Fallout 4: PS4 Review

Fallout 4: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
Released by Bethesda

They say size isn't everything.

Well, in Fallout 4, that simply ain't true.

Because this open world game is quite possibly one of the largest worlds you've ever seen. Starting with a world under the threat of nuclear annihilation, Fallout4 takes place in Boston and allows you to play either a man or a woman (it's your choice) ahead of the bombs dropping.

With fear in the air, you and your clan are guided to the bomb shelter and given the chance to survive. However, that's not all that is on offer (to reveal more is to spoil) and soon you wake up a couple of hundred years later with a rather personal quest to fulfill. That's if you don't decide to simply wander the Wastelands of Boston trying to survive.

Fallout 4 is incredibly large and Bethesda has done all it can to ensure that no corner has gone left un-turned or disturbed.

Whether you want to follow the epic storyline or deviate from it is entirely upto you and to be honest, a bit of both is recommended. Hours into the game, and there's no end in sight, which is an incredible thing really when you think about it.

From bugs that are radioactive and killer to various survivors willing to pick you off, Fallout 4 has its own world that has its own life. Exploration and scavenging are the name of the game, with buildings yielding plenty of loot and bits and bobs to help you melt down and reconfigure for weapons. From ashtrays to lights, there's enough to keep you looted up and to give you enough to trade or use.

It's the personalisation in this game that works too - from setting up your character to interacting with Dogmeat, your faithful Alsatian pal, the game has a way of hooking into your world and hooking you back into it as well. The engagement is impressive and the depth is deeply immersive and that alone will keep you working for hours.

There are plenty of side quests to get through as well - and before leaving the vault, time had been blown away by my character interacting with a computer terminal that fired up a Fallout variant of Donkey Kong. It's these moments alone that Fallout 4 excels in - everything within the world has been created to keep you in.

Sure, there are a few bugs here and there; occasionally, raiders have been stuck in buildings making it easy for me to pick off but these moments are few and far between, and really would be one of the side effects of such a massive open-world gaming experience.

And it is an experience; from crafting new weapons, playing with your wrist's Pip Boy to interacting with Dogmeat and Mr Codsworth your robot butler, this is a game that gives more out from the more you put in. Granted, that may come at the expense of exploring NZ this summer, but Fallout 4 is a storytelling and experience masterpiece, well worth diving into.

Who needs real life friends anyway?

(Note - a further Fallout 4 review add on will be coming soon)

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