Fallout 4 Review 2016
Fans can rejoice and put an end to their 5-year long wait for one of the most played games in the history of gaming. This game sold 12 million copies worldwide within 24 hours from release. Even adult websites acknowledged a dip in traffic when Fallout 4 released! Bethesda Softworks created a massive buzz when they announced that Fallout 4 is on the cards and will be released before Christmas 2015.
The game is a sequel to Fallout: New Vegas, which released back in 2010. So, this is the Fallout 4 Review from GamersDecide and we’ll be looking into everything that a new player needs to know as well as something that experienced gamers can take away.
Fallout 4 - Official Trailer
When everything looks so perfect, there is something bound to go wrong!
This was exactly what I felt when I first started playing the game. The game starts off with an intro, where they talk about the end of the world, depletion of resources and everyone going to war. We get to choose our character, name him/her and assign points for certain traits.
Male or Female? Change their hairstyle, looks and traits.
The game starts on a very peaceful day and things go south from there. A news report gives us information about nuclear blasts taking place in and around the area. From then on it is a race against time to survive the blast.
News report of the nuclear blasts!
Vault 111
The Vault is a hi-tech nuclear shelter that the people can use during a nuclear fallout. Only registered members are entitled to entering the vault. Luckily, our player and family are registered so we enter the vault, thinking that everything is going to be alright. It is not!
Moving down into the vault while the nuclear blast consumes the city!
After some routine checks, we are put in cryosleep. Cryosleep is a state of deep slumber, sort of like hibernation, but lasts longer. 210 years pass by and in 2287, we are awakened by some kind of soldiers, who kidnap your son, Shaun, and kill your spouse, leaving you in the cryo tube.
The Awakening
We get off the cryo tube and discover that nobody else has survived. As the sole survivor, our first mission is to get out of Vault 111 and into our neighborhood. Once we get out of Vault 111, we discover that the whole place has been decimated and nobody has survived. All the plants, vegetation, and water has been damaged and is radioactive.
Our neighborhood after the blast.
We reach our house and see our house robot, Codsworth, who is still alive and surprised to see us. We go into our house and see that everything has been worn down and not the same anymore. Our mission in the game is to find out where Shaun is.
Factions
Everything about the game can be seen in this Fallout 4 review. There are 4 major factions in the game as well as a lot of other minor factions. The four main factions are the Minutemen, The Institute, The Brotherhood of Steel and the Railroad.
The player has the freedom to choose whether to join a faction or not. It is completely up to the player and if you wish to go independent, you can do that too. The decisions taken by the player will greatly affect how the story will progress.
Companions
Companions are like your best friends in Fallout 4. They help you out when you are in trouble and it is your duty to keep them happy. There is a total of 13 possible companions in Fallout 4, which includes humans, synths, ghouls, super mutants, and animals.
Your first companion is an attack dog, named Dogmeat. Certain companions are activated only when certain tasks are completed.
Strong is a super mutant companion who is allied to humans.
Settlements
The player can build settlements at favorable locations after clearing them out and setting up a Radio Beacon to attract other settlers. Once set up, they can be highly customized using the games’ Build Mode.
The settlements require a certain amount of resources depending upon the number of people living there. You can plant crops, build pumps for water, set up defense systems and do a lot more. The options are endless.
After planting crops and setting up defense systems, the player must assign characters to man them. There are a total of 30 discoverable settlements and Sanctuary will probably be the first one if you decide to join the Minutemen.
Build Mode in Sanctuary
Crafting
This is one topic in Fallout 4 that requires a complete article for itself. There are six crafting stations in Fallout 4. There is a Chemistry station, Armor Workbench, Power Armor Station, Workshop, Cooking Station and a Weapons Workbench.
Weapons Workbench – used to modify weapons
Chemistry station is used to make drugs, medicines, grenades, etc. Armor workbench is for modifying, scrapping or repairing the Armor and clothing. Power Armor station can be used to modify the Power Armor. The workshop is used for building and scrapping stuff while in settlements. The Weapons workbench is used for adding special attachments and modifying weapons.
