Fallout is a game franchise that has gone through a lot of transformation since its inception in 1997. The newest installment in the franchise, Fallout 4, is no different. But have these latest transformations been for the better or for the worse?

The game’s opening is strangely apt and reflective of the rest of the 100 hour experience you’ll  have: beautiful but controlled. It opens with the character creator. Although it’s the most detailed creator yet, you’ll note that the character you choose already has a voice and backstory.

The game then puts you through an entertaining but heavily scripted 1 hour rollercoaster ride through the introduction. But, good books and movies are the ones that hook you in a single hour. Games take more. The second hour is where you really hit the worst parts of “Bethesda’s most ambitious title ever.”

Conversations are the “name of the game” in Fallout, and in 4 they take a heavy downgrade. In previous games, dialog was well-written and could seriously affect gameplay, letting you skip whole quests sometimes. In 4, dialog becomes an afterthought. Whether you choose to make your character nice or rude, or even ignore it entirely, you’ll always reach the same result. It’s almost like the game is afraid of you messing up, so it just gives you the illusion of choice.

Bethesda Games are famous for their unholy loading screens, and 4 is no exception. I like to keep a snack and a good book next to me so I can have something to do when these kick in.

Some of the hubs are also terribly designed – players shouldn’t have to go through three separate loading screens just to sell one item or turn in one quest. It’s a waste of time, and it really starts to grate on you the more you play.

Another change for the worse in Bethesda’s latest title is the new perk system. Perks and skills are now one and the same, and while the new perks are much more powerful and game changing than the old ones, they end up being very restrictive. If certain skills aren’t taken, you can end up missing fundamental parts of the game. For example, without high levels in intelligence and perception, you can’t hack terminals or lockpick doors, and there’s no way of knowing what you’ll end up needing when you first choose your skills.

On top of that, combat perks forces gamers to play very restrictively. I chose to invest in perks that improved my skill with rifles, but that meant that I could only play with rifles. Using anything else felt like I was gimping myself. When I found the handheld 1700’s artillery that fired cannonballs at point blank range, I really wanted to use it. But because of the games restrictive perk system, a small bullet from a rifle ended up doing more damage than a 20 pound ball of cast iron.

Just using rifles got boring pretty fast, and the game had no reason to restrict the player in this way. All it does is make gameplay less varied, ultimately depreciating the final product.

Despite all these faults, I still had a lot of fun playing Fallout 4.

I suppose the most important improvement is the gunplay. This time around, shooting feels like it has more weight and impact. Combat requires more strategy, with more time hiding out and waiting for the right moment. It all comes together to make the game’s action feel more like its RPG past and less like a regular shooter.

Combat now starts before you even meet the enemies, too. The game rewards strategizing through a robust system of weapon modding and item crafting. Sadly, most of these are gated by the perk system, and you’ll probably never experience all they have to offer.

What really saved the game in my eyes is the world it takes place in. The environment really feels like what a post-apocalyptic version of Boston might look like, and even though it’d be easy to make the game feel empty and dead, Fallout 4 manages to strike a balance between lonely, untamed wilderness and scrappy human communities that makes it really feel alive. Without this touch, I probably wouldn’t have been drawn into the game the way I was.

Overall, Fallout 4 is a good game, and if you’re willing to get invested in it, it can suck up a lot of time and give a lot of fun. But it’s definitely not for everyone. The game certainly didn’t live up to the excitement people surrounded it with, but it has glimmers of brilliance that could mean a bright future for Bethesda’s new titles.

Rating: 4/5