Over Powered
Perhaps because this adventure is such a long haul, Fallout 4 is a bit overeager to hook us in the beginning. After a brief glimpse of pre-war life in Fallout’s familiar-but-strange near-future and a retelling of the events on the day the bombs fell in 2077, we barely have time to get our hands dirty in the post-apocalyptic era before Fallout 4 throws us into a big action moment: You’re given a suit of the big, stompy power armor and a heavy weapon, and put into an intense brawl against the series’ most iconic monster.
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Review by Dan Stapleton
Reviewed on PC, PS4 and Xbox One / 9 Nov 2015
Fallout 4 Review
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We’re giving this post-nuclear RPG a glowing endorsement.
By Dan Stapleton
Most of the way this huge roleplaying-shooter game works is carried over from its excellent predecessors, Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. It is the Skyrim to Fallout 3’s Oblivion, if you will – it iterates on the previous game’s already amazing systems, and it’s similarly dense with locations to explore, genuinely creepy monsters to fight, and superbly engrossing post-nuclear atmosphere that blends unsettling gore and death with dark comedy. After more than 55 hours played I may have seen an ending, yet I feel like I’ve only begun to explore its extraordinary world; from the look of it, I’ll easily be able to spend another 100 happy hours here and still see new and exciting things.
The First 28 Minutes of Fallout 4 in 1080p 60fps
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Watch the first 28 minutes of Fallout 4 above.
A story that begins as a basic search for your lost family evolves into something much more complex and morally nuanced. Like in Fallout: New Vegas, we’re drawn into a struggle between several groups competing for control of the region, and deciding which of their imperfect post-apocalyptic philosophies to align with made me pause to consider how I wanted events to play out. Even the highly questionable Institute has a tempting reason to side with them, and turning away from them in my playthrough wasn’t as clear-cut a choice as I’d expected. I was impressed by the sympathy shown toward the villains, too - even the most irredeemable murderer is explored and given a trace of humanity.
Mega(Bos)ton
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The main story isn’t nearly as gripping an attraction as the huge number of well-written side quests.
Of course, as is the tradition with developer Bethesda Game Studios’ open-world RPGs, the main story isn’t nearly as gripping an attraction as the huge number of well-written side quests you’ll come across just by wandering through the ruins of the Boston area, now known as The Commonwealth. I found it difficult to complete even the most basic point-A-to-point-B task without being sidetracked at least twice by enticing detours. An abandoned comic book publisher office? How can I not explore it? Boston’s famous Fenway Park? Gotta see what’s become of that. A crumbling high school with heads on pikes outside? I bet there’s great loot in there! Practically tripping over new discoveries like this, I feel like a kid on Easter whose parents are bad at hiding the candy.
Fallout 4: Walking Across The World on Xbox One
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Watch us walk across the world above.
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Attention to detail is evident everywhere.
Exploration has its own rewards, as this is the most diverse Fallout world yet, with dilapidated urban areas, ominous dead forests, eerie swamps, a desolate area mired in a hellish radioactive haze, and even some areas that look borderline hospitable like beaches and budding farms. The Commonwealth’s much more color-saturated than Fallout 3’s Capital Wasteland, though it has its fair share of grays and browns, and it shares New Vegas’ bright blue sky (as opposed to oppressive clouds) when it’s not night time or raining or green with a terrifying radiation storm. It’s often beautiful. Attention to detail is evident everywhere – Fallout 4 might not be a leader in all areas of graphics technology (character animations are still a weakness) but from the intricate Pip-Boy wrist-computer interface (which completely changes when you’re in power armor), to careful arrangement of skeletal remains that tell the tragically dark or tragically funny stories of long-dead characters, to tattered poster art on the walls, to even raindrops on your visor (if you’re wearing one) it’s consistently impressive.
Over Powered
Perhaps because this adventure is such a long haul, Fallout 4 is a bit overeager to hook us in the beginning. After a brief glimpse of pre-war life in Fallout’s familiar-but-strange near-future and a retelling of the events on the day the bombs fell in 2077, we barely have time to get our hands dirty in the post-apocalyptic era before Fallout 4 throws us into a big action moment: You’re given a suit of the big, stompy power armor and a heavy weapon, and put into an intense brawl against the series’ most iconic monster.
What’s the First Thing You’ll Do in Fallout 4? - Vault IGN
05:56
Above: Vault IGN discusses the first things we’ll do in Fallout 4.
It’s certainly not an unconventional idea for a game with a long progression arc to give us an early taste of the powerful toys we’ll gain access to later in order to motivate us to work for them, but with Fallout it’s a misstep that trods on the series’ beloved feeling of working our way up from almost nothing to become the dominant force in the wasteland. This bothered me less and less as I began to explore, but knowing that armor was available when I wanted it made me a little cockier than I wanted to be when setting out into a hostile, unforgiving world.
