And when I say “initial” I mean like 30 hours of game play. I don’t really review video games on my blog. But I can’t talk about politics right now because everything is too incredibly stupid, and I’ve banned myself from social media for a few days. So video games it is.

Before I start, I’m a console guy. Yes, PC Master Race, spare me from your recruiting drives. To me, being on a computer feels like work. Computers are for typing bestselling novels and insulting people on the internet. Consoles are dumb and easy. (hell, half the time I play while riding the exercise bike) And besides, I know enough of you in real life, and all I ever hear is you bitching about how you need to buy a new graphics card every other week. So inferior console peasantry it is!

Okay, I like Fallout 4. I’m having a lot of fun with it. That said, it has some really wonky stupid crap in it, so when I point these things out it is in hope of a patch, and not out of spite. Overall I love you Fallout, but sometimes you make this relationship more difficult than it needs to be.

The wandering around, shooting super mutants in the face part? Great.

I’ve played a ton of missions, and I probably haven’t even scratched the surface. I’m level 25 and have like 20 missions pending. This is a big game.

The shooting (actual aimed fire, not VATS) is way better than Fallout 3. I can actually kill things that way now.

The atmosphere is great. Unlike many post apocalyptic things, Fallout doesn’t take itself too seriously. So everything has that retro cool, 50s but blown up vibe.

It gets really buggy at times, but better than the last one. This engine is dated, and it shows. Sometimes you kill stuff and it flies up into the air and spins around for a while. Other times a body will get stuck in the wall and vibrate forever. I’ve had a few crashes, freezes, and once I had to unplug and replug in the Xbox to get it to launch. But still better than the last one, and less buggy than Skyrim.

I had to turn on subtitles, because the music has a tendency to get annoyingly loud when people are trying to tell you important things. Then I learned that the subtitles only show up about half the time. So I turned the music way down and the voice volume way up, and even then I miss lots of things my companions are telling me. Damn it, Piper. Speak up. My character has been in like 400 gun fights without hearing protection, so maybe this is just added realism. 🙂

The Silver Shroud missions are great. They’re better if you stay in ridiculous Shroud character the whole time too.

Was it necessary for me to shoot Kellog with a Fat Boy? No. Not at all. But did it make me smile? Yes. And that’s where Bethesda games shine.

I’ve heard people talk about lack of choices in the dialog options, but it hasn’t bugged me. But then again, I’m a shooter, not a talker. My charisma was two until I realized I needed that Local Leader perk, so I could share my stupid workshop stuff between settlements rather than carrying 500 gears everywhere.

They added an extensive crafting and settlement building bit. Since I’ve been playing a ton of Minuteman missions, I’ve been doing a lot of that. I’m enjoying it, because there’s this Minecraft element of gathering materials and making things. But it is also a source of petty annoyances.

Okay, you gather junk, and then you can break the junk down into parts, which you can then use to craft other helpful things. Great. Except as far as I can tell, there is no way to break the stuff down inside a menu. You can break down weapons and armor inside an armor or weapon station menu, but not junk at the workshop. So instead go into the workshop, and pick up all the stuff. Then I drop–one by one because there isn’t a drop all option–all the crap on the ground. Then I go into the workshop crafting mode. Then I break down each individual item (after I find the tiny thing on the ground). Then I can build stuff.

EDIT: Just learned in the comments that if you store Junk in the workshop, it will automatically break it down if you try to build something that needs those specific components. Awesome. Thanks, guys! I should have posted this a couple of days ago and it would have saved me some time.

Not that I can ever build the super mandatory things I absolutely need, because apparently there is no oil anywhere. Damn it. Every settlement needs turrets. Turrets need 2 oil. Crystal is the other annoying thing that I never have because you need it to build radio towers to attract settlers.

Settlers are great, except they’re idiots. So I build them a house. Build them a bed. Put automated robot turrets on top to protect them. And then even plant crops for them. Is that enough? Oh no… These settlers are as helpless as a Mizzou college student. You have to hold their hand, and tell them to pick crops. Patriarchy!

Okay, I know that this is 2015 on the fancy new advanced gaming console, but I seem to recall playing building games in the mid 1990s where settlers would automatically go, oh look, there is food, perhaps I should gather it. Not these dopes. They’re all like, I have moved into this nice settlement you built for me and then do nothing but sit on the couch until otherwise directed. Because you’re busy fighting giant scorpions, so surely you know that there is a new arrival just sort of hanging out at your 15th settlement you have no reason to visit.

And it is fun when you get a warning message that Settlement X is UNDER ATTACK! and you rush there. To find them being menaced by a two rad roaches. You’ve got to understand. In this world, rad roaches are food. Bang. Bang. I fast traveled across all of Massachusetts for this? You ungrateful bastards.

But at another time you arrive to find one of your farmers being dog piled by ten ghouls, and you save their life, and then you feel all awesome and it is worth it.

Luckily it looks like if you aren’t into the building game stuff, you can just skip over the creating settlement missions and stick to shooting super mutants in the face. I kind of like that grindy buildy stuff, so I seek those out. Wow… Putting one type of game play as an option rather than absolutely mandatory for the main plot line? Well game companies sure could learn something from that BATMAN ARKHAM KNIGHT. That’s right, Batman, I’m looking at you, and your super amazing game that I gave up on and rage quit because of your stupid mandatory Batmobile levels.

Up next, my son is bugging me to download Star Wars Battlefront. I think I’m going to get that.

I used to buy every single new Call of Duty as soon as it came out. But that last one sucked so much, with its stupid bouncy bouncy jump jet turbo leg bullshit that rendered all multiplayer into one giant twitch reaction jerk-fest that I think I’m done with them. Unless I hear it is amazing, I’m not going to bother.

And Bioware? I’m sorry. You are dead to me. I got bored and didn’t finish Mass Effect 3. I thought Dragon Age 2 was one of the stupidest games I’ve ever played. And Dragon Age 3 held my attention for about 30 hours, and then I wandered off and never bothered to come back.

Rockstar? Love them. They are a bunch of irreverent bastards, and I can just imagine that they sit around trying to think of new ways to offend people. I played the hell out of all the GTA games. My biggest hindrance there is that I can’t play them in front of my kids.

But the game that I’ve been playing nonstop for two years now? Good old, free to play World of Tanks. 😀 That is the one that I just keep coming back to. I don’t know what it is about WoT, but it just never gets old.