With the second Fallout 4 DLC just days away, I was finally able to play the first DLC, Automatron. Available to players over level 15, the quest begins after receiving a distress signal from a group of travelers under attack from robots. After investigating, you discover Ada, a robot dealing with her consciousness and the loss of her friends. Learning that the attack was orchestrated by someone named The Mechanist, you and Ada must intercept the robots under The Mechanist's control and discover the reason why so many innocent people have died and where the perpetrator is hiding.
Without divulging any spoilers, the quest itself is very action packed and will definitely challenge the most seasoned Vault Dweller at times while still retaining the quiet, and even humorous moments known in the series, within the DLC. Automatron also offers new weapons and outfits, such as a return of the Tesla Rifle, robot construction to create your very own robot follower and even the very nifty Eyebot Scavenger that travels around your nearby settlement searching for whatever you desire.
Story wise, Automatron is very well done. The concept of the story is a little cliche (Ada even says as much if you ask) but overall as the Sole Survivor, you can take charge in how it unravels and ends. Unfortunately, the more downswing areas of the DLC involve a lot of repetitiveness; travel to a specific area, locate a thing, go back to your Robot Workbench and repeat. What does help with this is the newer robot enemies, most named Junkbot, and the new form of raider called the Rust Devils. Rust Devils do take a backset in Automatron and basically disappear around halfway through the story, but the huge variety of Junkbots will most definitely keep you engaged during your travels. Everything from flying swarms of Eyebots to incredibly powerful Sentry Bots can quickly overwhelm, outnumber and outgun, turning a simple skirmish into a fight for survival.
Voice acting is fairly well done, especially the dialogue between Jezebel and the Sole Survivor, with the ease of being light hearted to deadly serious, in robot and human, performed during the DLC.
After spending around 7-8 hours wrapping up Automatron, I have to admit, I am pleasantly surprised this DLC kept me captured for so long. There were a few issues here and there, such as being unable to select Ada for trading or conversation, conversations between the Sole Survivor and Ada being odd at times (I took Ada along with me from start to finish and yet she spoke like she wasn't there or witnessed anything first hand) as well as a few frame rate issues and unrendered graphics here and there, but what Automatron offers definitely aids in outweighing those slight issues. I have always been a big fan of customisable options, as it helps to immerse yourself into the world much more easily and having the option to build a giant, threatening, killer robot with a high pitched squeaky voice is a plus for me. It's these factors that help hold the overall score of this DLC up to where it is.
Automatron may be hit and miss for the more casual players, depending on your standpoint of DLC content, but for the average Fallout fan, this is a DLC that you'll want to add to your game time, taking into consideration the massive amount of customisation in creating your very own follower, the pacing and the story overall. A great start for Fallout 4's DLC releases.
Out of 10, I give the Automatron DLC an 8/10
Automatron is out now for the standard price of $15
No comments:
Post a Comment