Fallout 4

    One of the most anticipated games of 2015 hit last month, and unless you've been hiding in an underground bunker(or can't read a title), you know it's Fallout 4. I've been playing it constantly ever since. Last night I got the platinum trophy for PS4 and I figured now is a good time to give it a full review. I haven't seen everything in the game, there's way to much content, but I have seen most of it. And there's a lot.

    For the tl:dr crowd lets do a quick overview. On a scale of 1 to 5, I'd rate this game a really high 4. It's an incredible game but there's to many flaws to give it a full 5. That said, I still consider this a must play title.

Graphical glitches are pretty common.

    Graphics are acceptable but not phenomenal. You'll definitely know what you're looking at, and in some locations it'll take your breath away. But there's some tearing in certain places and you'll frequently have xray vision, allowing you to see inside the player and npc's. Bethesda also seemed to be unable to decide if they wanted to go with ultra realistic or slightly cartoonish. Dogmeat is an incredible rendering of a german shepherd, but sometimes he looks out of place because the landscapes have a more illustrated look to them. That's just one example of what I mean. Both the landscape and Dogmeat are really well done in their respective styles, they just bump up against each other. Which brings me to my next point..
    Bethesda went with an interesting game philosophy for Fallout 4. It's a jack of all trades, but a master of none. It's the maintenance guy who knows how to do everything but isn't a pro at anything, of gaming. You can see this everywhere in the game. It's first person enough to be a shooter but it's clearly not a shooter. It's graphics are awesome but not groundbreaking. There's tons of great content but very little really blows you away. It's a fun city builder but it's tediously implemented. And so on and so on. There's no one element that makes Fallout 4 the incredible experience that it is, but when you add them all up, it's a knockout.
    The story line is pure Fallout. Guy(or Girl, sorta) leaves vault, goes on a quest, does cool stuff in the wasteland, saves the day. Nothing groundbreaking there, but it's always worked for the series and I'm not complaining. It's also almost completely unnecessary. You could ignore the story line and still have a blast playing this game. There are some pretty great twists that I wasn't expecting but I'm not about to spoil it for you.

This is just the northwest portion of the map. The game is huge.

    The world is huge. There are places to go and explore/quest everywhere. They really did a great job fleshing out the world and making it feel alive. Traders walk the ruined highways, beasts roam the countryside, ferals hide in every shattered train car. You'll encounter gorgeous sunny days and miserable radiation storms. Distant explosions and gunfire will remind you that you're not alone in this hellscape. The only problem with this world is that I don't have a car. Hell, even a horse would have been nice in a pinch.
    The sound effects, voice overs, and music are outstanding. Bethesda really nailed it. The radio station music selections are fallout through and through. The original score for the game is breathtaking, it's the kind of song that was waiting to be created. The voice overs are much better than any other Bethesda title I've ever played. Occasionally there's a hiccup but in general they sound more natural. The sound effects kick ass, some guns buzz, some blam, some pop, they all sound unique and match what you expect the weapon to sound like. There were a few times when a sound effect loop would get stuck however. For example, I gave a companion the minigun and after an intense fire fight the noise the gun made got stuck. Really annoying.
    Content wise, the game again delivers but nothing truly mind blowing. You've got the rpg element going strong and VATS targeting really helps remove the first person shooter feel. Or ignore VATS and it's a crazy intense shooter. Hacking and lockpicking mini games are fun and add variety. There's a very minecrafty city building element to get lost in forever. There's crafting and looting. There's some challenging puzzles. A little bit of everything, and then there's the radiant quest system. It works well and always gives you something to do but it definitely feels to mechanical. While doing the radiant quests I was constantly reminded of the Elder Scrolls. Not a bad thing, but something I think they need to work on. The radiant quest system needs more variety and it needs to be molded more for Fallout.
    One of my biggest complaints about this game, is the lack of choice making and real consequences. One of the greatest things about the Fallout universe is that you have an effect on things. With Fallout 4 that seems to have disappeared. Yes you have dialog choices, but the game does everything it can to make sure that your choices line up with the story line Bethesda created. Even when you're a total jerk, it rarely messes things up. The only real difference is the dialog along the way.

    Wrapping up here, I would highly recommend this game. It pulls you in and makes you forget everything else. I still haven't played the Bloodborne dlc I purchased. Fallout 4 is buggy, and it lacks polish, but more importantly, it's incredibly fun. And fun is why we play these games. You gotta play this game!