REVIEW: Fallout 4 Falls into Hands of Gamers

Post date: Feb 04, 2016 3:14:48 PM

Kiern Ton, staff

A game released on Nov. 11, 2015, by Bethesda Studios, the makers of the Elder Scrolls series, Fallout 4 is a game that occurs within an alternate timeline where certain computer technology was never invented and the Cold War never ended.

Because of these changes, the world veered away from the information age and into an era of futuristic oddities only seen in the 50’s. This technology resulted in overuse, which caused a shortage of fossil fuels. While America and some other countries adapted, choosing to use nuclear energy more, many countries squandered their resources.

The character is a survivor of a great war. His family survived in an underground shelter, known as a vault, where they were frozen in pods. Roughly 200 years later, their baby is stolen by an unknown kidnapper. They then have to escape the vault, find their child and help people or harm as many enemies as possible.

My first impressions were a bit mixed. Bethesda has a reputation for having a lot of glitches on their newer games. This game had a couple and they were pretty noticeable. For instance when items would render, they occasionally would fall from a few feet in the air. Those would land on the ground while others would remain floating.

The character would sometimes teleport a certain distance away from another character, but these were some glitches that I could, and did, deal with. What I couldn’t deal with was the tedious aspects worked into the game.

Once again, I ignored these flaws and tried to enjoy the game for what it really was, a post apocalyptic experience, a good story and a captivating game. Fallout 4 takes a good base for a story, and builds on itself well. Because the character is from a time before war, players don’t know much about the world, and they learn right alongside their characters, which is what I like about videogames in general, more so toward these open world games.

The apocalyptic atmosphere adds a certain atmosphere to it without falling deeply into the bland, brownness that apocalyptic games tend to suffer.

Gameplay itself is fine.The combat is just a little bit stiff feeling, but it has taken a few steps toward having the quality of most mainstream games of similar types.

Overall, this much anticipated game is somewhat up to the gamer’s preference. I had a fine experience with Fallout 4, and I would recommend at least watching some gameplay videos if you don’t want to purchase.