Fallout 4 Review (XB1): The revolution will be safe

Fallout 4 is safe. For a game about traversing a post-apocalyptic wasteland, it is so fucking safe.

Fallout 4 is also an ugly game. It doesn't look exactly like (or 'as bad as') Fallout 3, despite what the social media cesspit may have you believing, but the improvement is slight enough to be dismissed as "incremental." That being said, post-bombing Boston isn't a technical marvel, but in terms of concept, it's consistent and effective.

Fallout 4 looks dreadful, but it's supposed to. Dogs aren't supposed to clip up and down through closed elevator doors, but this is the price we pay for Bethesda's janky brand of open world adventuring. To be able to wander through an expanse rarely-rivalled in terms of sheer width and possibility, we need to expect the frequent stuttering of frame rates and V.A.T.S-engaged combatants.

The possibilities aren't quite endless, but they are worth enduring technical difficulties for. How many other games allow you to create a strong, sarcastic woman warrior who brings violent peace to scorched earth? How many other games allow players to work with a diverse cast, including people of colour and women; in leadership positions, no less? Very. Fucking. Few.

But this is what New Vegas did. This is what, to my fallible memory's recollection, Fallout 3 did to a lesser extent.

This is iteration, not innovation.

The attempts at innovation fall flat for anyone rocking anything other than a strength and intelligence-tuned S.P.E.C.I.A.L build. My luck and charisma build made difficult conversations a cinch, but it also barred me from engaging in weapon and armour modding (in any sort of meaningful way) for more than a day's worth of play.

The settlement building is just as poorly explained, and is obtuse as all get out. I purposefully abstained from completing the tutorial mission on the hunch that any friendly territories I acquired before that point would not be subject to invasion.

For more than 40 hours, and the duration of the main questline, this hypothesis proved true. Funnily enough, the second I fast travelled away from the setting for the ultimate action, I received notice that an outpost was under attack. I don't want to say this new system is unusable, as some creative (if not, puerile) players have already published some impressive creations; it's just a little too indecipherable for my tastes.

Another reason I'm failing to engage with these new features is that the barriers to entry in terms of raw resource requirements are set too high for characters who can't carry an abundance of junk that has no application outside of combat. If I want to have access to weapons that will (eventually) kill an array of deadly enemies, I can't carry 10 pounds of paint thinner, 50 fuses, and my entire arsenal.

Yes, inventory management is still a pain after nearly 20 years of Fallout games. I'd love to offer a solution (like, for instance, being able to send companions to nearby settlements a la Torchlight), but I'm sure the internet as a collective would not deem it worthy. For now, at least, I must continue to return to my home settlement and stuff a fabric suitcase with miniguns and power armour pieces. Don't y'all get between gamers and their fucked up notions of realism now.

The main quest line is home to one too many pointless twists, with inconsistent pacing and some choices that left me feeling indifferent. I don't want to go too far into it for fear of spoiling anything, but the choice of faction for me was obvious, as the two alternatives that I had (could've been three, but I didn't pursue the Minutemen quest chain) had some moustache-twirling, vaudevillian creeds by which I couldn't abide. That being said, my choice didn't result in the satisfying, life-affirming conclusion I was expecting. It wasn't abjectly apocalyptic, but it didn't give me the warm feeling I was hoping for.

As was the case with Fallout 3 and New Vegas, the best meat is in the off-cuts. A short sojourn to collect baseball collectibles for a fan who had no idea how the old game worked was far more enjoyable than the central revenge plot. The guy who wanted to experience every drug-induced high available was far more relatable than any of the Brotherhood of Steel lackeys I came across.

I could continue complaining, like say about the conversation system that leads to seemingly-random outcomes based on vague prompts, the transmisgonyst robot gag that is KL-E-0, or the near non-existent changes to V.A.T.S (or the the combat system as a whole, for that matter); but I'd be missing the point. Fallout 4 is a time sink, and for the most part, it's a sink that I and most other nerds are happy to piss into. War never changes, but Fallout does ever so slowly.

Skyrim is ruled by deeds, not words

Note: This post contains spoilers for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 3. 

For all of their ability to create absorbing worlds, Bethesda can't write a decent character to save themselves. Skyrim may be an amazing game world - with a deep, though decidedly uninteresting lore, and peppered with stunning landscapes and vistas - but the people that occupy its many townships and settlements have so far proven less than memorable.

This issue isn't unique to Skyrim, mind you. With the possible exceptions of Uriel and Martin Septim - voiced by Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean respectively - Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Fallout 3 lacked notable cast members. It's arguable that the worlds that featured in these games were the true stars: with each decision that players made having consequences of - at times - unimaginable scope. You may choose to save Megaton in Fallout 3 and interact with its dead-eyed inhabitants, or set off the bomb that was the town's namesake; killing everyone and sparing you from unconvincing voice acting and multiple repetitive fetch quests. You may choose to rise through the ranks of every guild in Oblivion as well, but can you honestly name five characters from the game without consulting a wiki?

