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Fallout 4 is a post-apocalyptic open-world action-adventure game that can be played in first and third person. There are also elements of layered armor, customizable weapons as well as base building. The story sees the player setting out in to a wasteland in order to solve the mystery of their missing son.
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Fun weapon modification system
There are several types of baseline weapons that can be heavily modified. For example you can convert a laser rifle into a sniper by modifying the barrel, scope and stock. It's really fun to scrap weapons you find for components to beef up your favorite guns.
Pro Interesting settlement management
In Fallout 4 you can set up thriving communities in various locations. You'll have to provide the settlers with housing, bedding, water, food, and protection. Over time you'll be able to establish trade routes between the settlements and expand into an empire spanning the entire territory of Fallout 4. This really gives it the feeling like you're trying to rebuild society, which is a welcome change in a post-apocalyptic game.
Pro Base building mechanic that makes for a solid distraction to the main story
Base building is a way that the player can collect components in the world to then use them to make their own base for equipment and supplies. There is also an interesting aspect where the player can attract NPCs in the game to their base in order to create a settlement (basically a small town of people). This can only be done in particular spaces in the game though. The rest of the base building mechanics can be used anywhere the player wants and in any style they like. If you want to build a floating base that only you can access, this can be done. Want to build a giant towering structure that goes as high as you like, you can do that too. Really there is very little limiting the player from creating anything they imagine for their base. This can make for a solid distraction from the main story of the game as the player can sink as much or as little time into it as they like.
Pro Solid gunplay
Fallout has typically used a slowed down time based gun mechanic called VATS, which works as an assisted shooting and aiming mechanic that allows one to pick the body parts of an enemy to target in slowed down time. This system is present in Fallout 4, but the first/third person gunplay has been improved so much over previous titles that it is not as necessary to use anymore (as it once was). Basically the gunplay works so well in this game that players can run and gun with ease, though the VATs system is still there for those that prefer it. Either way, the gunplay feels and plays well, no matter the system used, which makes for a varied design that feels solid and enjoyable.
Pro You can adjust equipment to suit your playstyle
In Fallout 4 you have a lot of options when modifying your equipment, giving you a chance to make equipment that matches your playstyle.
You can take an assault rifle and change most of its parts. Each part you can change has an upside and a downside to it. For example, adding a long range scope would make the rifle useless in close quarters, but it would be great for pick off targets from afar.
You can also tailor your armors for various situations. You can lower the weight or add pockets to make carrying loot easier. Or you can add additional linings or padding to gain increased protection against various hazards such as radiation.
Pro Heavily moddable
Users can find all sorts of mods at Nexus Mods, which will help expand and change the gameplay making for an infinitely playable game due to the vast amount of options available.
Pro Challenging and diverse enemy types
There are quite a lot of different enemies found in the game, ranging from Super Mutants to Feral Zombies to Blood Bugs. Each has their own weakness and strength, which asks the player to constantly adjust their fighting style due to what is being thrown at them at the time.
Pro Deep perk/skill system
The perk/skill system is presented as a large grid of perks the player can pick from. As the player levels up, they earn skill points which can then be used to gain perks in this large grid. The choices are pretty vast with seven different areas that perks can be picked from. This is called the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system, standing for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. Each of these seven skills have their own row of perks, of which those perks cost a certain amount of skill points to use. A total of 70 perks give the player a lot of choice and customization to their character.
If you want to make a character centered around being a sharp shooter, there are perks for that, if you want to focus on creating a tank of a character that can plow through enemies with little damage, there are perks for that too. This way anyone can create a very original character on each playthrough.
Pro Diverse enemy types keep the gameplay exciting
There a lot of different enemies found in the game such as super mutants, feral ghouls, robots, mutated wildlife, and many others. All of them have their unique behaviors, strengths, and weaknesses.
For example, robots often use heavy weaponry such as rocket launchers and lasers, making it really hard to deal with them. Fortunately enough, they're very vulnerable to EMP grenades and can also be hacked.
Another example are the feral ghouls that will almost always charge at you. They can surround you really fast, clawing away at your health and affecting you with radiation, but they lack any intelligence. So if you plant mines infront of you and attract them with gunshots, they'll lose their legs in the minefield, leaving them at your mercy.
