28th August 2009, it was my 13th birthday. All I had asked for was games or money to put towards games for my Xbox 360, I had even sold a ton of Wii games just days before to buy some new stuff for a system I had barely touched bar a few titles like Halo and Gears of War. Anyway I ended up getting just over £100 in total which for a 13th birthday in the middle of a recession I would consider quite a success. My birthday treat? A trip to Game and Gamestation (remember them days right?) to fill my arms with new games and then a meal with some friends in KFC.
But what I remember most about that day was not the money, buying all them games (there must have been at least 12 because most had been under £10 in the pre-owned section), or even the very tasty KFC. No what I remember most is having £10 left and not knowing what to spend it on. I had traipsed between the two shops as well as a quick stop in Argos to find one last game I wanted to buy. A Gamestation employee came up to me and recognised me from earlier, she questioned why I had come back and I showed her my last £10. I said I wanted something like I had never played before, something that would would last me ages, and a game that I would always want to go back to no matter how many years went by. After seeing that I had bought the likes of Dead Space earlier on, she knew that age restrictions weren't an issue (thanks mum). That's when she pointed it out, a game I had never considered, and I even thought it sounded a bit crap at first. But she insisted it was great. £7.99 gone and not enough money to buy anything else, I put it in the bags with the rest of my games. That game was instrumental in the way I critique games today, it was also my first RPG and it's easily one of my favourite games of all time. That game was Fallout 3.
We all remember the hype for Fallout 4 as soon as it was announced. 7 years since Fallout 3 released and it was well overdue. I pre-ordered the Pip-Boy edition immediately to go with the rest of the Fallout memorabilia I had collected since first playing Fallout 3. My tin lunchbox, bobblehead replicas, hoodies, and t-shirts. A Pip-Boy would do just nicely next to all of them as well as the Fallout Anthology Mini-Nuke I had pre-ordered too. Alas the 10th November came, University foiled my plans of playing it on launch day, but I had my Pip-Boy and a day off the next day. I spent the first day clad in a Vault 101 t-shirt, Vault 111 hoodie, and my pip-boy on. I went to uni the following day still wearing everything but my Pip-Boy and I could not shut up to people who simply did not care for games about how good Fallout 4 was.
Then the assignments started rolling in, essays, a dissertation to start, and more. After just one day I didn't play Fallout 4 for almost another month. Then by the time I went back, it wasn't the Fallout I remembered, this game was something else entirely and even now I can't decide whether that's a good thing, or a bad thing.
But what I remember most about that day was not the money, buying all them games (there must have been at least 12 because most had been under £10 in the pre-owned section), or even the very tasty KFC. No what I remember most is having £10 left and not knowing what to spend it on. I had traipsed between the two shops as well as a quick stop in Argos to find one last game I wanted to buy. A Gamestation employee came up to me and recognised me from earlier, she questioned why I had come back and I showed her my last £10. I said I wanted something like I had never played before, something that would would last me ages, and a game that I would always want to go back to no matter how many years went by. After seeing that I had bought the likes of Dead Space earlier on, she knew that age restrictions weren't an issue (thanks mum). That's when she pointed it out, a game I had never considered, and I even thought it sounded a bit crap at first. But she insisted it was great. £7.99 gone and not enough money to buy anything else, I put it in the bags with the rest of my games. That game was instrumental in the way I critique games today, it was also my first RPG and it's easily one of my favourite games of all time. That game was Fallout 3.
We all remember the hype for Fallout 4 as soon as it was announced. 7 years since Fallout 3 released and it was well overdue. I pre-ordered the Pip-Boy edition immediately to go with the rest of the Fallout memorabilia I had collected since first playing Fallout 3. My tin lunchbox, bobblehead replicas, hoodies, and t-shirts. A Pip-Boy would do just nicely next to all of them as well as the Fallout Anthology Mini-Nuke I had pre-ordered too. Alas the 10th November came, University foiled my plans of playing it on launch day, but I had my Pip-Boy and a day off the next day. I spent the first day clad in a Vault 101 t-shirt, Vault 111 hoodie, and my pip-boy on. I went to uni the following day still wearing everything but my Pip-Boy and I could not shut up to people who simply did not care for games about how good Fallout 4 was.
Then the assignments started rolling in, essays, a dissertation to start, and more. After just one day I didn't play Fallout 4 for almost another month. Then by the time I went back, it wasn't the Fallout I remembered, this game was something else entirely and even now I can't decide whether that's a good thing, or a bad thing.
In Fallout 4 you play as the lone survivor of Vault 111. After being frozen in a cryo-pod for 200 years following the beginning of the atomic war, you awake to find that your wife/husband has been killed and your son Shaun has been kidnapped. You venture outside to find that the world is not as you knew it, what was once Boston, Massachusetts is now the Commonwealth. You load up and you head into the heart of the city, in with the raiders, ghouls, super mutants, and into a civilisation terrified of a mysterious organisation known as The Institute to find your son, only to find that the rabbit hold goes much deeper than you would ever have possibly conceived.
From the get go it's easy to see that Fallout 4's story, at least in basic description, is not too dissimilar from Fallout 3's. Family member goes missing, you leave the vault in search of them only to find that there's a nasty group of people trying to take over that area of the wasteland and you get dragged into it all. Though it's not until much later into the storyline of Fallout 4, very near the end actually, that it really begins to distinguish itself apart from it's predecessor and provide a much more interesting story that ultimately has a better pay off than Fallout 3's ever did.
The characters motivation in Fallout 4 are much better demonstrated, and the people you interact with seem to want to help you out a bit more. With Fallout 3 is was very much a matter of “Sorry Lone Wanderer, your dad is in another castle.” and having to go to several places on a wild goose chase to find him. With Fallout 4 however, people know who has taken your son, but nobody knows how to get to where he has been taken, so you must find a way to travel there yourself with a little help from one of the factions (Brotherhood of Steel, Minutemen, or Railroad).
It's not a ground breaking story, but it's satisfying and exciting trying to find clues to the whereabouts of your son, the cinematic camera used in conversations certainly goes a long way in providing a large amount of atmosphere and drama too in comparison to the dead eyed staring contests that conversations of old would be like.
Fallout 4 is a monster for gameplay when you first start it up. It does a very poor job of explaining what a lot of vital mechanics actually do and how these systems are beneficial to you as the player. It kind of throws you into the wild after teaching you how to move and shoot and expects you to get on with it. If you are yet to have experienced a Fallout game I'll give you a basic run down of what the most recent games (Fallout 3 & New Vegas) are like. They are open world action RPG's presented in both first and third person viewpoints. You wander the wastelands in search of quests to complete and factions to align with in order to tackle progressively more difficult raider settlements and more dangerous wildlife.
Fallout 4's RPG mechanics are certainly less prominent than in the previous two Fallout games, it's less of an action RPG and more of just a straight up action game with a strong focus on inventory management and levelling your character up. The conversation tools have also been greatly slimmed down and the mechanics for speech challenges are just downright confusing for the majority of the game. The V.A.T.S. System is never explained and neither is the way armour works (which by the way is one of the most confusing clothing systems I have ever had to put up with in my life) along with the crafting and workbench systems, all of which are pretty important in the game.
The sacrifice in quality RPG gameplay however is certainly compensated for in the combat. Fallout 3 & New Vegas' combat was clunky yet satisfactory (at best). However after just an hour or so in Fallout 4 it's clear to see that the combat has not only been overhauled, but is near perfectly executed. The weapon sight mechanics are more akin to that of a top of the line FPS title, unlike New Vegas' awkward attempt at the same thing. Weapon customisation too allows for you to tailor your weapons to how you want to play, swap out the sights, attach a silencer, extend the magazine, cut off the stock, lengthen the barrel...the list goes on. This rings true for the armour system too, allowing you to customise your armour with little bonuses such as making it lighter or tougher through various means. Like I have already stated, the only problem with these refined systems is that they are not explained.
Fallout 3 had over half an hour dedicated to a tutorial mission to teach you almost all the mechanics and it was one of the best intro sequences to a game I have ever played. Fallout 4 swaps out this clever opening in favour of a faster paced, shock value opening that does nothing to teach you about the mechanics the game is going to throw at you. A bit like a child with a box of Lego and no instruction booklet, it's only through a series of trial and error that you are actually able to understand how Fallout 4 works, which for some is liberating and some it's frustrating; either way it means that some mechanics you won't fully grasp the aspect of until the game's latter stages. I mean I've finished the game and I'm still struggling to get my head around the ridiculous crafting system!
