If you know me, or you have read some of my previous Thoughts pieces, you know I'm a very positive person when it comes to movies and video games. Even if there are problems with an aspect to a story or a few gameplay issues I can look past them if the game is fun and that's what makes this one a tad different. In the past I have really not liked it when people have said they were "offended' or felt like a piece of entertainment was a "slap in the face" but I get it now. Fallout 76 is a bad game and proves that the Creation Engine is out of date. This is my most disappointing game of 2018 and it's not even close!
I want to start with the positives cause there a few of them. I think the game has a strong first impression. The opening cinematic might be the best in the franchise and seeing West Virginia for the first time is very impressive. Even the first few missions are interesting cause you're curious where they can go with them. The score is excellent! It has this very dark, yet calm vibe going on and it works so well. Also, the music on the radio is the best in the series. They use some of the better songs from Fallout 4 and I was down with that. The creature designs are awesome! The Scorched Beasts are some of the coolest enemies I've ever seen in a Bethesda game! Seeing one flying around for the first time is a moment! And that about wraps up the good. For the first few hours I was pretty impressed with this game, but the more I played it the more I started to not like it.
This game runs like shit! I was playing on an Xbox One X and there were times that the game just straight up froze when I was just walking around and others when I would be near some gunfights and the frames would drop so low it felt like I was chugging mud! Literally every other enemy encounter would have a few of them just stand there glitched out until I shot at them and they would flop around and run after me after I shot. And some of the enemies would just stand there after I shot them and eat bullets until I killed them.
This game has some of the most horrendous pop-ins I've seen in an open world game. I get that this is the biggest game they have ever made but that doesn't excuse literally every horizon having to magically pop up when I get closer to it. The graphics are a tad worse than what they were in Fallout 4 and I don't understand how that's possible. To be fair, Skyrim was probably the last game they released that blew us away graphically but still. Some of the vistas look photo realistic but when you get to the surface level of everything it's a blurry mess and honestly looks like something straight out of an original Xbox game.
So let's move on to some of the gameplay. It plays like a standard Fallout game for the majority of the time. While exploring the world you will pick locks, hack terminals, and shoot ghouls/monsters and robots. The two biggest changes are the multiplayer and with V.A.T.S but those are pretty massive. Each time you load into a game you will be put in a server with around 20 people or so. It's a huge world so running into people can be a challenge but they are all marked on the map with a yellow dot. The way PvP works is actually interesting in that you won't take place in it unless you shoot back. So if you just want to play and never do it, just don't shoot back when being shot. If you do though, it's pretty fun. I killed a few people and it's satisfying. It has a revenge system so you can always find who killed you easily if you want to get them back. It also has a Dark Souls thing going on when you die in that you will drop some materials and you'll have to retrieve them when you come back. Now, the changes to V.A.T.S. are big because it doesn't slow down time anymore. It's basically an auto-aim with a percentage if it will hit or not. I honestly don't think it's awful but it's not what I wanted it to be and feels kind of awkward to use. So that changes the basic combat and boy, the combat in Fallout games is very bland in it's standard form! The melee and gunplay are somehow worse in this game then they were in Fallout 4 and it's just a clunky mess getting into fights. There were so many times I would have my reticle on something and I would miss like 3 times in a row. I guess it's a sever thing but it's super annoying!
All the missions you do all seem to have the same kind of vibe to them. You talk to a robot/go to a computer/find a holo tape somewhere and you go to a location to try and find someone or something. Once you get there you shoot some stuff and it ends up that the quest giver is dead and you just repeat this for the whole game. Some of the stuff is interesting though, like the Overseer's quest. It's interesting to dive into the mind of an Overseer but even that quest doesn't pay off. It does have Destiny style public events that happen but you really need multiple players for those. They are usually pretty simple but the enemies can overwhelm or you can get confused like I did a few times. They have a time limit so if you plan on doing one you need to commit to it. I did a few with some people but with the map being the size it is you will more than likely be doing them alone unless you are already playing with someone else.
