Fallout Boy

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]allout 4 is a difficult game to review. Not only is there so much content to discuss, but it’s made me feel more conflicted than perhaps any other game I’ve ever played. On the one hand, it’s a wonderful gaming experience, yet it’s still a game with many problems.

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The core gameplay remains largely unchanged from recent iterations in the series. You go around, exploring the post-nuclear wasteland, killing practically everything in sight and exploring the bizarre world of the Commonwealth around Boston. Importantly, the shooting is actually decent. Fans will remember the flaky gunplay of Fallout 3, which luckily does not return here. Instead, combat is far meatier and feels appropriately satisfying.

Coupled with this is the return of the VATS system, which allows for the player to target specific body parts of enemies, in homage to the old turn-based Fallout games. Although this system is largely unchanged from before, it has been tweaked slightly, with time no longer stopping upon usage, meaning that the system now feels less like a cheat mode, and instead more like a welcome assist.

Aside from the gunplay that constitutes the majority of the Fallout experience, as this is ostensibly an RPG, there are of course other mechanics involved. The game has a new, more streamlined conversation system, reminiscent of systems featured in titles like Mass Effect. While the screen is less cluttered, it does seem to be a step backwards for the series. The choices presented are often quite vague, meaning that you are never truly sure what your character is going to say and do. This seems like it has been implemented in order to allow for the newly-voiced protagonist, as longer lines of dialogue are more expensive to include, however it does damage the conversation system. It no longer truly feels like the player has as much agency in terms of what they are going to do, and are instead, thanks to the lessened dialogue choices, are forced into certain options that the game would prefer you to choose.

You may want to do things that make you seem like an utter bastard, yet, because the character isn’t an utter bastard, these options are rarely available

The newly-voiced protagonist also seems like a step backwards. While supposedly allowing for a more involved story (which, much like most Fallout titles, is largely uninteresting and easily viewed as something to do on the side, rather than the primary focus), it loses a lot of what makes Fallout great. It’s ostensibly a role-playing game, typically allowing the player to do whatever they want, yet, thanks to the inclusion of a voiced protagonist, this feeling is lost. You may want to do things that make you seem like an utter bastard, yet, because the character isn’t an utter bastard, these options are rarely available. Fallout has always been a title that allowed the player a great deal of agency in who their character is, but, sadly, that has been lost.

The game also includes the much hyped community building system, a Minecraft-lite style system where you can build up a settlement and truly make it your own. However, although an exciting prospect in theory, in practice, it is a fiddly mess that is barely worth your time. It is often far too hard to make what you want, with the systems feeling counter-intuitive and irritating, rather than being a fun inclusion into the series, and will undoubtedly be one of the biggest disappointments for many in the game.

Sadly, despite all of Fallout 4’s positive aspects, it is still, at heart, a Bethesda game, which means it is absolutely riddled with glitches and broken systems. Whilst these glitches are in some way understandable, and often are more humorous than problematic, they do exist, and certainly detract from the core experience. Core systems often break, people disappear, and it would be unfair not to mention the existence of these issues.

I love Fallout 4. I have spent far too much time in its world, and, upon completion, I honestly did not want to stop playing the game. However, as I have said, the game is conflicting. At parts, it is beautiful, but at other times it is ugly, both in terms of graphical fidelity and in terms of its broken systems. It is simultaneously one of the best games of the year, and one of the most disappointing. Although I love the game, there is also a lot to hate, and this cannot be ignored. While I do recommend the game, beware the faults that come with it.

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