For crafting certain things the players are required to have certain items. These can be discovered while exploring and by scrapping stuff in settlements. Wood and steel are the most widely available supplies. There are around 31 raw materials available and this can be obtained from over a hundred items in Fallout 4.
Magazines
Fallout 4 has these so-called magazines which grant the character additional perks or certain benefits. In Fallout 3, we had skill books and these are replaced by the magazines in Fallout 4. There are a lot of magazines and each magazine has a number of issues. Each issue collected gives a small bonus, in terms of a perk or an ability.
Each issue of The Unstoppables magazine gives a +1% of taking no damage from an attack.
Weapons
We are spoilt for choice in Fallout 4 when it comes to weapons. There are three categories – Normal, Legendary, and Unique. Upon killing a legendary enemy, they’ll drop a legendary weapon. Merchants and certain quests in the game will give you unique weapons.
Laser Musket
There are pistols, rifles, shotguns, heavy weapons, laser weapons, plasma weapons, throwable explosives, explosives that can be placed, faction explosives, bladed weapons, blunt weapons, fist weapons and a small group of miscellaneous weapons.
There are around 50 base weapons in Fallout 4 and nearly a thousand possible modifications that can be done on the base weapon. The Weapons Workbench can be used to do these modifications, provided, you have the required raw materials.
Enemies
There are lots of enemies in Fallout 4 and it will take you a long time to go through all of them. There are humans, robots, ghouls, animals, reptiles, bugs, birds and even aliens. The animals, bugs, reptiles and birds have been influenced by radiations and they’ve transformed into ugly looking creatures.
The target system can be used effectively to mark weak points and kill the enemies in slow motion!
There are also legendary enemies that spawn randomly depending on the player’s level. Legendary enemies are harder to defeat, naturally, and they mutate when their health is depleted halfway. Upon mutating, they regain their complete health and become a lot harder to beat.
Mutant Hound – evolved from a normal hound
Command Console
The command console can be brought up by pressing the tilde key and this can be used to alter the game’s content.
Gettin’ some RadAways!
Initially, I faced a lot of difficulties in getting items like RadAway and ammunition. So I used the command console to get them. I know it takes away the originality of the game, but it was definitely exciting.
I got my player to level 100 and obtained some crazy weapons. I was able to go around fearlessly and kill anyone with a few blows. This wouldn’t have been possible without the command console. But for getting items, you have to get their reference id. This can be found out online or by using the command console itself.
Music
I don’t usually write about the music, but for Fallout 4, I’m breaking all the norms. Music is a subjective topic and most of the time everyone will have different opinions about it. Keeping all that aside, the music in Fallout 4 is just amazing. It gives us the feeling of a lone survivor during a nuclear fallout and manages to enthrall us throughout.
Is there anything bad about Fallout 4 at all?
To be honest, Fallout 4 has everything going for it. The massive open world, the huge variety of weapons and enemies, a never ending list of modifications are all just amazing. It builds upon the game where Fallout 3 left off.
The game’s graphics is not a big improvement, but it looks impressive enough, taking into consideration, the huge lot of things that Bethesda had to work on.
Sometimes the game feels under optimized, with some frame rate drops. This is not a serious issue, at least for me, but some gamers have encountered situations where the game becomes unplayable. I myself had some crashes here and there.
Certain bugs have also helped me win some battles. While clearing out the ‘Castle’, the Mirelurk Queen got stuck inside a certain entrance, which helped me shoot her down.
Possible Game of the Year?
Fallout 4 is undoubtedly a strong contender for the Game of the Year award. There is almost nothing wrong with this game and that is the reason I’m rating it 9 out of 10. I took away one point just for the few bugs that I encountered. If any of you have any other opinions about this game, please feel free to let them out in the comments section below.
