Anyone notice how every negative review has multiple spelling errors? I'd have to assume that's because most of them are being written by 12-16 year old kids. To those of you who are like me, the real fans, the ones who have been with this series and developer for over 10 years now, this review is for you.
I have two playthroughs now, one good and one evil, levels 40 and 20 respectively. In my 50 or so hours with the game I got 2 hard freezes and multiple minor bugs. The game autosaves so damn often so they where never game breaking by any means.
This entry begins a bit watered down, I suppose to accommodate the new fan base of FPS morons. If you follow the first quest, you're in power armor within the first 20 minutes fighting a Deathclaw and you find dogmeat about 10 minutes after that. This scared the crap out of me, not going to lie. Weapons no longer degrade, you're character has a voice, you are limited to 4 dialogue options at a time and they added a cinematic dialogue camera. Perk system was overhauled and seems too simple. I have to admit, the first hour or so of this game broke my heart. Don't get me wrong, it was still fun but it just didn't feel like Fallout.
If you like evil characters like I do, you'll also be disappointed by the fact that the first few people you meet are invincible, including dogmeat. I was ready to just give up and accept that the new group of fans had won-the game was now just another cookie cutter action game.
BUT THEN
After the first hour things start snapping back into what I'd expected and hoped for. First off, the cinematic camera is optional, I turned it off in the display settings and immediately felt more comfortable talking to NPC's. The voice actor for your character is fantastic and doesn't get in the way of any role playing you may be doing.
The gunplay is a huge step up for the series, much more accurate and a hell of a lot more fun. Everything from Boatflies to Mirelurks have been overhauled and look terrifying. Enemy AI has been improved and creatures will now run from you once the battle turns in your favor.
Power armor is so goddamn badass it's hard not to use it - no falling damage, extreme damage/rad resistance, full customization and pieces break off. It's powered by expensive Fusion Cores which are pretty rare at the start of the game so you really have to choose when you do or don't use it carefully.
The perk system turned out to be just fine, just make sure you look at it before you pick your SPECIAL skills in the beginning so you can figure out what kind of character you want.
You don't see another Deathclaw (Unless you want to) until much later in the game, which is how it should be. They should be living nightmares, not bullet sponges.
Dogmeat is awesome and so are most of the other companions. There are many more to choose from this time around and I must admit, I got pretty attached to a few. More so than in any other Bethesda game.
The crafting system is massive. Guns, melee weapons, armor, power armor, chems and full towns. Every piece of junk you pick up can now be used for its raw materials.
The story is there best yet. Multiple conjoining story lines and they all pay off well.
As great as all of that is, it means nothing without this- a story only possible in a Bethesda game.
So I'm wandering around in my power armor and I spot a quarry filled with water. An NPC outside of it tells me he's trying to drain it to do some scavenging. I'm not really up to much at the moment so I offer him a hand. He says I have to fix 3 leaks in the system for the pump to work, only problem is there all underwater in this very deep quarry. So I decide instead of swimming I'll just jump in with my power armor-which sinks like a rock. I find myself at the bottom of the water filled quarry, moving very slowly. You see, when you jump into water already wearing power armor, you have an unlimited air supply, so I explored a bit but quickly got irritated at how slow I was moving underwater. I decided to exit the power armor and just go up for air every so often while looking for the leaks. Terrible mistake. Like I said, jumping into the water already wearing power armor gives you unlimited air while in it but once you open it up, water floods in. I tried to re-enter the power armor only to drown over and over again. So I said "screw it, I'll just fix the leaks, wait until it drains and then get back in my power armor. I fixed the leaks, swam back up to the NPC and completed the mission. He tells me the quarry will take a few days to drain, leaving me without power armor in a very dangerous world that I am not built for. I fast travel away, sleep for a few days and then come back.
When I return I see the quarry has indeed been drained. Unfortunately though, a massive pack of raiders decided to call it home. My power armor still remains at the bottom of the quarry, in a legendary Mirelurk fighting pit. I begin the process of fighting my way down the quarry, through countless raiders and there mutts. Once I near the bottom I see a legendary raider with a fat man waiting for me. I die, over and over again. Eventually I decided to go in sneaky. I get to the bottom of quarry, open up all the Mirelurk fighting pits which unleash 6 extremely pissed off shellfish and let them distract the mini nuke wielding douche. I run to my power armor, leaping over angry crustaceans and dodging machine gun fire. I finally reach my armor and hop in. The tables have now turned. I run up to the legendary raider unarmed and beat him to death with my shiny metal arms, kill the remaining mirelurks and walk out of the quarry 2 levels stronger.
This kind of thing just doesn't happen in other games, Bethesda has a monopoly on random, amazing moments.
If you're a true fan of the series or just there games in general, I promise you will absolutely love Fallout 4.