Beyond this, the basic premise remains the same. You scavenge and you take quests to conquer the wasteland. Be prepared for a lot of scavenging however, as even pointless items are now vital for gameplay thanks to crafting. Expect to see that over-encumbered message a lot over your time in the the Commonwealth.
From the get go it's easy to see that Fallout 4's story, at least in basic description, is not too dissimilar from Fallout 3's. Family member goes missing, you leave the vault in search of them only to find that there's a nasty group of people trying to take over that area of the wasteland and you get dragged into it all. Though it's not until much later into the storyline of Fallout 4, very near the end actually, that it really begins to distinguish itself apart from it's predecessor and provide a much more interesting story that ultimately has a better pay off than Fallout 3's ever did.
The characters motivation in Fallout 4 are much better demonstrated, and the people you interact with seem to want to help you out a bit more. With Fallout 3 is was very much a matter of “Sorry Lone Wanderer, your dad is in another castle.” and having to go to several places on a wild goose chase to find him. With Fallout 4 however, people know who has taken your son, but nobody knows how to get to where he has been taken, so you must find a way to travel there yourself with a little help from one of the factions (Brotherhood of Steel, Minutemen, or Railroad).
It's not a ground breaking story, but it's satisfying and exciting trying to find clues to the whereabouts of your son, the cinematic camera used in conversations certainly goes a long way in providing a large amount of atmosphere and drama too in comparison to the dead eyed staring contests that conversations of old would be like.
Fallout 4 is a monster for gameplay when you first start it up. It does a very poor job of explaining what a lot of vital mechanics actually do and how these systems are beneficial to you as the player. It kind of throws you into the wild after teaching you how to move and shoot and expects you to get on with it. If you are yet to have experienced a Fallout game I'll give you a basic run down of what the most recent games (Fallout 3 & New Vegas) are like. They are open world action RPG's presented in both first and third person viewpoints. You wander the wastelands in search of quests to complete and factions to align with in order to tackle progressively more difficult raider settlements and more dangerous wildlife.
Fallout 4's RPG mechanics are certainly less prominent than in the previous two Fallout games, it's less of an action RPG and more of just a straight up action game with a strong focus on inventory management and levelling your character up. The conversation tools have also been greatly slimmed down and the mechanics for speech challenges are just downright confusing for the majority of the game. The V.A.T.S. System is never explained and neither is the way armour works (which by the way is one of the most confusing clothing systems I have ever had to put up with in my life) along with the crafting and workbench systems, all of which are pretty important in the game.
The sacrifice in quality RPG gameplay however is certainly compensated for in the combat. Fallout 3 & New Vegas' combat was clunky yet satisfactory (at best). However after just an hour or so in Fallout 4 it's clear to see that the combat has not only been overhauled, but is near perfectly executed. The weapon sight mechanics are more akin to that of a top of the line FPS title, unlike New Vegas' awkward attempt at the same thing. Weapon customisation too allows for you to tailor your weapons to how you want to play, swap out the sights, attach a silencer, extend the magazine, cut off the stock, lengthen the barrel...the list goes on. This rings true for the armour system too, allowing you to customise your armour with little bonuses such as making it lighter or tougher through various means. Like I have already stated, the only problem with these refined systems is that they are not explained.
Fallout 3 had over half an hour dedicated to a tutorial mission to teach you almost all the mechanics and it was one of the best intro sequences to a game I have ever played. Fallout 4 swaps out this clever opening in favour of a faster paced, shock value opening that does nothing to teach you about the mechanics the game is going to throw at you. A bit like a child with a box of Lego and no instruction booklet, it's only through a series of trial and error that you are actually able to understand how Fallout 4 works, which for some is liberating and some it's frustrating; either way it means that some mechanics you won't fully grasp the aspect of until the game's latter stages. I mean I've finished the game and I'm still struggling to get my head around the ridiculous crafting system!
Beyond this, the basic premise remains the same. You scavenge and you take quests to conquer the wasteland. Be prepared for a lot of scavenging however, as even pointless items are now vital for gameplay thanks to crafting. Expect to see that over-encumbered message a lot over your time in the the Commonwealth.
