War Never Changes in "Fallout 4"

Over the last week or so, I downloaded "Fallout 4" since it was free on PlayStation Plus for the month of January. Here's my review of the post-apocalyptic 2015 game.

Fallout 4 cover image

Introduction

I had heard of the Fallout series long before I ever played it. The first two games released way before I was born and the third game released in 2008, where I was only two years old. Fallout: New Vegas then released in 2010 and I never played it. When Fallout 4 released, I had heard of it and knew the concept of the game, but not the full scope of it. I even thought that Fallout 76 released before Fallout 4 did, but that game released in 2018.

Now that I’ve stopped to catch myself up on the story of the previous games and played through Fallout 4, I can safely give my review on this game knowing what I’m talking about. I will be playing and reviewing Fallout 76 also once I finish the Fallout 4 DLCs and their respective reviews. To grade this game and any future games going forward, I will be covering five different topics:

1. Gameplay

2. User Interface

3. Plot

4. Smoothness (bugs or glitches)

5. Fun

Once I have discussed each topic, I’ll rate it on a scale of 1-10 to determine how good the game is in my opinion. Please note that there will be spoilers for the story, so read at your own risk. With that all settled, let’s get into the review!

Gameplay

I’m very pleased with the gameplay within the Commonwealth. For insight into what that means, this game takes place in Boston, Massachusetts and its surrounding area. To loot things, a little list will appear on the side that shows what items are able to be taken. You can also transfer items from inside your own inventory. It’s also important to know that what you carry with you can hinder your ability to sprint, so being mindful of what you’re carrying is vital.

Fallout 4 looting system, https://www.carls-fallout-4-guide.com/quests/main-quest/minutemen/when-freedom-calls.php

In terms of combat, it’s pretty straightforward. You can favorite weapons that are in your inventory to have quicker access to them. When you start firing at an enemy, a health meter would appear over the enemy. There’s also a critical hit system that you can select a part of the body on your enemy to shoot at. I find the system a bit clunky, but I also don’t fully understand it. It’s okay if you don’t understand how the critical hits work because your gameplay won’t be hindered at all. All of the enemies you encounter also feel like they make sense, even though they’re all heavy on the science-fiction aspect. Amongst the mix of these enemies like the Super Mutants, you can find some more grounded enemies like groups of Raiders.

The exploration part of the game is also truly amazing. The open world you can travel isn’t infinite, but definitely expansive and detailed. As you move from your old home in Sanctuary Hills, it appears to be your standard suburb. However, moving closer to the remains of Boston you see a mixture of advanced civilization (since the game takes place in 2287) and the classic world we see today. You can even find famous landmarks such as the Boston Common or the Old North Church. What made it even better is that there were places I’d find myself in that were genuinely terrifying. Around the area where the atom bomb dropped that ruined the Boston area is completely dead and dark. It’s also filled with hostile enemies throughout the area and filled with radiation, so being properly equipped while traveling through that area is essential.

User Interface

The user interface is rather friendly too. It’s not super complex to understand and not awful to the point where you never play the game again (looking at you Marvel’s Avengers). The Pip-Boy serves as your main user interface, which is like a mini-computer that shows important things such as the map, inventory, and quests.

Fallout 4’s Pip-Boy, http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/9059

The crafting system also isn’t super complicated to do, but it isn’t a feature that interests me a lot. Along the side missions with Preston Garvey to rebuild the Minutemen, each settlement you help allows you to use a workbench there to build different structures. While the system is fairly simple to understand, I don’t like the amount of focus on it. Each Minutemen quest has you help a settlement and then explains how to build random structures. While the main story still does this, it actually makes sense there because you have a legitimate reason to build it in order to continue the campaign, rather than continue a repetitive side mission.

Plot

Outside of the exploration, the story really ties the game together. The main campaign feels well thought out with you trying to find your kidnapped son. The main story does a good job of guiding your way around through the use of companions without giving everything to you on a silver platter. At times you do act a bit stupid to the world of the Commonwealth, but if you were frozen in a vault for around 200 years, you’d be a bit stupid to the world too. Something I appreciate a lot in story telling is unexpected plot twists. Those twists increase the tension to the story and build up the hype, and lucky for me the story featured a lot of twists. The big one is that your missing son, Shaun, is actually in charge of the Institute after kidnapping him as an infant. That twist was a little predictable but didn’t halt my view of the story. The twist that really shocked me was the ally who were revealed to be Synths. Synths are robots that were created by the Institute that are indistinguishable from real humans and are filled with the memories of long dead people, so much so that some of the synths don’t even know that they’re Synths. The ally I’m referring to is Paladin Danse.

