Last week I posted about No Man’s Sky – the game that wanted to be everything and became nothing. This week I want to go the opposite direction and to do so, I will write about Fallout 4.



Yes, I am a huge fan of the Fallout series since the first title was released back in 1997 (that I actually only played in 2008). Obviously, the Fallout series had its ups and downs but today I want to show you (in my honest opinion) the way this game embraces the many types of players, ages and genders.Bethesda’s Showcase of Fallout 4 in E3 2015 amazed from the concept design to gameplay. Todd Howard showed the world that him (and his team) knew what they are doing. As a loyal fan, I bought the game the day it was released.

I will start this review with what I think are the biggest issues of Fallout 4 (and then finish with the great things this game has to offer!). Ok Bethesda, you messed up the storyline and the flow of the “dialog”. After working on infrastructure in Fallout 1 and 2, searching for my father in Fallout 3 and finding the man who tried to murder me in New Vegas… in Fallout 4, I am looking for my child (Shaun) that was kidnapped in front of me. I loved him so much and I was so worried that I spent the entire game doing everything except the main quest of finding Shaun…Why? Because it was lame as hell! I must admit I felt more love for Mr. House (my boss in New Vegas) than Shaun…Yes, I finished my story as a servant of Mr. House and I am proud of it!

It is no coincidence that, according to most reviews, New Vegas is the best Fallout game so far. I think that was because there was a perfect flow between the main story (basically seeking revenge) and a reputation system based on your dialog options. This is supposed to be the main core of an RPG (role-playing game), where you build a character and your own story. After New Vegas, all Bethesda needed to do was copy this and on top of it create your lame “missing son” storyline for the new game

Let’s keep going. The storyline is (or should be) dependent on my actions and the options I select in the various dialogs. What the hell happened to this amazing system that New Vegas had and was so widely praised??! What should I do when someone asks me what I think about synths and my options are “Yes”, “No”, “Sarcastic” or “Synths?”? Am I supposed to guess what my answer could be? I saw myself generally opting for the silly answers like a complete idiot. Thankfully (in this case), Fallout 4 does not have the reputation system of New Vegas or I would be doomed (not as a bad guy but rather as an idiot). By the way, Bethesda, why did you take out a reputation system, like the one found in new vegas? I mean, you tried to included it through the followers – these random guys that decide to follow you during your journey. The idea to have different followers (a dog, a mutant, a soldier, a junkie, a mercenary, a rational zombie, a cyborg, among others…) is nice. What it is not nice is the fact that all of them, except the dog, judge you for everything you do or say. And due to the awful dialog system…believe me, you say pretty stupid things! Even the brainless mutant named Strong judged me and the men all left me (and my character was a hot chick with red hair!).

Anyways, it was fun finding that my own son was…. a 60 year old man with cancer that I later killed with a shot in the head after completing the Institute Quest. C’mon Shaun, even in a pretend-to-be democracy we need to accept all races and promote diversity! And we are in the United States of America, remember? Anyway, I have joined the Railroad group (a bunch of social renegades) and the ending of that storyline was very poor… I read about the other endings – the Institute (cyborg/human faction) and Brotherhood of Steel (the military dictatorship) – and they seem to be poor as well so I did not regret my option…Ok, maybe I regret it a little bit because the Institute building was destroyed and I used it for supplies during the entire game.

Anyway, apart from all these problems, Fallout 4 is a great game that I play and replay over and over. It is a great game mainly because it can entertain a wide range of players. We can assume it as a classic (and long) RPG. We can play it as a shooter if we wish (without the kind of turn-base combat system of V.A.T.S). We can play the whole game without killing anyone if you like to be sneaky (actually the stealth mode is one of the highpoints of this game). And, as a totally new feature of this game, you can actually use junk to build your own settlements and as ammo! I always wondered why we needed all that junk from previous series and even from Elder Scrolls series. Of course some objects could be sold at high prices but spoons, forks or plates..? C’mon.. Finally, in Fallout 4 all this junk is useful not only for building but also to have some funny moments with the Junk Jet (I cannot forget the way I killed a ghoul with plates, lamps and a cork globe). The building mode is great. As an architect, I have spent long hours building many slums fully decorated with all kind of junk. I later bought the DLC with more furniture to make even more beautiful shanty palaces.

As a scavenger and fan of exploration gaming, I forgot about my beloved baby and started wandering the Commonwealth region. Actually, I left the main quest to the very end because most of time I was discovering new locations and scavenging for junk for my settlements. By the way, the deathclaw in the beginning of the game while happily taking a walk in Concord, the first city that you visit in the beginning of the game? Well done, Bethesda. I had hid myself from the world during my first hours due to avoid spoilers and so, I got very surprised in my first encounter with this hardcore enemy. After that, I just avoided them when possible. For me, Fallout is not a shooter per se but rather a way to create my own story, my own character and my own villages (I am a lover of the V.A.T.S system). Of course, sometimes I like to shoot and try to be a ferocious killer and Fallout allows me to do that. This is why I liked Fallout 4 so much: I can pass the whole Saturday relaxed and building my shanties or I can kill everything that moves after work.

Image sources: http://www.nexusmods.com/; http://www.hookedviral.com/.