The various enemy types and methods you can fight them with keeps the gameplay fresh for a long time.
Pro Addicting building mechanic
One of the more interesting parts of managing your settlement is the house building aspect. There are various preset houses you can put down quickly, but you can make large structures entirely from scratch, starting with the foundation and ending with the roof of a 10 story building. While there are some constraints such as limited building area, you can really let your imagination loose, allowing you to spend countless hours on it.
Pro Addictive to collect loot
You can pick up most of the stuff you see laying around in Fallout 4. Every item, including weapons and armors, can be broken down into reusable crafting materials. This makes it hard to stop yourself from going around and collecting everything in sight because everything has a purpose.
You can also find unique versions of equipment on the corpses of legendary enemies. Each of these items has an additional effect such as speed boost or extra damage. This may cause you to constantly pick fights you'll probably lose, but it's worth it once you get your hands on that extremely good piece of equipment.
Pro Great selection of mods
You can can find all sorts of mods at the Bethesda website, giving you the freedom to change the parts of the game you don't like. This includes interface adjustments, graphical improvements, additional quests, and many other things.
Pro Unique loot
There is quite a lot of loot to be found in the game. Weapons and armor are scattered all over the wasteland map as well as contained in many dungeons. Unique and legendary loot can be found by defeating certain types of enemies as well. Overall this gives a good incentive to keep exploring and defeating bad guys, all in the search of getting that better piece of gear.
Pro Companions can help make the game a little easier
There are a bunch of companions to find in the game, starting with a dog. Each companion has their own skills that can help the player in the game, such as the dog can find hidden items in the world and retrieve them. As the player progresses in the game, more companions can be found, though only one can be used at a time. They can be easily swapped out for those that would like to see what each offers easily. Even better is the player does not have to use one if they do not like, which may make the game a little more tough, but some may enjoy that challenge.
Cons
Con Fake choices, linear plot
In Fallout 4, unlike other Fallout games, it doesn't matter what choice you make most of the time; the game progresses as it was designed to do, regardless of your choices. There is no consequence for any choice, no intricacy. But this leaves a huge void where the RPG elements should be, and they just didn't bother to fill it with anything else. So you just wander around doing things that seem meaningful for hours after hours, and when you finally realize that you have lost your time to some absolutely meaningless wandering around, you just feel sick to your stomach; case in point being settlement building.
Con Non-R.P.G gameplay
Fallout 4 is about kill kill kill some loser raiders that aren't even tough, all the time, pretending to be a big guy. It's also about being a really good person as you can't join any truly evil factions or do anything evil. It simply has no taste. it's made for c.o.d fans so that they can feel like they're able to play R.P.G games as well.
Con Dumbed down character building
in previous games, you could build your character detail by detail, with meaningful perks that sometimes weren't even attainable in the skill tree, and you had to do things out in the world to get them. these perk sometimes heavily affected the dialogue and the course of events and even the story in general, so did the normal skills. this made for an intricate role playing experience worth playing. Fallout 4 just doesn't have that, and skills have become totally meaningless except for the basic function of becoming tougher.
Con Buggy gameplay
There are bugs in the game that users will run into. While most are not game breaking, it can detract from the experience.
Con Main story seems meaningless
The first people you encounter could not care less that your child was kidnapped. They want you to help* them rebuild a faction that destroyed itself. There is not a single likable character in this game.
- By help they mean for you to completely rebuild their snowflake faction, build them settlements (while the resources to do so are right in front and all around them), etc., before they will help you look for your kidnapped child.
Con The dialogue choices are confusing
Most of the dialogue choices will only show a few words that don't actually reflect what your character is gonna say. This creates a disconnect between you and your character, making it seem like you don't control what your character is gonna say at any point.
Recommendations
Comments
Flagged Pros + Cons
Pro Huge world with loads of content
The world of Fallout 4 is massive so there's quite a lot to do. Many areas to explore, tons of quests to complete, and lots of collectibles to find. There's easily enough content to keep you playing for over a hundred hours.