I played for about 25 hours and that was all I could handle of this game. I respect what they were going for but they missed the mark in a big way to me. If you choose to play this game like a single player game I would highly recommend making this a podcast game you just grind. The story isn't worth your time to listen to every holo tape of every person, cause you won't see them anyway. A good thing about this game is that all the DLC will be free so maybe they pull a Destiny and this game will be something special in a year. I hate that we are to that point with some games but we are. Even if you are a massive Fallout fan I can't recommend getting this game right now. I felt like I was lied to and got to the point that I was so disappointed I got angry, and that never happens to me. In a world that open world games like: Red Dead Redemption 2, Breath of the Wild, The Witcher 3, the current Assassin's Creed games, and Metal Gear Solid 5 exist Bethesda has to be better. I know they can be cause Fallout 3 and Skyrim exist. Maybe it's time for the Creation Engine to be retired cause they can't release another game like this and expect fans to be cool with it. Fallout 76 is my most disappointing game of 2018 and I hate that!
This game runs like shit! I was playing on an Xbox One X and there were times that the game just straight up froze when I was just walking around and others when I would be near some gunfights and the frames would drop so low it felt like I was chugging mud! Literally every other enemy encounter would have a few of them just stand there glitched out until I shot at them and they would flop around and run after me after I shot. And some of the enemies would just stand there after I shot them and eat bullets until I killed them.
This game has some of the most horrendous pop-ins I've seen in an open world game. I get that this is the biggest game they have ever made but that doesn't excuse literally every horizon having to magically pop up when I get closer to it. The graphics are a tad worse than what they were in Fallout 4 and I don't understand how that's possible. To be fair, Skyrim was probably the last game they released that blew us away graphically but still. Some of the vistas look photo realistic but when you get to the surface level of everything it's a blurry mess and honestly looks like something straight out of an original Xbox game.
So let's move on to some of the gameplay. It plays like a standard Fallout game for the majority of the time. While exploring the world you will pick locks, hack terminals, and shoot ghouls/monsters and robots. The two biggest changes are the multiplayer and with V.A.T.S but those are pretty massive. Each time you load into a game you will be put in a server with around 20 people or so. It's a huge world so running into people can be a challenge but they are all marked on the map with a yellow dot. The way PvP works is actually interesting in that you won't take place in it unless you shoot back. So if you just want to play and never do it, just don't shoot back when being shot. If you do though, it's pretty fun. I killed a few people and it's satisfying. It has a revenge system so you can always find who killed you easily if you want to get them back. It also has a Dark Souls thing going on when you die in that you will drop some materials and you'll have to retrieve them when you come back. Now, the changes to V.A.T.S. are big because it doesn't slow down time anymore. It's basically an auto-aim with a percentage if it will hit or not. I honestly don't think it's awful but it's not what I wanted it to be and feels kind of awkward to use. So that changes the basic combat and boy, the combat in Fallout games is very bland in it's standard form! The melee and gunplay are somehow worse in this game then they were in Fallout 4 and it's just a clunky mess getting into fights. There were so many times I would have my reticle on something and I would miss like 3 times in a row. I guess it's a sever thing but it's super annoying!
All the missions you do all seem to have the same kind of vibe to them. You talk to a robot/go to a computer/find a holo tape somewhere and you go to a location to try and find someone or something. Once you get there you shoot some stuff and it ends up that the quest giver is dead and you just repeat this for the whole game. Some of the stuff is interesting though, like the Overseer's quest. It's interesting to dive into the mind of an Overseer but even that quest doesn't pay off. It does have Destiny style public events that happen but you really need multiple players for those. They are usually pretty simple but the enemies can overwhelm or you can get confused like I did a few times. They have a time limit so if you plan on doing one you need to commit to it. I did a few with some people but with the map being the size it is you will more than likely be doing them alone unless you are already playing with someone else.
I played for about 25 hours and that was all I could handle of this game. I respect what they were going for but they missed the mark in a big way to me. If you choose to play this game like a single player game I would highly recommend making this a podcast game you just grind. The story isn't worth your time to listen to every holo tape of every person, cause you won't see them anyway. A good thing about this game is that all the DLC will be free so maybe they pull a Destiny and this game will be something special in a year. I hate that we are to that point with some games but we are. Even if you are a massive Fallout fan I can't recommend getting this game right now. I felt like I was lied to and got to the point that I was so disappointed I got angry, and that never happens to me. In a world that open world games like: Red Dead Redemption 2, Breath of the Wild, The Witcher 3, the current Assassin's Creed games, and Metal Gear Solid 5 exist Bethesda has to be better. I know they can be cause Fallout 3 and Skyrim exist. Maybe it's time for the Creation Engine to be retired cause they can't release another game like this and expect fans to be cool with it. Fallout 76 is my most disappointing game of 2018 and I hate that!
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