Finally he has arrived. The expected branded title Bethesda it comes out in shops today, and with a load of expectations comparable to the election of a pope. Fallout 4 puts us in front of an experience very similar to the previous ones, but with clear signs of expansion both in the possibilities of action and in the hours of play required. Will the game be able to reflect the big predictions?
Do you know what makes you special?
After a short initial video, we will find ourselves physically characterizing our character while looking in the mirror, with one impressive amount of combinations and details to modify to our liking. Once this is done, we will experience a very short portion of the daily day, until we register for the program Vault-Tec and we will fill out a form that will equal the characteristics of our hero. What makes you special - to answer the question in the paragraph - are your choices, the ability to create a character with characteristics suited to your style of play, and your priorities: in a word SPECIAL, respectively Strenght, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, Luck. The letters of the word are a clear reference to the features that we will be able to enhance, with a totally new progress menu compared to the one found in the previous title. After that, we will almost immediately find ourselves running away from a nuclear attack. Everyday stuff right? Without spoiling the plot and the motivations of our protagonist to embark on his adventure, we will find ourselves catapulted (and you will find out how) after two centuries from the moment of the nuclear attack. Let the survival waltz begin!
Concept that wins you do not change ... or almost
There is little to say: we wanted Fallout, we got Fallout. The game is exactly as we hoped and expected it to be. The basic concept is practically the same as the previous titles, based on survival, choices, characteristics, and personal strategy. With Fallout 4 therefore we find ourselves playing with a real double-edged sword: very often we will find ourselves noticing similarities with Fallout 3, which although it was a game of excellence, is still an aging title. It must be said, however, that this is exactly what the public was asking for. Closing this vicious circle, let's focus on the characteristics that most affect the difference between this and the old chapter:
- Expansion of the growth ladder of the skills and characteristics of the character
- Insertion of core-fed reinforcement to fusion
- Crafting system
- Possibility to free and modify settlements (no longer the classic housing)
- Lack of karma and related choices
- SPAV not always essential, no longer static but with "bullet time"
- Differentiated shooting phases
- Minigames present in some terminals, on the Pip Boy, or on the smartphone App
Honey, I'm home!
Among those listed above, the keystone are undoubtedly the crafting (in the various workbenches you can build objects and of course weapons) e the customization of one's outposts. These obviously will not be inhabited only by us, and we will have to make sure to be able to please everyone, providing defenses, water, energy, beds and various comforts. In all this it will be necessary to equip ourselves as best as possible and stock up on the various materials that serve our cause: they are no longer the classic junk to sell at the first opportunity. The materials will be obtainable by recycling everything you will find around in the wasteland of Boston, and of course there are some that are much rarer than others, so be careful not to throw anything away! This mode doesn't have much to do with the main story anyway, and you can do it at your leisure. The real question is: if it's funny, why not do it?
The immediacy that returns
As already mentioned, the shooting phase was differentiated: first of all SPAV it is no longer the same: now it is not a fixed screen and time runs in "bullet time". Furthermore, it is not strictly necessary to use it always as happened in previous titles, and especially in some phases we will definitely find ourselves in situations where it is obsolete. In short, all those who complained of the lack of immediacy of the past Fallout will be happy, because you will certainly have the opportunity to lead your hands and dispense bullets in a much more functional way. In particular, you will notice the difference if you are surrounded by enemies, and perhaps with a nice shotgun at hand… you already know how it will end.
Even the enemies that we will face are definitely going to affect all this. Like us, so too are mutant animals, and humanoid figures they will have their own level, but unlike our hero theirs will be fixed. The path that you can take within the game map (among other things not really huge when compared to other recently released titles) will be totally free, but precisely because of the difference between your level and that of the enemies you will have to think twice aimed at addressing certain areas. How to recognize enemies that are far too strong? They will not have the reported level, but will be marked with a red skull to the right of their life indicator. There are also some legendary enemies, those instead are marked with a star.
Friends forever dude
Another focal point returned with the game is the possibility of bringing companions with you to help you in your missions, starting with the beautiful German Shepherd Dogmeat. Each character will have its own peculiarity and will be useful to you in different ways during your wanderings. The companions that you can find around the Commowealth are 14, and in some cases if you have the right person with you, you can unlock the selection of alternative dialogues or in-game scenes that would not be selectable with anyone else. In short, it will be wonderful to discover something new every time, and unexpected implications thanks to the one who follows you, and you can well imagine how enormous the possibility of variables and implications that you can create is (sometimes I seriously thought of restarting the game just to know how it would have gone in some cases if I had acted differently). 
An engine that doesn't roar
Let's now pass to the bitter notes of Fallout 4. Unfortunately, the biggest flaw lies in the graphics sector: the Creation Engine has only slightly improved the graphics quality of the brand's new title Bethesda, so little that it is certainly not comparable to a triple A title of this videogame generation. There are also many bugs and graphic glitches that have arisen in front of me during the many hours of play, and it spontaneously arises to ask if we could do better. It's not quite over here: even the animations of the characters during the dialogues leave something to be desired, at least as woody as the movements of the enemies (especially the humanoid ones) are jerky. The textures are little more than enough, while an at least discrete level is reached thanks to particle effects. The game turns to 1080p and at 30 frames per second firmly, but with some drops in moments of greatest effort. Surely the team wanted to devote itself more to offering a multitude of possibilities to the player, both in terms of gameplay, both in terms of crafting, and in terms of plot evolution of secondary quests, to the detriment of the sector in question.
Stuff for flycatchers
As usual, such a large title that offers an infinity of things to do and hundreds of hours of gameplay, cannot be technically perfect, quite the contrary. Bethesda has accustomed us with more than one game to even a little coarse bugs (and let's face it, sometimes we just go looking for them). In Fallout 4 they could not be missing, but with pleasure we can say that they are much less (and even less heavy) than those we could see in Fallout 3 or Skyrim. Some problems were also encountered by me with regard to the management of subtitles, very often inconsistent with the audio in the background.
A jewel dusted off
With pleasure we can say that the brand is reconfirmed with one of the best sound systems in the gaming scene. The soundtrack reflects a lot that of the past titles (and in fact some tracks have been reinserted in this new chapter), but many different radio stations have been added numerically, including the all new radio that broadcasts classical music. Sound effects as good as ever, even if not brought to excellence, surround a dubbing in other important, precise and heartfelt languages.
A bundle of all the grass
Fallout 4 has no groundbreaking surprises to present to you, but in that case it wouldn't be Fallout. The atmosphere and the post apocalyptic location with a worthy background sound can easily push the graphic defects into the background. If we then add the possibility of crafting and creating like expert engineers, the possibility of visiting places and undertaking hundreds of dialogues with different implications, we are faced with a title that indisputably cannot disappoint. But unfortunately missing that extra gear, that icing on the cake that divides a great game from a spectacular game, and which in this case differs and improves more clearly than in the previous chapter. I personally missed that "wooow!" that came out playing Fallout 3, and the problem in a nutshell is just that, we expected too much from this game.
