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Fallout 4 – The game we were hoping for?

March 6, 2016

Following a five year gap in the series since the release of Fallout: New Vegas, back in 2010, Fallout 4 was undoubtedly the most anticipated video game of last year. The lengthy campaign promoted the game as ‘out of this world’ and midnight release events at gaming stores only added to the anticipation. When gamers finally received the newest edition to the series, we asked ourselves, was Fallout 4 as amazing as promised, or did the game leave us disappointed?

Fallout 4 was met with awards months before its release at the E3 awards 2015, with honours ranging from Best of Show, to Best PC Game and Best RPG. Released November 10 2015, the post-apocalyptic game grossed over $750 million within the first 24 hours of release, making it the fastest selling video game of 2015. Despite this, the game fell short in gaining the title for top selling game of the year overall, with this award claimed by Call of Duty: Black Ops 3.

© Bethesda Studios. Original via Flickr/ Creative Commons Attribution Licence

© Bethesda Studios. Original via Flickr/ Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike Licence

Following the typical story of any Fallout game, your character wakes up from cryogenic stasis in an underground vault, with nobody else around. Emerging outside, you see the remnants of Boston after a nuclear war, with oddly beautiful, detailed post-apocalyptic scenery. You’re then given the goal of rediscovering the world whilst attempting to determine the fate of your family. While exploring the harsh new world around you, you encounter mutated creatures – caused from high radiation levels – as well as people and robots, resulting in large amounts of in-game combat. Additionally, Fallout 4 is heavily RPG based, which means as you forage for supplies and attempt to complete missions for crafting, you can discover your own items and weaponry to boost your characters statistics.

© Bethesda Studios. Original via Flickr/ Creative Commons Attribution Licence

© Bethesda Studios. Original via Flickr/ Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike Licence

Although the open-world campaign is applauded by many – with countless reviews boasting nine out of ten ratings – there are downsides to the game. Due to Fallout 4’s massive data size, there are more than a couple of glitches throughout which disrupt game play. Glitches are extremely irritating for players and with five years of production time, Fallout 4 should be of a higher quality.

Another frequent complaint is that the graphics within the game are not up to the standard of other games on the market. With the current generation of consoles, graphic capabilities have never been more impressive and realistic, but Fallout 4‘s graphics do not seem to have progressed much beyond that of Fallout 3, released back in 2008. This, along with a complicated crafting system and difficult, sloppy combat, gives many players at least one reason to be disappointed with Fallout 4. Overall the level of hype before release and the failure to reach its marketed potential is making many people question if it was worth the £49.99 price tag.
‘This is Fallout on training wheels and the next step in the de-evolution process of the franchise meant to entertain the lowest common denominator. I had such high hopes… but cannot in good conscience suggest this game to friends at the moment.’ This comment by Metacritic user, Idub, is just one of many opinions from gamers who ‘feel betrayed’ by the underwhelming features of Fallout 4.
To sum up, Fallout 4 is fun to play with strong entertainment value and gripping narrative. It is conveniently available across a range of consoles including PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, however Fallout 4’s lack of technological progression may make you think before you fork out on this title. Unfortunately, it’s just not the revolutionary game everybody was hoping for.

Let us know what you think: did the game live up to the hype? Are you excited for the new DLC to be released later this year?

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