Paladin Danse, https://wccftech.com/fallout-4-might-have-had-a-much-better-ending/

Paladin Danse is met during the introductory side mission to the Brotherhood of Steel, a faction that is built up from the remains of the United States military. He sends you to his lower officers of a Knight (soldier) and a Scribe (researcher) who will send you on more tedious missions. If you complete enough of them, Paladin Danse will recommend you to the Brotherhood’s leader, Elder Arthur Maxon. If you accept the offer to join their ranks and complete more of their missions, you can work your way up to the status of Knight and then Sentinel, the highest rank a soldier can achieve within the faction. After the main story is finished, the news breaks that Paladin Danse is actually a Synth. Due to the Institute and Synths being enemies of the Brotherhood, you’re sent to kill Danse. When you meet him, Danse instructs you to follow your orders and is okay with it. Danse expresses his hatred towards Synths a lot, so the reveal was very surprising, so much so I actually hesitated at this point. I felt a sense of trust with Danse that made me not want to kill him. In the end, I granted his wish. The twist was so well done, it actually made me sad.

The game also features some neat secrets and side missions such as helping a kid who was stuck in a fridge find his parents, or finding the Vault-Tec representative you meet at the very start of the game. You can also find some cool secrets such as the hidden message in a bottle that helps you find a person trapped underwater who died or the little mini-games you can find that are Fallout-inspired spin-offs of classic arcade games like Donkey Kong or Asteroids.

Along the way, you meet the other three other factions: the Minutemen, the Railroad, and the Institute. Each faction has their strengths and weaknesses, but some factions fall short. The Minutemen felt so underdeveloped because they had a good cause and a lot of potential, but as I previously mentioned, their side missions were too repetitive. The same can be said for the other factions, but their side missions vary from time to time and don’t feature the same action on repeat.

Fallout 4’s factions, https://screenrant.com/fallout-4-best-faction/

Each faction has a set goal in mind. To explain each faction, I’ll start with the left side of the above image and working my way to the right. The Institute is made up of a group of scientists that wish to use their technology to better humanity and rebuild the Commonwealth. This idea sounds good on paper, but they kidnap kids for their experiments and are also partially responsible for the creation of the Super Mutants you meet across the Commonwealth. The Brotherhood of Steel is focused on preserving the technology that existed before the bombs fell to keep it from being abused by other groups such as the Institute. This goal works, but the Brotherhood is so spread out that some groups across the area formerly known as the United States differ vastly from other groups. Luckily, Elder Maxon’s leadership has brought the Brotherhood back together a bit. They also have a really cool robot called Liberty Prime. The Minutemen take inspiration from the Minutemen of colonial America where they help the people at a minute’s notice. The big issue with this faction is that they barely have any numbers and no set leadership if you don’t take the offer to be their leader under the title of General. Even if you do accept the offer, their numbers and strength still aren’t as powerful as other groups like the Brotherhood or the Institute. Finally, the Railroad works just like the Underground Railroad did with their goal being to rescue any Synths who are trying to escape from the Institute. They don’t have any major flaws, but if no Synths exist, they don’t exist. They also contain a powerful prediction algorithm known as PAM that helps them locate Synths and predict battle tactics.

Overall, I’m happy with the way the story went. It was sensible most of the time, but occasionally had some mishaps. Those mishaps didn’t take away from the story too much from what I played. There are also four separate endings you can end up with, one for each faction. The ending I got was with the Brotherhood of Steel (my faction of choice) where you nuke the Institute. Doing so removes the enemy who kidnapped your son and doesn’t endanger the Minutemen. The Railroad isn’t so lucky because the Brotherhood goes on a mission to kill the members of the Railroad and secure PAM, so they don’t last long. Each faction has a different ending, so the ending you get will change depending on the choices you make and the faction you align yourself with throughout the story.

Nuking the Institute,

Smoothness

I heard stories about the recent Fallout games having a lot of bugs and glitches, most notably in Fallout 76, but playing through Fallout 4 I rarely came across any bugs or glitches. Occasionally there would be a character that would glitch under the floor with only their head visible or the camera being blocked by my power armor, but those glitches didn’t hinder my playthrough too much to where it ruined the immersion for me. I haven’t played all of the DLCs yet, but I’m hoping that those glitches don’t continue through the DLCs, but it won’t be a big deal if it does. Fallout 76 is the game I’m worried about in terms of bugs and glitches, but that’s a topic for another time.

Fun

Rarely do I play a game that is so much fun that I can’t stop thinking about it and wanting to play it again. Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales were two recent games that caught my attention to where I wanted to spend a day just swinging around. Those games brough so much excitement and hype, and Fallout 4 is no different. Through the weekend when I hadn’t been playing the game, I would picture the Wasteland of the Commonwealth in my mind and wandering around in it, exploring all kinds of secrets and hidden details. Even just playing the main story or idly watching Liberty Prime patrol the Boston Airport was a lot of fun. I’ve been trying to find a new game that I found to be this level of fun, and I’m so glad that Fallout 4 gave me that.

Conclusion

After finishing the main campaign and most of the game’s side missions, I give the game a solid 8.5/10 rating. There are a few issues with the game overall, but the well thought out story, the story’s twists, and the amount of fun I had playing the game really gave it the good score it has and frankly deserves. When the game released back in 2015, there was a lot of hype for it. While some people complained about stuff, they had issues with the same stuff I did. I’ll be playing the DLCs (Automatron, Far Harbor, and Nuka-World) next, so I hope they’re just as good as the main game. Once again, the game is truly incredible, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is able to play it.