Recent reviews by geek_zilla

For the love of god don't play this game if you just want a better version of Fallout 3 or NV.

The following is strictly in my opinion.

EXPLORATION
The thing that disappoints me most about this game is the exploration. I can't help but keep comparing this to Skyrim, FO3, and NV. Exlporation is one of the largest attractions of Bethesda's open world games, yet it feels somewhat lacking. Before purchasing the game, I searched online to find map size comparisons and how many locations there were to discover. Both the map size and location count were good, but I got more and more irritated to find that the majority of these locations were quite shallow, in the sense that they shouldn't even have been marked as locations on the map. Don't get me wrong, many of the locations have an incredible amount of detail that stay true to Bethesda's reputation; but in my eyes, the extravagance and detail of the main quest locations aren't what makes a game great. It's the locations that you can't find on the map.
It feels as though the Devs almost just put more locations on the map simply so that they could boast about it and use it as another selling point.
Sure, Boston city has amazing levels of detail given to everything big and small, yet it doesn't invite the player to explore it in the same way that FO3 did. It doesn't recreate that incredible feeling of discovery and mystery that drove me to explore locations in the previous installments of Fallout. It just feels like cut and paste tidbit locations instead of handcrafted attractions.

COMBAT
The combat system feels clunky and almost rushed. The weapons themselves have a great feel but the combat mechanics that made FO3 so enjoyable to me have been ignored. Of course, it's clear that FO3 has mechanics that would not appeal to a lot of audiences, so I can understand why Bethesda would take such a different approach to satisfy the broader fanbase they now have. One in-game example of this is the huge difference in how the hunting rifle feels in combat, but I can imagine most people might appreciate the change.

MOVEMENT
The movement system sort of ties in with the whole combat experience. It doesn't really make combat feel any better. By itself though, movement is great and character animations feel very refined, making 3rd person view significantly more enjoyable. I love how the player character interacts with the environment.

STORY
As always, story is great. Most games can't hold a candle to Bethesda's ability to outperform in this department. I do, however, have a problem with the pacing. As has been made obvious in some youtube vids on FO4, this game has a problem with pacing. It's not like Skyrim or FO3, where you are thown out of the starting sequence and then can do literally anything you want. It feels like the player is being constantly herded by the game during the first few sequences. I don't exactly want to spoil anything, but there's hardly any point, because the first mission outside of the vault is bloody plastered everywhere within game trailers and demos. I am incredibly disappointed by the way devs designed the first major mission. I completely understand that they wish to atraact as many purchases as possible and pull in their audiences, but seriously?
The game practically plays itself for you. You're instantly introduced to a minigun, power armour, fallen vertibirds, and deathclaws for crying out loud! Where's the fun in that?? The gradual discovery of these things is part of the reason Bethesda games are so loved.

Aside from pacing and ripping away the experience of discovering these things for yourself, the game genuinley has good story. This is just a very light review by the way.

I might have not recommended in this review, but honestly, people should still buy this game. I'd buy it again even knowing what it has in store for me. Get the game even if you don't want to.

Also I didn't spell check this, so I'm not too concerned about errrors.