Fallout 4 review +

It took me around 50 hours to feel like I finally belonged in the irradiated Commonwealth. It’s fun all the way, but that’s when it all clicked for me. The moment came as I tinkered with my power armour - fixing the left leg broken on my last mission, repainting the arms and tweaking some mods. It was basically some gentle Sunday afternoon downtime. A moment away from all the fighting and exploring. When you’re having an in-game day off, it’s time to admit you’re not playing Fallout 4 anymore, you’re living in it.

The sheer density of what’s here means you’re in for the long haul once it bites. Part of the reason it took time for me to settle in involved simply trying to get my head around everything: the missions, crafting, settlements, weapons, economies, companions and so on. Nothing’s difficult, there’s just a lot to process and as soon as you’re out the vault you’re free to go anywhere and do anything. It all falls into place eventually and, as soon as you find yourself thinking ‘I understand this place now’, it’s the point of no return (in a good way).

You’re never far from a discovery or a new thing. Whether it’s a mission thread, a random faction clash, a new settlement or just a bit of environmental narrative detail - the whole world is a story waiting to be told by the direction you take next. There are radio signals to follow, conversations to overhear, bodies with notes on them, abandoned buildings full of potential and so on. It’s the kind of game where you set a mission marker, head off to begin it and then four hours and multiple accidental side quests later you remember what you went out for. MILK! No, wait, kill all the supermutants.

This huge level of distraction comes in part from the fact that Fallout 4, like all of Bethesda’s games, makes no real distinction between a main mission or a side quest. The world’s a far more interesting place because of this and you never know what to expect. Some no-name objective tucked away in the ‘miscellaneous’ tab can turn out to be a three hour, multistage event that’s easily the match of anything in the main plot line. I’ve solved murders, robbed banks, crashed… something into a skyscraper and posed as a superhero - none of which were on the main path. Finding them is half the fun. Sure, there’s a story for the back of the box but it’s not the point of the game at all.

Companions

Companions in Fallout 4 are far more than animated pack horses now. They’re all interesting characters and a joy to talk to as you probe backstories or check your relationship (better standing earns you bonuses). All of them have different likes and dislikes, replacing karma, so you can game them by taking bad people on bad missions and so on. And, to be clear: the robot Codsworth is the best. The dog might star in the ads but he doesn’t have a buzzsaw for a hand and a flamethrower, or act like Alfred to your post apocalyptic Batman. If you’re really lucky and it’s on the list then Codsworth will use your actual name too - hearing him call me Mr Leon has been one of my 2015 gaming highlights.

There’s far more life and character this time around too, creating an atmosphere much closer to a futuristic Elder Scrolls than a continuation of the sparser Fallout series. An incredible amount of effort has been put into bringing the world to life. There’s so much colour now, and the wasteland pops with primary reds, yellows and blues, making even the most bomb-shattered pile of rubble an interesting place to rifle through. Rad storms sometimes crackle with green flashes of radioactive lightning, eerie mists can draw in around the trees and, just occasionally, there’s a brilliant blue sky giving you hope that you won’t end up in a ditch with a wild dog pulling at your guts like a chew toy.

The makeover isn't the only series-criticism getting a much needed overhaul. Combat is far more satisfying here. It still isn’t quite Call Of Duty standard just yet, but it no longer feels like a disconnected event overlaid on the rest of the game. You can now have an actual honest to God real-feeling gunfight that works well enough that the time-slowing Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System is no longer the only way to be sure of hitting anything. There are a few hiccups: the lack of aiming assists means small targets are a nightmare to deal with, but guns finally feel like they have an effect linked to their physical presence, not their stats.

There are other clarifying tweaks that simplify a lot of old mechanics. Radiation poisoning no longer makes stats deteriorate, and instead eats away at your maximum health. It’s a more immediate concept to grasp as you juggle staying alive with eating food that makes you weaker. Elsewhere, guns no longer decay or need repairing and the weapon wheel’s been replaced by a cleaner D-pad system. The new voiced character works well too - played just neutrally enough to slot in inoffensively, but definitely a person in place of a blank camera for NPCs to talk at.