Even if you forget the raiders, bloatflys, deathclaws, murderous robots and irradiated waters Fallout 4 (PS4) is still a frightening game. The scale of it alone in my first week with it has blow me away. After a brief introduction and character build, which included the devastating revelation they didn't record my name as one of the 1000+ names in the game, even though the main item in the game is a Pip-Boy! I was thrown into the wasteland once again. The impact of seeing an area pre and post nuclear destruction was a neat one, but didn't hit as hard as I would have like, what I did love however is that feeling of freedom the second I left vault 111. Despite the very urgent, mysterious objective given to me straight away I instantly started exploring the massive wasteland. Whats changed from Fallout 3 is that everything you collect can have a purpose, ashtrays, teddybears and typewriters were all but an encumbrance in previous games, and after a few hours I had to change my way of thinking a bit, now pretty much all objects are broken down into parts which can be used to customise weapons or build armour or storage (along with less useful items, like flags and paintings). When this realisation hit I spent countless hours retracing my early steps and collecting everything on my way, taking it back to my settlement. Thats the other big change so far, instead of being a lone(ish) wanderer like in the previous titles early on the concept of building up a space to live and get others to is hinted at, I say hinted as like a lot in this game I was given very little indication on what to do or why! The game then became a post nuclear Animal Crossing title, I made a basic dwelling for myself, complete with a sniper turret on the roof (and a rocking chair for comfort) and a two headed cows head was mounted above my bed. I must have done a good job because no sooner had I built my house, than one of the party of people you rescue early on was sleeping in my bed. Countless hours were now spent breaking down junk around my settlement and cleaning it up, bugs appeared in places, as I smashed up a toilet for the ceramics another character I'd rescued took issue with this and started shooting at me, instead of fight back I just darted off and soon all was forgotten.
Once I was happy enough with my settlement I headed back into the wasteland to continue through set objectives, I met another small group of friendly survivors who set me the task of clearing an area out of wrongdoers, confused about where I had to go (the map and marker objectives seem more confusing than before) I found myself underpowered against a dude in power armour and his friends with lasers, this moment rekindled my love for this franchise, instead of running off I fudged my way through the area, using grenades and mines and anything else I'd gathered, with my health depleted and all my stimpacks used I finally got through it. The rewards were weapons and armour I felt I shouldn't have so early on in the game. I squirrelled a lot of my haul away back at my base and set back out on my mission. I was interrupted this time by two named characters holding up a diner, from what I could gather they wanted money the owners son owed them. I attempted to pass by and not get involved, but the two men took issue with me and raised they're guns at me (not knowing that I had a bunch of overpowered weapons ready to use) I killed them with ease and went into the diner to see if there was any rewards for the good deed I'd attempted to avoid. The reward was a few bottlecaps, certainly not as high as if I'd gone the other way with the situation, and assisted the men at there hold up. In the corner of the diner I noticed the owners son sitting apparently overdosing on some drug, the storytelling in Fallout games can sometimes be amazing with its ambiguity. After all these distractions I'm just finding myself getting to the objective I was set hours before, which is nothing to do with the greater story, this game is going to take a long time.
The game still has some issues with bugs and glitches, but nothing game breaking so far for me. I've been impressed with the look of it so far, not so much the characters but as ever the world feels like it was lived in and the draw distance is fantastic at times. The music is also as predictably good, it would be nice to have a few more songs though. Another improvement is the use of guns, aiming is easier and V.A.T's is less of a requirement than an assistance now (in fact it can be a nuisance at times, now time is slowed during it rather than stopped). The familiarity I had with this game instantly has been complimented by the new mechanics added and I'm having a great time with it.
Destiny (PS4) ended its story just as my copy of Fallout 4 arrived on Tuesday morning, the final mission was great, I loved the sequence with the Vex reanimating as you walked down the darkened corridors and the final boss(es) while not really explained were the right level of challenge. I then tackled a couple of Strikes, which were a lot more fun when I felt useful and not underpowered, in fact when I ran the strike in Russia I had an unusual feeling, that I was quite good at the game. The strikes have offered me something new to do post game, and i'm looking forward to attempting them all.
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