The Bethesda E3 2015 Round-up: Fallout 4
This year, we had the privilege of seeing the latest Fallout at Bethesda's 2015 Electronic Entertainment Show presentation, but what's new, what should we expect and just how much potential does Fallout 4 really have? Read on, as I break things down and share with you my own thoughts and opinions.
Fallout 4, to begin with, is set within a world before the initial Nuclear Bombs fell, but after the drop. Somehow your created character survives and emerges from one of the many Vaults scattered across the wasteland some 200 years later. What could have happened to him? How did he survive? What mysteries does Vault 111 hold and did anyone else from the same initial town make it out alive?
Character Customisation
Gone are sliders and standard menu's. Instead, you can now drag/sculpt facial features around, choose between noses and lower/raise brow lines, play with bone structure, hairline and skin tone in addition to the many hairstyles and bearded options already made available to you.
The presentation didn't go into too much detail with the female side of character creation, but I'm pretty certain you'll have just as many options available to you as you would the man, presumably minus the beards, but hey, we can always dream of playing the bearded lady, can't we?
Depending on which character you leave the menu as will determine who you'll play the whole campaign with. Plus, Bethesda have generated a number of different looking babies, based on the male and female character appearances you decide to go with.
The Crafting System
It's been a long time coming, but when I think about it, I don't know why I didn't see the potential in a Fallout crafting system sooner. That's right, Fallout 4 will have a crafting system in place and it's not by any means something just tacked on to make the game sell better.
The guys at Bethesda have gone straight in with a massively detailed crafting system that now allows you to collect and/or break down items found all across the Wasteland to use in many different and exciting ways.
You can upgrade base weapons, of which there's said to be around fifty in total and more than 700 mods to choose from, meaning you're practically guaranteed to have a different weapon to most of, if not all of your friends. If you wanted the silliest looking weapon, or the most intimidating and badass crowd clearer there is to use, the options are there, as are the potential bragging rights in and amongst your friends.
Additionally, you'll also be able to mod your very own Power Armour (be sure to watch the video and look out for how cool the animation is when entering the suit), enabling you to change the appearance of you arm, chest, leg and head pieces individually, to once again create something unique.
Another fun thing in Fallout's latest entry into the series is the fact you can now rip down, delete, edit, customise and rebuild places you decide to take up residence. During the video presentation, we were shown walls and roofing being put up in different ways, doors and stairways being installed into a make-shift home and at closer inspection, it looked as though you had quite a lot of creative freedom, whether you wanted a one floored or multi-tiered home to reside in. Furniture and SPECIAL stations could also be placed in areas of your own choosing and judging from the Megaman styled Pip-Boy character made with fire and multiple lighting sources, I'm really hoping I can build my own Mad Max styled Fort, complete with death spikes and motion sensing flame-throwers, though that could be a little wishful in thinking.
Devices can be connected together. Generators, lights and control stations can all be inter-linked and Sentry Turrets can be put in place, allowing for custom light displays, greater interaction/control with your inventions and stronger, more reliable defensive capabilities, to help protect your heavily modified home from Raider attacks, seemingly in a modernised take on the Tower Defense/King of the Hill typed games of the past.
A common theme of Fallout 4 appears to be the primary focus on unique customisation across all aspects of the game. Saying that, many games have tried to succeed in this area and have either failed by making things far too convoluted, or just simply didn't have enough originality or detail behind their ambitious goals. This is why I feel Bethesda have nailed it. Their system and the way the crafting is executed just makes things nice and simple for the casual gamer, but adds a whole host of options for the more hardcore amongst you to play around with.
The Pip-Boy
Ordinarily it would seem a little strange creating a section primarily targeting the Pip-Boy, but with so many new features, it'd be a crime not to.
Now, for fans of the series, you'll know already that the Pip-Boy is what we use to manage inventory, view area maps and monitor health status from the very moment we find it. It gives us reassurance and is a nice way to see where we're at, where we have to be going and what our current objectives are. This time however, animations have been massively improved and bring a smile to the face with how charming they appear. Plus, you can now find different kinds of cassettes for your Pip-Boy, ranging from fully playable, retro looking games and more outdated musical tracks of the past.
Lastly, for all of those collectors out there, you'll now be able to spend your hard earned
Useful Information
Fallout 4 seems to be set primarily in Boston. The VATS System looks like it's had a bit of an over-haul and appears more fluid and responsive now, and like Fallout 3, you'll once again be accompanied by a Canine friend who this time around is invincible.
I'm more of a cat person personally, but a cat's not likely to save you when you're being chased by a pack of Deathclaw's. This is where Dogmeat's long lost cousin comes into play.
So, aside from barking and biting the occasional thing in passing, what exactly can "Dog" do? Why, he can follow commands, that's what! Point him in the direction of your crosshair and he'll run there. Want an item but it's out of reach? Have no fear, for "Dog" is here to fetch it for you.
What's also worth noting is that many people prefer PC games due to the level of mods on offer. As most of you will know, player/fan created mods can improve gameplay, add new HUD's/GUI's/Graphical Overlays, integrate new sound into the game, insert new character models and even expand character customisation. I'm unsure as to how they're actually going to go about it right now, but the great news about this is that Fallout 4 mods have now been said to work on console!
Check out the Fallout: Shelter mobile game below. It's free to play and already available to download:
Overall, Fallout 4 looks to have upped its game enough to once again be the breath of fresh air many fans had hoped for. With a new crafting system in place, sightings of a Jetpack, cross-game functionality between itself and the iOS/Android app and improved customisation options, many fans (both male and female) have a lot to look forward to later this year, when the game finally hits shelves November 10th.
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