not so bad that it's unplayable. I rarely buy games when they're brand new for this reason, but it hasn't been awful so far. My biggest complaint has been graphics glitches but you can read all about technical issues elsewhere and there will be patches released over time.

General Look, Feel and Navigation: All the elements that you've come to expect from III are here. The wasteland looks and feels generally similar. Due to the more urban nature of the Boston area, Fallout 4 feels more like Fallout III (in DC) to me than the open desert of New Vegas. However, it does not repeat what I thought was one of the key navigation drawbacks of that game - that areas of the city were effectively sectioned off forcing you to constantly navigate a maze of tunnels or subways to move from one section to another. You can pretty much run from one end of this map to the other if you wanted to (and assuming you don't get killed in the process :) And this map is huge - it does feel much bigger than previous installments, both in terms of physical size and absolute content. I can never get anywhere without getting sucked into 2 or 3 side quests or otherwise distracted by a really cool looking area, feature, monster, group of people, etc. Of course, exploration is what this game is all about so I don't get too concerned about having twenty open quests at any one time.

Differences (and whether they make the game better or not)

Crafting (expanded / better): Perhaps you have read this already, but crafting is DRAMATICALLY expanded here. You can craft weapons, armor, power armor (separate crafting stations), chems, food (cooking) and full settlements. Your source material is all the junk scattered throughout the wasteland... yep, basically absolutely EVERYTHING can be used as the foundation to craft things as everything can be broken down into fundamental components like wood, steel, screws, cloth, etc. If you enjoy adding tons of bells and whistles to your guns and armor - have a ball. But you don't have to if it's not your thing. You'll also come across plenty of special weapons in the game that are pretty darn good all by themselves without messing with them too much. But the most dramatic crafting element is the ability to build entire settlements nearly from scratch in certain designated areas. If you choose, you can make buildings, towers, protective walls, etc. You can then add features like defensive weapons, generators, electricity, lighting, crops, stores and even beacons to attract settlers. However, much like the other crafting capabilities, you don't have to do any of this and you can simply explore, do quests, and play the game just as you'd expect to. Not crafting will not impact your ability to do quests and as far as I can tell, won't even leave you at a significant disadvantage (though, sometimes it is nice to add a few of your favorite features to some guns.) There are lots of crafting guides online to help you with these features.

Combat (tougher): V.A.T.S has changed! One of the first things I noticed was that when I went into the assisted targeting system, my enemies were still moving! Granted, they move at a dramatically slower rate, but they do move so you no longer have an unlimited amount of time to place your shots. You'll get used to this as time goes by and eventually be able to select your chosen area quickly (headshot!) but it does add a bit more difficulty to the game. I used to rely on V.A.T.S a lot but I find myself making many more unassisted shots in this game. But the system still helps a great deal with fast moving enemies. As for other elements of combat - enemies can do new things. Raiders hide behind cover, mole rats, scorpions and ghouls burrow and pop out of the ground (and sometimes walls and ceilings). This makes it much more difficult to pick things off from a distance and results in up close and personal combat with some of these enemies. As a sniper, I'm not entirely wild about this change, but it has forced me to expand my gun arsenal to include close-range weapons and to change up my fighting style to fit the situation.

Leveling (better): There is no level cap to this one. The S.P.E.C.I.A.L. traits are still here but you are no longer capped on these either. If you choose to, you can add levels to each until you're a 10/10 on each trait. The leveling system is different. This time, instead of being assigned 15 or 20 skill points and a special attribute as you level you only have special attributes (called perks). Essentially everything that you used to increase with specials and with those skill points have all been combined into one skill tree. At first it may be a little confusing but I quickly decided that it was actually much more intuitive than the old system. For example, there are 4 types of locks (basic, advanced, expert and master). With each perk, you can pick locks at the next level. One point, one level, done.

Dialog (better / more natural): Dialog occurs more naturally. You look at someone and they start talking to you. You can respond and otherwise engage in the conversation or simply walk away without saying "bye". No ponderous dialog trees. Some people don't like this as much because you do not have the opportunity to explore every single dialog option - instead you have generally 4 response options and you move on. You can now actually save mid dialog (because it occurs naturally as other elements of the game are still going on around you) so if you really want to, you can save before saying something that you're not certain about, and return to the save if it doesn't work out as you'd hoped. But I've generally found that the conversations seem to progress similarly, regardless of my response. If you're supposed to get a quest out of someone you pretty much will regardless of how you respond so there's not much to "miss" if you select a wrong response. I haven't felt like there were any wrong responses for the most part.

Graphics: Still bleak but brighter and more realistic. Generally many of the improvements that you'd expect in a new generation but I didn't think it was dramatically different from the quality of Skyrim (which is great!)