INTRODUCTION
Fallout 4 is an action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, it is the fifth major installment in the Fallout series. It was released worldwide on November 10, 2015.The game is set within an open world post-apocalyptic environment that encompasses the city of Boston and the surrounding Massachusetts region known as "The Commonwealth". The main story takes place in the year 2287, ten years after the events of Fallout 3 and 210 years after "The Great War", which caused catastrophic nuclear devastation across the United States.
The player assumes control of a character referred to as the "Sole Survivor", who emerges from a long-term cryogenic stasis in Vault 111, an underground nuclear fallout shelter. After witnessing the murder of their spouse and kidnapping of their son, the Sole Survivor ventures out into the Commonwealth to search for their missing child. The player will subsequently explore the game's dilapidated world, complete various quests, help out factions, and acquire experience points to level up and increase the abilities of their character.
New features to the series include the ability to develop and manage settlements, and an extensive crafting system where materials scavenged from the environment can be used to craft drugs and explosives, upgrade weapons and armor, and construct, furnish and improve settlements. Fallout 4 also marks the first game in the series to feature full voice acting for the protagonist.
Fallout 4 received positive reviews from critics with many praising the world depth, player freedom, overall amount of content, crafting, and soundtrack, whilst criticism was mainly directed at the game's visuals and technical issues. The game was a commercial and critical success, generating US$750 million within the first 24 hours of its launch, and received numerous accolades from various gaming publications and award events, including the respective awards for Game of the Year and Best Game at the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences and British Academy Games Awards. Bethesda has released six downloadable content add-ons, including the expansions Far Harbor and Nuka-World.
GAMEPLAY
Fallout 4 is an action role-playing game set in an open world environment, gameplay is similar to that of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, the two previous primary iterations in the series. Returning features include a camera that can switch between a first-person and third-person perspective. Fallout 4 introduces features including a layered armor system, base-building, a dynamic dialogue system featuring 111,000 lines of dialogue, an in-depth crafting system which implements every lootable object in the game, and much more. Enemies such as Mole Rats, Raiders, Super Mutants, Deathclaws, and Feral Ghouls return in Fallout 4, along with the companion Dogmeat.Players have the ability to roam anywhere on the map and leave a conversation at any time. If the player has discovered a certain location they may fast-travel to it. They have the ability to customize weapons; the game includes over 50 base guns, which can be crafted with a variety of modifications, such as barrel types and laser focus, with over 700 modifications available. Power Armor has been redesigned to be more like a vehicle than an equipable suit of armor, and can be modified, allowing players to add items such as a jetpack or selecting separate types of armor for each part of the suit.
A new feature to the series is the ability to craft and deconstruct settlements and buildings. Players can select some in-game objects and structures, and use them to freely build their own structures. In addition, the towns can be powered with working electricity, using a dynamic power line system. Merchants and non-player characters can inhabit the player's settlements, for which the player must provide sustenance by growing food in makeshift patches and building water spouts. Players can build various defences around their settlements, such as turrets and traps, to defend against random attacks.
When using V.A.T.S., real-time action is slowed down, and players can see the probability of hitting each body part of the enemies through a percentage ratio displayed here on the PlayStation 4 version The Pip-Boy, a personal computing device strapped to the player character's wrist, allows the player to access a menu with statistics, maps, data, and items the player has acquired. Players can find game cartridges, which can be played on the Pip-Boy or a terminal. Another returning gameplay feature is the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.), which plays an important part in combat. While using V.A.T.S., real-time combat is slowed down, and action is played out from varying camera angles in a computer graphics version of "bullet time". Various actions cost action points, limiting the actions of each combatant during a period of time, and the player can target specific body parts for attacks to inflict specific injuries; headshots can be used for quick kills or blinding, legs can be targeted to slow enemy movement, and opponents can be disarmed by shooting at their weapons. Unlike previous games, in which the player had a random chance to inflict a critical hit, they are now performed manually through V.A.T.S..
At the beginning of the game, players are given points to spend on a character progression system called S.P.E.C.I.A.L.. The system represents seven statistics, namely strength, perception, endurance, charisma, intelligence, agility and luck. When players earn enough experience points to gain a new level, they unlock an ability. When players allocate more points to a stat, more abilities can be unlocked. These perks can also be upgraded to improve the protagonist's efficiency and to further unlock abilities. There are about 275 perks available for players to unlock. There is no level cap and the game does not end once the main story is complete.
The game also allows for the player to have a companion follow and assist them. If the player commits actions that their companion does not like, they can refuse to travel with the player or attack them. There are thirteen possible companions, seven of which (Dogmeat, Codsworth, Preston Garvey, Piper Wright, Nick Valentine, John Hancock, and Deacon) must be encountered during the main quests, although only Dogmeat is required to join. The remaining companions are Paladin Danse, a Brotherhood of Steel Paladin; Cait, an Irish-accented cage fighter; MacCready, a mercenary; Strong, a human-sympathetic Super Mutant; Curie, a robot scientist turned Synth; and X6-88, an Institute Courser. For the first time in the series, these companions can interact with the environment on the player character's behalf. For example, if the player character does not have required skills to hack a terminal or pick a lock, they can order the companion to do it for them. The player may only travel with one companion at a time, although the player is accompanied by other characters in certain quests. A few companions are able to be romanced by the player regardless of gender; namely Preston, Piper, Cait, Hancock, MacCready, Paladin Danse and Curie. Some recruitable companions also provide additional perks for the player, such as Codsworth, who provides bonus Energy Resistance.