One more person speaks to me in a monotone voice and BOOM!

With that being said, it's hard to assemble a strong cast with a soulless mute playing the lead role. Meaningful conversation is a dance that requires at least two active participants. It's also difficult to develop chemistry between characters when one doesn't emote or employ the subtleties of tone, pace and pitch.

You don't need moving lips and the batting of eyelids for a relationship to develop in a believable way either, as evidenced by the banter between protagonist, Adam Jensen and sarcastic tech-head Francis Pritchard in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Conversations between these two can play out in both first and third person, but you feel a connection develop regardless of the perspective. In Oblivion, moments like Martin Septim's transformation and ultimate sacrifice fall flat, because short of retrieving a whole bunch of items for this bastard child, there's no back and forth between the two of you. In Fallout 3, your father's demise doesn't end up meaning too much because apart from the implied father-son relationship (and the amusingly-awkward death scene), you and dear-old-Dad didn't do too much together. If Bethesda wants to develop meaningful relationships between characters, they each need to be able to communicate in a way that is both apparent and believable.  

Sound design plays a big part too. Using Deus Ex: Human Revolution as an example once again: you would hear peripheral chatter from the denizens of Detroit and Heng Sha, but the speech of quest givers and the central cast took priority. On my way to my first encounter with a dragon in Skyrim, Irileth's speech to the Whiterun guards was consistently interrupted by the idle chatter of minor NPCs. I had to strafe continuously, or else the (what I imagined to be a) stirring oration would be lost in a sea of musings about the weather and stranger danger. In this instance, the world needed to take a backseat to the scene that was unfolding; instead the people of Skyrim ensured that no one person could steal the spotlight.

With characters unable to assert themselves, there's only one thing you can do to make these games amazing: get lost. Forgive the unconvincing, droll tones of every NPC. Pick a fight with a giant and lose... badly. Loot every corpse and container that you come across. Immerse yourself in a perfect world filled with imperfect characters. 

 Once more, with feeling!

Don't get me wrong: I'm loving Skyrim, I consider Oblivion to be one of the best games on this generation of hardware, and I found Fallout 3 to be somewhat enjoyable. That said, I found the ability to wander - both aimlessly, and with purpose - in each game's vast, untamed and unpredictable environments to be the most compelling aspect of each title.

Can you name five characters from Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion or Fallout 3 without consulting a wiki? Who are your favourite characters from Bethesda's open wold opuses? Why are you enjoying/loathing Skyrim?

Rage Review (X360): A wasteland in more ways than one

There's no denying that id Software popularised the First Person Shooter. The genre existed before the likes of Doom and Wolfenstein 3D, but none proved to be as compelling, enduring or as fluid as Carmack and Romero's masterpieces. After seven years in development, Rage marks id's return to the market. A vastly different monster to when the developer reigned supreme, with consoles having more clout than their native platform. Does the leap in technology and multi-platform commitment allow for another classic from the fathers of frag?

The Good
Ride of the Valkyries - Apart from tedious voicework, the sound design in Rage is exemplary. When opting for the stealthy approach, ominous strings have tension lurking behind every corner. Upon discovery, a score of rousing themes captures the frantic energy of your fight against every mutant and bandit that occupies the wasteland. The sound effects are also reason to turn up the volume, with guns - like the Authority MG - that create a cacophony of intimidating noise. You can almost hear the armour being ripped off of your enemies by each item in your thunderous arsenal.   

This gun gets louder than Jennifer Lopez.

Corridor dancing - While the character interaction, inventory management and car combat don't smack of the polish you'd expect from an id shooter, you'd best believe that the developers got the FPS fundamentals right in Rage. Enemies of melee and ranged persuasions suffocate you in the game's various arrangements of corridors and open areas. You'll be more than able to defend yourself, however, with a range of guns and offensive items that put the fun in circle-strafun'.

Animated - They may not have much of value to say, but the characters in Rage are all rendered and animated with a level of detail not seen in your average console shooter. Enemies also move in a fashion that is either believable when referring to bandits and the Authority, or just plain frightening when the various mutants come to mind.

Wingstick, don't fail me now!

The Bad 
Hardly worth the drive - For an open world game, Rage takes place in a relatively-small space. A fast travel system similar to that in Fallout 3 or Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion would have been far more effective than the painfully-short car rides to each mission. Worse still, there's five leagues worth of frustrating races and car combat to work through as well. I'd have preferred to have spent more time throwing Wingsticks at mutants than driving some ugly cars through the innocuous wasteland.

