Fallout 4

Fallout 4 

• Graphics: 7/10:

Fallout 4 has updated graphics from Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas. Updated from their previous games, but not an actual update compared to other games on the PS4. The graphics still feel like something out of the PS3 era and character faces appear blocky. The look of monsters is even worse with many of the heads looking painted on. The only redeeming factor is the look of the guns and some of the epic explosions.
I applaud Bethesda for straying away from mainstream expectations and how the public puts the importance of graphics (and those damn multiplayer features) above the gameplay. However, it seems like they should have at least done something more for such a massive open world. With the amount of money and time spent on this game they could have definitely made a noticeable improvement over Fallout 3 and New Vegas. The faces of the characters and even story line NPCs is still something out of the late PS2 era. This is something you would have seen in the Final Fantasy X, but Bethesda has no excuse 2 consoles later. Faces appear flat and lifeless. The movement of the mouths barely matches what they are saying and looks somewhat like a dubbed Kung-Fu movie. I'd also like to mention the facial hair on the main character looks like a fake beard from a mall Santa.
The monsters are still unrealistic and don't provide any actual scare factor from their appearance. Feeling threatened by a Deathclaw is still based on how many hitpoints they have and how much damage they can do with one strike. Being scared of numbers is cool for nerds, but gets old fast. The worst example is the Feral Ghouls. Creatures who are supposed to be disolved and gooey from radiation exposure look more like the Ghouls from Slaughter House for the Turbo Grafix 16. The Ghouls resemble action figures and don't provide a real sense of being humans turned into radioactive zombies. I get that Bethesda wants us to use our imagination, but that's what books expect us to do and I play video games to escape the boredom of books.
Luckily the look of the new guns is awesome. I can forgive Fallout's low quality people because of the awesome nuclear explosions and detailed guns. The handguns, especially the revolver, really draw you into the game and give you a sense of finding real treasures when you acquire one for the first time. Seeing the guns held in first person is also a great way of drawing players into the illusion of actually being a part of the Fallout 4 world.

• Gameplay 9/10: 

The gameplay is just as epic as you would expect from Fallout games by this point. The world is massive and would take months of daily gaming to traverse. Optional quests are everywhere with multiple outcomes giving the feel of freewill and choice. The new settlement creation feature adds hours of gameplay and a brand new concept to the Fallout series. Lastly, there is an improvement on previous problems with Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas.
Fallout 4's map of the Commonwealth of Boston feels just as big as the real life city. Most major buildings can be entered including notable landmarks like the Boston Public Library or Boston City Hall. New locations are added to Boston in the aftermath of the nuclear apocalypse. The Diamond City Stadium is one of the largest settlements in the game featuring a fully functional city including farmlands, restaurants, a hotel, houses, a barber, medical doctor's office, a plastic surgeon, detective agency, mayor's office, radio station and many more.
The optional quests from exploring are unique and will sometimes surprise you out of nowhere. It's like a TV level of drama and mystery. I really enjoyed the case of a man who suspected his wife was cheating on him with a bartender. It started out with me walking into the bar and suddenly a scene broke out with a raving husband coming in, yelling at his wife and being punched by the bartender. It was completely unexpected. I won't ruin the ending, but the quest had multiple endings and really allowed me to express myself with the unique dialogue choices. On the other hand some of the necessary quests for building towns were extremley repetitive: kill these bandits or kill these monsters because the towns people are worried. Of course there were also some fetch quests and everybody gets sick of those pretty quick.
Now about the new feature: building a town. This is a great new concept and adds a new way to earn cash, items and even decorate your own home. The workshop feature allows the player to create all the necessary functions of a town including farmland, a water source, beds, shelter and defenses. There's also optional creations such as decoration if you decide to build your own home to store some of the loot collected in the wasteland. Lastly, the feature allows you to create shops which generate a steady income while you're busy killing ghouls and Deathclaws.
There's some new improvements made from the older Fallout games. One of the biggest problems with earlier Fallout games was the karma system which restricted players on deciding whether or not to become a pickpocket, thief, badass etc. That has been removed and now there's even a skill dedicated to pickpocketing. Fallout 4 also removed the need to repair equipment which may have added to the realism of earlier Fallout games, but it also made the quests needlessly longer by having to repeat the same process of "kill bad guys, repair equipment". Finally, there is no more skill requirements to wield certain weapons. Once you find that awesome Fat Man or Missile Launcher you can use it right away with no restrictions.

• Sound and Music 8/10:

Fallout 4 continues with it's tradition of having classic oldies playing on your Pip-Boy radio while you explore the wastes and battle radioactive monsters. There's nothing more satisfying than blowing up a group of raiders while listening to "Ain't That a Kick In the Head". There's also some great background music during intense scenes that gives it the feel of watching a movie. The reason the game didn't get a perfect 10 for sound is because the sound effects for gun fire still sound a little cheesy. That would be okay in a Summer action movie, but video games have been using actual gun shot sounds for over a decade now and Fallout should do the same.

• Story 8/10: 

The good part about the story is that you actually care about each character and faction you meet along the way. Everybody you meet has depth and is more than one dimension. The organizations and political parties also have very unique desires, personality's and the player will empathize with how they started their group. Even the raider outlaws and Super Mutants have an emotional background that gives players an understanding of how they came to be violent outlaws.
BUT, there is a huge problem with the main character. The Fallout creators decided to add something that has never been done before in Fallout 3 or New Vegas. I'm sure they thought it would be innovative and exciting for fans of the series. Yet we all know that there is a risk with adding something new to a product that isn't broken. Well they screwed up royally by allowing the main character to actually talk. Yes Fallout fans, the main character has an actual voice, speaks and verbally states his opinions on matters of the game. In the past the main protagonist has been a silent hero much like Link from the Legend Of Zelda. But now he talks and he is a total DOUCHE.
The main character is unlikable to say the least. His tone of voice is cliche, the way he words your dialogue choices sometime conflicts with what you wanted him to actually say and the "flirt" dialogue is worse than a chick flick. He is the Jar-Jar Binks of Fallout and I wouldn't be surprised if somebody created a mod where he no longer talks at all. Luckily, this is only a small part of the story and he talks much less than the rest of the characters of the world. So it's not that bad, just ignore him and you'll enjoy the story.

• Replay Value 9/10:

The game contains multiple endings for the story, side quests, character creations and multple methods of winning fights. Needless to say the game cannot be fully enjoyed on a single or even a second playthrough. I've found myself already on the fifth playthrough and I know I'm missing so much that I'll have a seventh. This game is well worth the full price of a new game at $60 and it doesn't feel like the developers left anything out for the sake of just selling players add-ons. But there are add-ons for people who still want more and I would highly recommend most of them.

• Originality 9/10: 

This is Fallout: the plot is already original and unique compared to anything that came out before it. It would not be fair to compare the originality to other Fallout games because they are simply keeping with the same theme like any sequel would. The reason for the 9/10 is because all of the new features they added to Fallout 4 have already been done in other games such as Bethesda's other hit game Elder's Scrolls V Skyrim.

• Multiplayer 10/10: 

My rating for multiplayer will be completely different from every other site: I hate multiplayer and I think it's the biggest bane on the gaming industry. So my rating will actually be based on how much the game ignores multiplayer in favor of focusing on the main game. Fallout 4 has 0 multiplayer and thus deserves a 10/10. They focused completely on the single player and it was great.