Fallout 4

My journey into Fallout 4 has begun and with so much to cover here are my first impressions. Here's my Fallout 4 Short Overview so far

Hello, everyone! I have crawled out of my vault to give you my initial thoughts on Fallout 4! My Pip-Boy edition arrived later than my girlfriend's so this is a bit late. I won’t be putting any spoilers, and will remain as vague as possible about specific things. I won’t talk in detail about anything that hasn’t been shown off by Bethesda themselves like the first twenty minutes of Fallout 4 gameplay. This won’t be a strict review so much as an overview of some of Fallout 4, and giving my thoughts.

Starting off I loved the intro of Fallout 4. It was very well directed and gave you a brief glimpse of our character's life before the game starts in 2077. After the intro fades out the sounds of running water can be heard as a mirror starts to become clear revealing your character and their spouse. This is where character creation starts and it gives you a lot of choices as far as body type, ethnicity, hair style, and so on. Once you are finished you can roam around your house in pre-war America. This is a real treat getting to explore some of what the world was like before being burnt by atomic fire. Especially when the news anchors on the television starts reporting that two bombs had been detonated on US soil. What happens next is your family's mad dash to the Vault.

Skipping ahead just a bit, you wonder back to your house to find your faithful robot butler hovering around. After a brief reunion you travel to find the house shown in the trailer where you can store your power armor, and get your first taste of the building mechanic that Bethesda have implemented quite flawlessly in Fallout 4. It fits in really well with the Fallout motif rebuilding in a world turned into a living hell. Out of my first twenty hours of playtime in Fallout 4 a good chunk of it was experimenting and building. They have almost limitless options with only more to come after DLC and mods. I haven't had time to experiment with every option since some of it is locked behind certain perks. Though that's part of the addictive nature with creative sandboxes. If you don't earn getting to build a thing then it would lose some appeal. That's the same idea that makes Minecraft such a successful model.

One big thing you should know before going into Fallout 4 is that it is much more unforgiving than previous games. I have died countless times to many different enemies. This is coming from someone who beat New Vegas on very hard with hardcore mode on and only died a couple of times by random chance. Everything feels like a threat and challenges you at every turn in Fallout 4. At one point I came up on a small encampment of Super Mutants at level thirteen and two minutes later I barely survived by the skin of my teeth using most of my healing items. Though it only engaged me more, and made want to keep playing.

The layered armor system along with armor crafting can open up your stylistic choices and what armors fit your character build. I am a leather wearing, sea captain, bearded badass who is secretly a really nice guy. The randomness in Fallout 4 only lends to its overall charm.

That leads us into weapon crafting which is very essential early on in Fallout 4 if you doing certain builds. You can take basic low level gun and turn it into a powerful weapon of mass destruction with ease. I turned one pistol into an assault rifle, then another gun into a long range sniper rifle. If you become too attached to a specific gun in Fallout 4 you can also rename it and give yourself some extra flair. This is very useful as some of the more heavily model guns have ridiculously long names and sometimes in Fallout 4 you just want things to be on the short and sweet side.

The world of Fallout 4 is so large it is almost overwhelming at times. I have barely been out of the gate and I’ve already explored so much and as soon as I made it to one place and went through it I immediately see somewhere else interesting and need to explore. Everything fits really well together with all of that said though. Being able to open almost every door without a loading screen helps the pacing of the game out tremendously. I would have loved this in New Vegas since it was almost unbearable going to Vegas its self with so many pointless and long loading screens. It still keeps what captivated me and so many others in Fallout 3. Seeing something off in the distance and literally being able to just go walk there.

Water exploration in Fallout 4 is one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had so far in a Fallout game. I can’t wait until I get to the ocean to see how much I can explore there.

Now on to Power Armor and some of the first enemies you encounter. As Fallout fans I am sure we have seen Bloatflies in our game and after level three can just run right past them because they are not even a threat. These things are giving me trouble in Fallout 4 even at level ten. It’s a complement to the creators making every enemy feel like a threat and I love the enemy AI. From Deathclaws zigging and zagging back and forth, approaching at an alarming rate, to Ghouls lunging forward. They make every enemy in Fallout 4 feel unique. If I've got my sights on a Super Mutant and I'm lying in on him, he will actually side step out of my barrage of bullets. They are definitely a step up in intelligence from previous games.

Power Armor isn’t just something you wear like regular armor here in Fallout 4 either. You have to collect Fusion Cores to power your suit, but using this suit really helps in some areas of the game. You can find them scattered throughout the wasteland. I don’t know exactly how many or if each one is a different type of armor since I have two T-45. The paint jobs, mixing, and matching of pieces really make you feel like you have your own custom suit here in Fallout 4. The benefits outweigh any negatives since the added protection from the suit, negating fall damage, boosting your strength, and possibly making you more RAD resistant are the of insane help in Fallout 4. It makes me really excited to see some of the cosplayers who will make their own armor in the real world based on the diversity Bethesda has given us.

I know this is leaving a whole lot out but Fallout 4 is a huge game. Mind-boggling so. A complete review will be in order later on down the line when I can actually complete the story, sink my teeth deeper into the world Bethesda has created for all of us loyal Fallout fans. So far I have only seen a few minor graphical glitches and considering I've played for over twenty hours and only has a handful of very minor graphical glitches Fallout 4 is near perfect to me. Everything feels balanced, fun, challenging, and like Todd Howard said himself, "It just works." I hope you enjoy this brief overview of Fallout 4 and stay safe out there in the Commonwealth.