It's dangerous to go alone! Take this - With regenerating health, consumable healing items, and a defibrillator that allows for multiple resurrections, the single player campaign offers no sense of challenge on Normal difficulty. Even when faced with hulking foes or overwhelming numbers, players are afforded too many effective tools to have any trouble with safely traversing the wasteland. 

Cultural melting pot - Each of the bandit factions has a distinct look, with members that speak in their own accent or language; but the reasons for this aren't apparent. Why do the Gearheads speak in Russian? Why do the Wasted speak with pommy accents and have a predilection for the Union Jack? None of this is immediately obvious, and it's not explored in any level of detail. Not only is this disappointing, but it gives the impression that your enemies look different just for the sake of it: they all come in the ranged and melee flavours, and attack in a similar way.  

The Ugly
Kleenex - After completing the single player campaign, I felt as though I'd been used. I hadn't developed a meaningful rapport with any of the mission-givers that I'd come across in my fifteen hours of play. When I left for the final mission, I had no connection to the places or people that I'd saved. Rage's empty story, tired dialogue and forgettable characters left me with nothing to fight for.

So, what's with the moustache? 

Stay with me? - The multiplayer suite in Rage is nothing short of laughable, with competitive car combat that suffers from the worst connection issues I've seen in this generation of hardware. Even when I'd figured out the objective of each match type, enemy vehicles were skipping across each track and bringing me a great many deaths. The Wasteland Legends co-op mode is a promising concept that is undone by the inability to continue play if a partner drops out. This problem is further exacerbated by the fickle player community, which runs at the first sign of failure. For 360 players, the third disc is a throw-away.

The Verdict
Rage may look fantastic, and feature id's signature brand of hectic gunplay, but its got no soul. A near non-existent story, poorly-developed characters, and more hours than I would care to spend in a car, make for a disappointing adventure with little replay value. The woeful competitive multiplayer and restrictive co-op mode don't help things either. If you actually find yourself enjoying the vehicular portions of the game, you become quite fond of this inconsistent beauty. If not, it's a long, unrewarding journey that I was happy to see the back of.

Neon Wasteland: Returning to New Vegas

Thanks to the lovely people at Bitmob, I was afforded the latest expansion to Fallout: New Vegas on the condition that I write about my experience with the downloadable prize. While I can never pass up a free game (or an expansion as it were), I was somewhat hesitant to re-engage with Obsidian's buggy follow-up to what is one of the better role-playing games available on this generation of console hardware in Fallout 3.

You can read all of my initial impressions of New Vegas by clicking here, but to summarize for those bereft of spare time: the game featured underwhelming visuals and voice-acting, broken quest design as well as one of the most purposeless narratives in recent memory. There were also more than enough bugs to diffuse any attempt at an extended play session. It had been just over six months since I last played this mess; but with two new expansions and some major patches, I had hoped that this middling release would have been whipped into shape.

I'm afraid this was not the case.

The New Vegas Strip was just as ugly as I had remembered it to be. The inhabitants didn't fare much better either, with their marionette-like bodies brought clumsily to life with the press of a button. They would spout uninspired observations about the establishments they resided within, and rarely uttered more than a single phrase. The washed out brown and grey corridors of the various casinos, clubs and other establishments were also just as exhausting as they were when I had first wondered through them last year.

I wasn't here for the old though, I thought to myself. I'm here to experience the newest chapter in this(so far) disappointing adventure. But then I thought about it a little harder.

It was entirely likely that the characters and by extension, enemies that I would encounter in these recently-gifted environments would be of a higher level than those peppered across the standard questline; and they would therefore be able to brutalize my inexperienced character on a whim. Before I could play through the new, I would have to suffer the old; and suffer I did.

First I played through the painfully easy, yet undeniably broken quest "Bye Bye Love." On first attempt, I arranged to meet Joana and her fellow ladies of the night in the Gamorra club lobby. Upon some last minute preparations, we embarked upon our deadly journey. Being the gentleman that I am, I waited for the ladies to leave first and the proceeded to venture out on the Strip. Joana wasn't there, neither were her friends. I was then promptly advised that I had failed the quest because I allowed the ladies to venture off alone. A different approach was required: I ran out of the club as soon as I advised that we were right to go. Again I was met with failure. Upon five successive and unsuccessful attempts, I decided to load a save game I had created about ten minutes earlier, just as I had initiated the quest. Joana and her companions met me outside and we quickly proceeded to complete the quest.

War - and Fallout: New Vegas it seems - never changes. Just as broken as ever.

New Vegas is home to many different bug varieties 

All frustration aside, I'm now proceeding towards the end game. If all things go according to plan, I should be playing Honest Hearts by next week.