4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Game That I Highly Recommend!
Reviewed in the United States on 24 October 2011
I wasn't sure if I'd like this game or not because I was concerned it was a first person shooter which I can't play (they make me feel sick). I was really excited though that while it "can" be an FPS, it can also be played as a 3rd person shooter. I had no problems at all, I really loved that you can create and customize your own character. I prefer to play as a character I create rather than some predetermined character which is usually a generic looking white guy.
Anyway, I was really pleasantly surprised by this game. I took a risk on it, unsure of whether or not I would like it but I really did. Theres good and bad though, so here's my thoughts, first the bad:
1. The main quest is pretty short I think and you can knock it out quick, but you don't want to because one of the drawbacks of the game is that once its done, the game is done. There's no freeplay after that last main quest mission. I would have liked to have been able to go do more exploration or quests after the final main one or even to talk to people afterwards to find out their thoughts at that point.
2. There's a real lack in different bad things to kill, I count roughly a dozen or so different creatures and that's about it and you see most of the different creatures pretty early on in the game, so there's really not a lot of surprises. Further, I found I could kill pretty much anything I ran up against fairly early in the game, so the stuff didn't really get more challenging.
3. I think there's a disconnect between levels and experience. Either theres not enough levels or you get thru them too quickly. I found myself maxed out at level 20 maybe 1/3 of the way thru the game. That meant that I didn't see any motivation or benefit really to continuing to do certain activities as there was no experience.
4. There's a real limit to how much cool stuff there is in the game. Again you see the same stuff over and over and there's not a lot of rare items, nor do the items get better as you progress. That would have made more sense to me, better weapons and armor as you progress and encounter harder and harder foes. Also, because of this, I found myself with lots of lots of caps (in game money) with nothing worthwhile to spend it on really, this took away motivation to bother to gather things because I didn't need the money anyway.
5. I get that there's only so much they can do, but still, every house seems to have the same internal layout, the tunnels all look the same inside, etc, just the configurations change. Its not a big problem, but its consistent with weapons, armor and creatures in terms of a lack of real diversification.
6. There's a lack of diversification of faces, maybe a dozen or two and so you tend to see the same faces over and over, especially on the raiders.
7. Shooting when you're not in VATS, especially on a PC is a little tricky, but not impossible.
8. I would have liked to have seen some romance options, but that's just me, a romantic at heart.
9. It ends kind of abruptly. I would have expected the last mission to be a really tough battle royale kind of a "the biggest test" of the game if you will, but it wasn't. That's consistent with the fact that nothing really gets any harder or more challenging throughout, it all kind of stays at the same level even as you get slightly better weapons or much better skills or attributes, really it just gets easier as you go so for me, the end was really easy and I wasn't expecting it to end when it did.
and the good:
1. I really enjoyed this game and felt sad when it ended, I think because it really does have a great story that draws you in and truly makes you feel connected.
2. The voice work is nice. Liam Neeson plays the father. Malcom McDowell as the President, both have amazing voices.
3. While more diversity of music and radio station choices would have been nice, I did enjoy listening to the music and news of Galaxy News Radio. The old style music was a neat contrast against the wasteland.
4. The world is very big and the environment is beautiful and detailed. I would have liked to have seen it be a fully usable/destructable world like in some other games, but walking around, especially at sunrise or sunset, this is a really cool looking place with lots to see, lots to explore.
5. Tons of little side quests ranging from small nothing things to bigger things, so plenty to do.
6. I liked the karma system and how people respond to you is based on that. Its not something you set in a window like I'm going to have X karma and be evil, its more based on your choices which I think is how it should be.
7. VATS makes shooting pretty easy and the slow motion of body parts flying everywhere when you hit something is a neat bonus.
So for whatever shortcomings the game has, I highly highly recommend it. It plays out more as an RPG (role playing game) than a pure shooter. You're not just shooting at stuff with no reason, this has a real story and you're a character in a world that you feel connected with. There's a bunch of DLC add on content too but I didn't buy into that. So if you're good with 3rd person shooter games (or 1st person) like GTA, Saints Row, Dragon Age, etc, you may very much like this one.
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