I was somewhat surprised to rate this game as highly as I did. Fallout 4 is a Bethesda game, and any veteran of their franchises will immediately recognize the familiar quirks and flaws which they seem incapable of overcoming. But I just love exploring the worlds they create, so much so that I'm perhaps a little too forgiving of the numerous imperfections. To keep things succinct I made a list of positives and negatives:
+) The world they've created is just as deep and fun to explore as any of their titles. I enjoyed the urban nature of the setting; the downtown area was particularly chaotic- in a good way. My favorite parts of this game often came during the quiet moments between combat, when I learned about the people that inhabited an abandoned office through computer terminals, or when I reached the top of a tall building downtown at sunset and was able to just appreciate a sweeping view of the commonwealth. This, combined with the excellent atmospheric music created some truly memorable moments.
+) Combat is fun if not terribly strategic. Guns feel better than previous fallout games but still not as good as a pure FPS. I liked the slow-motion VATS. Enemies aren't always matched to your level, which makes for some exciting moments when you run into something that can easily kick your ass. They are still pretty stupid though.
+) The main storyline is one of Bethesda's better efforts. I felt much more of a desire to stick to the main quest, at least initially. SPOILERS AHEAD: In the beginning,, your objective is simply to track down your son. There's plenty of mystery as the game introduces you to the world, and I really appreciated how personal and emotional the story felt. I found the infiltration of Kellogg's mind to be unique and memorable. However, things eventually derail into more of a generic sci-fi trope as you are forced to attach yourself to a faction
-) Factions: on one hand, I appreciated that none of the factions are wholly good or evil. They each have their own aims and are willing to do some extreme things to achieve those aims. HOWEVER, they are perhaps a bit too flawed in my opinion. I ended up siding with the railroad, but only because the institute seemed so obviously evil (at least early in the game), and the brotherhood of steel's code made no sense at all to me. Also, I was playing a sniper-type character and the railroad was the best fit for that play style. In hindsight, I should have probably stuck with the minutemen, which is the one faction that isn't in direct opposition to the others.
-) Dialogue- many of my biggest complaints with this game are tied to the lack of dialogue options. Rather than being able to ask specific questions, you are only allowed to respond in 4 ways during conversation, and it's not always clear what direction your selection will take the conversation in. In many cases, your choice doesn't seem to matter at all.
I really wanted to learn more about the factions, for example, but the dialogue system doesn't give you the opportunity. Even your exchanges with faction leaders are quite limited. I would have loved to ask the institute why they are so obsessed with making increasingly human- like Synths as opposed to the nearly infinite list of other things an organization with their resources could be doing.
The story eventually reaches a point where you have no option but to mass-murder nearly every single member of the two opposing factions. I'm not asking for a happy-ever-after, can't we all be friends type of ending, but it would have been nice to at least be able to make an attempt at diplomacy or compromise.
+) I was impressed with the companions in this game. I liked how you can gradually get to know these characters if they approve of your actions, and the companion quests I completed felt significant in a game with too many lazy side quests. Some characters tended to repeat the same lines too often, and they didn't really seem to differ much in their combat tactics, which would have been a nice addition.
+) I loved the crafting/modding system. Bethesda has been putting interactive junk in their games for a while now, and it was great to see it given purpose. The settlement building feature was fun, but ultimately pointless.
-) Graphics were very uneven. The environments looked decent for the most part but some of the models and animation were pretty bad. Compare this game to modded Skyrim and it looks pretty pathetic.
-) And now for the one thing that really interfered with my enjoyment of this game: technical issues. I experienced frequent drops in frame rate and freezing during load screens.
Still, I put nearly 130 hours into this game on one play-through, and most of that time was very enjoyable. Even with its flaws, this game kept drawing me in.
+) The world they've created is just as deep and fun to explore as any of their titles. I enjoyed the urban nature of the setting; the downtown area was particularly chaotic- in a good way. My favorite parts of this game often came during the quiet moments between combat, when I learned about the people that inhabited an abandoned office through computer terminals, or when I reached the top of a tall building downtown at sunset and was able to just appreciate a sweeping view of the commonwealth. This, combined with the excellent atmospheric music created some truly memorable moments.
+) Combat is fun if not terribly strategic. Guns feel better than previous fallout games but still not as good as a pure FPS. I liked the slow-motion VATS. Enemies aren't always matched to your level, which makes for some exciting moments when you run into something that can easily kick your ass. They are still pretty stupid though.
+) The main storyline is one of Bethesda's better efforts. I felt much more of a desire to stick to the main quest, at least initially. SPOILERS AHEAD: In the beginning,, your objective is simply to track down your son. There's plenty of mystery as the game introduces you to the world, and I really appreciated how personal and emotional the story felt. I found the infiltration of Kellogg's mind to be unique and memorable. However, things eventually derail into more of a generic sci-fi trope as you are forced to attach yourself to a faction
-) Factions: on one hand, I appreciated that none of the factions are wholly good or evil. They each have their own aims and are willing to do some extreme things to achieve those aims. HOWEVER, they are perhaps a bit too flawed in my opinion. I ended up siding with the railroad, but only because the institute seemed so obviously evil (at least early in the game), and the brotherhood of steel's code made no sense at all to me. Also, I was playing a sniper-type character and the railroad was the best fit for that play style. In hindsight, I should have probably stuck with the minutemen, which is the one faction that isn't in direct opposition to the others.
-) Dialogue- many of my biggest complaints with this game are tied to the lack of dialogue options. Rather than being able to ask specific questions, you are only allowed to respond in 4 ways during conversation, and it's not always clear what direction your selection will take the conversation in. In many cases, your choice doesn't seem to matter at all.
I really wanted to learn more about the factions, for example, but the dialogue system doesn't give you the opportunity. Even your exchanges with faction leaders are quite limited. I would have loved to ask the institute why they are so obsessed with making increasingly human- like Synths as opposed to the nearly infinite list of other things an organization with their resources could be doing.
The story eventually reaches a point where you have no option but to mass-murder nearly every single member of the two opposing factions. I'm not asking for a happy-ever-after, can't we all be friends type of ending, but it would have been nice to at least be able to make an attempt at diplomacy or compromise.
+) I was impressed with the companions in this game. I liked how you can gradually get to know these characters if they approve of your actions, and the companion quests I completed felt significant in a game with too many lazy side quests. Some characters tended to repeat the same lines too often, and they didn't really seem to differ much in their combat tactics, which would have been a nice addition.
+) I loved the crafting/modding system. Bethesda has been putting interactive junk in their games for a while now, and it was great to see it given purpose. The settlement building feature was fun, but ultimately pointless.
-) Graphics were very uneven. The environments looked decent for the most part but some of the models and animation were pretty bad. Compare this game to modded Skyrim and it looks pretty pathetic.
-) And now for the one thing that really interfered with my enjoyment of this game: technical issues. I experienced frequent drops in frame rate and freezing during load screens.
Still, I put nearly 130 hours into this game on one play-through, and most of that time was very enjoyable. Even with its flaws, this game kept drawing me in.