I was unaware of the Fallout series until the current decade of writing this. It's something I'm a little ashamed of, considering when a friend turned me onto Fallout 3, I fell in love with the series immediately. The aesthetic, the gameplay, the story, the lore, everything about the game clicked. And yes, I got to experience the original "you automatically die at the end" ending, thanks to being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no DLC. New Vegas, while flawed, was fantastic, and when Fallout 4 was announced, I was in awe.I love that game. I still love that game.
I do not love Fallout 76. And I don't expect to ever like Fallout 76.
Fallout 76 is the earliest set Fallout, taking place only 30 years after the bombs fell. You are a resident of Vault 76; the first vault to open to take on a wild world full of fresh radiated beasts ready to take you out. What makes this game unique in the Fallout series is that it is a full fledged MMORPG; an online Fallout. Fans, admittedly, where skeptical of such a thing, especially with Bethesda at the wheel (insert "It just works" joke/reference here). And it hurts me to admit how above and beyond this game not only misses the mark, but doesn't even land in the field.
Gameplay wise, the game is still Fallout. Controls will feel familiar to anyone who has played Fallout 4 or any recent shooter. Firing weapons and using melee has a lot of weight behind them and feels organic to the situation, especially using rifles. Of course, many aspects were taken straight from Fallout 4, but we'll get into more depth about that later on. In short, the gameplay holds its own.
Graphics wise looks interesting enough and downright brilliant at times, but I do feel at times that the saturation has been turned to max to compensate in specific loading areas. Sound effects and musical score are as great as always, minus the repeated Fallout music from Fallout 3. It becomes really hard to concentrate on anything else when you're listening to Butcher Pete for the millionth time, so you tend to turn off the radio. Why am I mentioning this? Because this sums up the next few paragraphs; repetition, frustration, disbelief and disappointment.
The main story, while does show some promise later on, is incredibly lackluster and very hard to get into. I was more interested with dead corpses I found in the world than I did with any main missions. The only one I found the most interesting was the Overseer retracking her life. She was the only character I could relate to, even above my own character. And that is where I find a massive issue with this game; without character insentive, you take a silent protagonist and put them in an insane scenario...to no inner or outer reaction. What makes other silent protagonists great (Chell, Master Chief, Corvo Attano, Link, etc) is a combination of their actions and the reactions of the world around you. Antagonists to allies alike reacting to how you become the villain or hero in your actions, people admiring or forsaking you for the things you've done, your own character suffering from something in the world. Silence can speak so many words, but only through body language, emphasis or other characters.
Here, there is nothing. World quests can often reappear right after finishing them, finishing side or main quests has no affect on how the world looks to you. And all the while, your character reacts to nothing. The voice acting in the holotapes are quite good, but its hard to get attached to just a voice, and a lot more of them just end up being melodramatic.
And that doesn't even begin to mention the bugs. Oh man the bugs. Models flying off through the map, lighting showing through dirt, being stuck on terminals, the now infamous Power Armor body glitch, not even beginning to mention the more serious issues like hackers taking over servers, servers crashing from all three nukes firing.
But personally speaking, what hurts the most? Simply how empty this world is. Sure, we were told not many people would be in each server (12 per game), but there were none in previous Fallout games, but interesting stories and outcomes. Helping Travis out changes how you hear the Radio in Fallout 4, killing Benny Terminator style completely wipes out a story branch for you in New Vegas, setting off Megaton's nuke destroys several quest lines in Fallout 3, but here, I can walk for twenty minutes, get into a fight with over-spawning Super Mutants while the buildings next to you and the ground are barely rendered, then falling through the ground and dying, respawning all the way back at Vault 76 cause your CAMP isn't responding.
I preordered the Power Armor edition, and unboxing that awesome helmet was the most fun I had with this game, minus one moment. There was a holotape I found of a girl stuck in a room slowly dying who commits suicide. It was dark, it was powerful storytelling, and it was compelling. The mission I was on, was not. And when I realised this, I slowly shifted back to Fallout 4. And then, two days ago, I just stopped going back to 76. I honestly don't expect myself to play this game again.
The game does do some things right; crafting is great, gameplay is just as good, but you'll find it's only the repeated elements that make this game fun. The disease, food and water management can be a huge deterrent since gathering supplies can take up a lot of time, and buying items will take you forever. But I digress, anything else this game does wrong if up to you to discover.
If you have a group of friends who are just as die-hard for Fallout as you are, you'll find some entertainment in this game. But this West Virginia isn't almost heaven, it's purgatory.
Fallout 76: 3/10
Here, there is nothing. World quests can often reappear right after finishing them, finishing side or main quests has no affect on how the world looks to you. And all the while, your character reacts to nothing. The voice acting in the holotapes are quite good, but its hard to get attached to just a voice, and a lot more of them just end up being melodramatic.
And that doesn't even begin to mention the bugs. Oh man the bugs. Models flying off through the map, lighting showing through dirt, being stuck on terminals, the now infamous Power Armor body glitch, not even beginning to mention the more serious issues like hackers taking over servers, servers crashing from all three nukes firing.
But personally speaking, what hurts the most? Simply how empty this world is. Sure, we were told not many people would be in each server (12 per game), but there were none in previous Fallout games, but interesting stories and outcomes. Helping Travis out changes how you hear the Radio in Fallout 4, killing Benny Terminator style completely wipes out a story branch for you in New Vegas, setting off Megaton's nuke destroys several quest lines in Fallout 3, but here, I can walk for twenty minutes, get into a fight with over-spawning Super Mutants while the buildings next to you and the ground are barely rendered, then falling through the ground and dying, respawning all the way back at Vault 76 cause your CAMP isn't responding.
I preordered the Power Armor edition, and unboxing that awesome helmet was the most fun I had with this game, minus one moment. There was a holotape I found of a girl stuck in a room slowly dying who commits suicide. It was dark, it was powerful storytelling, and it was compelling. The mission I was on, was not. And when I realised this, I slowly shifted back to Fallout 4. And then, two days ago, I just stopped going back to 76. I honestly don't expect myself to play this game again.
The game does do some things right; crafting is great, gameplay is just as good, but you'll find it's only the repeated elements that make this game fun. The disease, food and water management can be a huge deterrent since gathering supplies can take up a lot of time, and buying items will take you forever. But I digress, anything else this game does wrong if up to you to discover.
If you have a group of friends who are just as die-hard for Fallout as you are, you'll find some entertainment in this game. But this West Virginia isn't almost heaven, it's purgatory.
Fallout 76: 3/10
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