2008's Game of the Year Updated and on Steroids

The Fallout franchise goes back to the old text based 3rd person action game days. It really took off in popularity when Bethesda took over the project and introduced Fallout 3 as a 1st person shooter with great improvements to richly textured, open-world playing map that allowed you to go and do whatever you wanted and not have to strictly follow a scripted game. You had a choice of character types to build from a good-guy melee fighter to a bad-girl sniper. There were various factions you could ally with or fight against and a post-atomic war wasteland full of mutated creatures to fight. Whereas Fallout 3 was set in Washington DC, Fallout 4 is set in the Boston area. The graphics are even better, with textures and scenery that are amazing. The city scape is a maze of crumbled buildings with winding streets that are densely packed with a new challenge around every corner. There are new factions added to the old and a new story line to investigate from Vault 111 where you awaken to find your child has been taken and it's up to you to venture out and find him in a destroyed and dangerous world. But, before you do, there is another feature to the game. You can also use workshops to build structures, furnishings, defenses, water and food resources to create safe settlements for people to inhabit and earn money for you. You can craft better versions of the guns, melee weapons, and armor that you find. You can craft useful chemicals and medicine to heal yourself or companions who join you in taming the wasteland. Beside the basic, main quest, you will constantly find side-quests to assist other groups along the way and be sent on missions where you will find specialty "legendary" items that benefit you in your future battles. There is a huge following to the game with a presence on social media sites including full walkthough gameplay videos on Youtube. The game is available for PC, XBox One, and Playstation 4. The PC version requires a high-end fast gaming PC that can be more expensive than the game consoles but at the top end can outperform them. It would also require a large amount of memory and an expensive video card, but you can enter "console commands" via keyboard to interact with the game the way the developers do in creating special items or unlocking items that would normally be out of your current level of difficulty. The gameplay on the consoles is very good with graphics set to less than extremely high settings. The game is a mix of shooter and role-playing games. It offers a little of both worlds in visually stunning and entertaining way. It is a hugely popular game for a reason, it is pure fun and well worth the money.Read full review

Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned