Fallout 4 - First Reviews

HiddenX

HiddenX

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The first reviews are coming in:

PC Gamer:
As a whole, though, it's a loving production. It's filled with care and attention to detail—like the expanded set of radio stations, or the way flash radiation storms bathe the world in a sickly, ominous green hue. It's a pleasure to pick through the world, to discover new sights, and to pick through the perks and customisation option to conceive the perfect character build, however bizarre. In short, many of Fallout 4's problems, like every Bethesda RPG before it, are a consequence of what makes them unforgettable. That might not be the neatest conclusion, but it explains why, 50 hours in, I'm still having fun. It also explains why, now that I've finished this review, I'm going to play it for many hours more.

Score: 88/100
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Rock, Paper, Shotgun:
52 hours in, would I go back for more? Yes, absolutely. I lived and breathed Fallout 4 for the vast majority of last week and the fact I was mostly having a damn good time meant I did it willingly. It’s glitchy, a little repetitive and over-familiar, and far too heavy on unconvincing combat, but the improved technology (or the budget) means it’s able to realise the dense, detailed, beautiful decay that Fallout 3 did not, and its dramatically better-presented and performed characters means it’s not shooting itself in the foot in the way Oblivion and Skyrim did. The personality gulf between Bethesda games and BioWare games feels a whole lot narrower now. I won’t for one second pretend that it’s what devotees of Fallout 1 and 2 want, but it does feel like the game Fallout 3 tried and, to my mind, failed to be.

Vibrant and characterful as well as immense, Fallout 4 is the giant leap forwards Bethesda’s RPGs sorely needed in terms of presentation, though the unrelenting focus on routine, lightweight combat sees it fall just short of triumph status.
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Eurogamer:
More troubling still, I've suffered an appalling frame rate that plummets to what appear to be single figures during moments of intense action, and lengthy pauses while the game hangs and decides if it wants to continue or not. I've only suffered one fatal crash in over 50 hours of play, but that's not really a record worth celebrating. Experience tells me that with any Bethesda RPG, such issues tend to get worse over time, as your save file balloons, rather than better.

However, fans - and I count myself among that number - will likely shrug and accept that this is simply how things are in a Bethesda RPG, and it's true that the highs do outweigh the lows. Fallout 4 has given me some of my best gaming memories of 2015, along with some of my most frustrating. These are legacy problems that aren't going away any time soon, and as fun as the settlement crafting is here, I'd gladly do without it for a game engine that offers a more dependable foundation for future adventures. Fallout 4 is a great game. It's also kind of a mess. Caveat emptor.

Score: Recommended
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IGN:
The Verdict

The world, exploration, crafting, atmosphere, and story of Fallout 4 are all key parts of this hugely successful sandbox role-playing game. Great new reasons to obsessively gather and hoard relics of happier times, strong companions, and sympathetic villains driving tough decisions make it an adventure I’ll definitely replay and revisit. Even the technical shakiness that crops up here and there can’t even begin to slow down its momentum.

Score: 9.5/10 Awesome
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More information.
 
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It's nice to see it getting all the praise but reviews for AAA titles are never to be trusted, I prefer to wait for opinions of the watchers.
 
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Didn't need to read to know they would give the game about 9/10. It's like the 'safe score' for AAA games.
 
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I love Fallout so I'm very tempted to start this game tomorrow, but given my past experience with 20 years of Bethesda games, I think I'll wait until after the big public beta test. I'm sure by Christmas this game will have had a couple of big patches and will be much more stable.
 
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Luckily nVidia has a "game ready" driver availible today (don't think the reviewers would have had it) and a tweaking guide already. Cautiously optimistic for this - espescially since some of the complaints I've seen are that it's surprisingly hard and unforgiving.
 
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Vindicator said:
I love Fallout so I'm very tempted to start this game tomorrow, but given my past experience with 20 years of Bethesda games, I think I'll wait until after the big public beta test. I'm sure by Christmas this game will have had a couple of big patches and will be much more stable.
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Agreed, thanks to my rekindled love for Wasteland 2 Director's Cut, I can put this one aside for a few weeks' worth of patching. Then Fallout until Feb when XCom 2 is released. So spoiled we are...
 
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Seen the quick look on giantbomb. I have to admit I'm not into this base building stuff anymore in my RPGs. Otherwise it was promising
 
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The review from Rock, Paper, Shotgun seems trustworthy enough, I think...

The review also tells me to buy F4 when it's on sale!
 
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Indeed. Since I failed to acquire a Pip-Boy edition for my collection, I will wait a while before picking this up. Even though it looks very good, it's not as if there wasn't anything else to play.
Modders being modders, I place my trust in BethSofts great community to turn this into something even more interesting by the time the GotY package arrives.
 
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Well since I've found myself in Australia for the day, I'll be playing it in a few minutes. If I'm back complaining within the hour, well there's that. If not then I'm probably absorbed in playing it.
 
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So it has fun gameplay, good atmosphere, and a huge world to explore....but has some annoying bugs. It is a Bethesda game :) I am surprised that reviews are saying that the Storyline is good, as this is one area Bethesda has usually lacked in.
 
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GuybrushWilco said:
So it has fun gameplay, good atmosphere, and a huge world to explore….but has some annoying bugs. It is a Bethesda game :) I am surprised that reviews are saying that the Storyline is good, as this is one area Bethesda has usually lacked in.
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It's more compelling so far than the previous couple bethesda games. It doesn't really shove you into it as hard though, so I think some people are going to find the beginning to feel more aimless if you get side-tracked a lot before you actually go to the first major settlement.
 
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I liked the prologue a lot. It really got me on an emotional level. Very immersive. For me that's a huge improvement compared to previous Bethesda games.
 
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game "exceeded" my expectations, deleted it only after a few hours, was expecting to play it for 2-3 days but nope, its a major piece of shit with zero immersion in everything :lol:
 
Apparently we have quite contradicting opinions here.
I've only played the prologue though, so I can't say a lot about the actual game yet.
 
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I'm a little past the prologue, and I like it a lot so far. Although it's not giving me the same "wow" factor that I had after leaving the vault in Fallout 3.
 
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That may have been due to the great difference between FO2 and FO3?
 
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