Fallout 4 is beautiful, but not by standard conventions. It's not the prettiest game you'll ever encounter, but it's distinct 1950's art direction and colourful game world really help it stand out from the rest of the crowd and provide a unique looking game, despite having some regular texture pop-in, frame rate issues, and a lack of intricate detail in comparison to some other games on the market. As a Bethesda game you should also anticipate a lot of bugs and glitches, though I didn't run into many of these during my time with it on the Playstation 4. Also be aware of the lengthy install process that takes place on both the PS4 and the Xbox One as the game requires a 100% installation before you can begin playing.
The character animations are smooth and the sound quality is top notch with not only a great voice cast but also a stellar 50's soundtrack, one of the best in the entire series.
Many of you will also know that for the first time in the series the main character has a voice. The voices of Brian T. Delaney (Star Trek Into Darkness, Minions) and Cortenay Taylor (Mass Effect 3, Knights of the Old Republic) are superb and do not hinder the traditional Fallout style dialogue. It provides the game with an extra dimension, one that the game would have been seriously lacking without it. It gives the otherwise blank slate character so much personality, much like Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect series. For some the voiceless protagonist allows them to embody the character more, but from a personal standpoint, my character felt so much more real to me because they had a voice.
So is Fallout 4 your kind of game? Well this is kind of hard to say. If you have played more than one previous Fallout games, then you know that no two games are completely alike; they always evolve from one game to the next in some form, making them tough to compare even at the best of times. For people who like Fallout 3, then I might have to warn you that Fallout 4 may not be the game for you, at least if you go into it expecting a similar experience that is. For FPS fans then you may slot in perfectly with Fallout 4's action heavy gameplay, but it's lengthy periods of downtime and expansive open world may leave you lost or even bored at times.
Fallout 4 proves to be another experiment from Bethesda, to see what works and what doesn't. Now whilst I have spoken heavily about the negatives, do not fret. It's simply because I could sing praise for Fallout 4 for days just like anybody else who has played it. Its smart, it's extremely well designed, alive and reacts to the player, the story has some wonderful unexpected twists, the characters are simply amazing and so lifelike in personality, you can lose yourself for hours in the huge play area and not only that, but it felt like the first game in a very very long time that I could craft my own stories in when journeying out into the unexplored wilderness; what creatures would I encounter? What treasure would I find? What ruins would I explore? I never knew until I walked over that hill or round that corner.
The character animations are smooth and the sound quality is top notch with not only a great voice cast but also a stellar 50's soundtrack, one of the best in the entire series.
Many of you will also know that for the first time in the series the main character has a voice. The voices of Brian T. Delaney (Star Trek Into Darkness, Minions) and Cortenay Taylor (Mass Effect 3, Knights of the Old Republic) are superb and do not hinder the traditional Fallout style dialogue. It provides the game with an extra dimension, one that the game would have been seriously lacking without it. It gives the otherwise blank slate character so much personality, much like Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect series. For some the voiceless protagonist allows them to embody the character more, but from a personal standpoint, my character felt so much more real to me because they had a voice.
So is Fallout 4 your kind of game? Well this is kind of hard to say. If you have played more than one previous Fallout games, then you know that no two games are completely alike; they always evolve from one game to the next in some form, making them tough to compare even at the best of times. For people who like Fallout 3, then I might have to warn you that Fallout 4 may not be the game for you, at least if you go into it expecting a similar experience that is. For FPS fans then you may slot in perfectly with Fallout 4's action heavy gameplay, but it's lengthy periods of downtime and expansive open world may leave you lost or even bored at times.
Fallout 4 proves to be another experiment from Bethesda, to see what works and what doesn't. Now whilst I have spoken heavily about the negatives, do not fret. It's simply because I could sing praise for Fallout 4 for days just like anybody else who has played it. Its smart, it's extremely well designed, alive and reacts to the player, the story has some wonderful unexpected twists, the characters are simply amazing and so lifelike in personality, you can lose yourself for hours in the huge play area and not only that, but it felt like the first game in a very very long time that I could craft my own stories in when journeying out into the unexplored wilderness; what creatures would I encounter? What treasure would I find? What ruins would I explore? I never knew until I walked over that hill or round that corner.
STORY: 7/10
GAMEPLAY: 8/10
PRESENTATION: 8/10
LIFESPAN: 9/10
SCORE: 8/10
For all its faults, Fallout 4 is a work of art and one of the best games this year. Though not everything works smoothly and there are some glaring issues to be found, it's an experience that gamers should seek to have and one of this generation's must own titles because though Fallout has indeed evolved into something slightly different from what we expected, war never changes.