Why Fallout 4 Isn't As Good As You Think

After a long seven years of waiting, Bethesda has finally released the successor to Fallout 3, properly named Fallout 4. You might have noticed that the majority of critics' reviews herald the game as the best game of the year, commending its scope, style, and story. But, don't let the scores of nines and tens fool you; the game isn't without flaws. In fact, here are a few reasons why Fallout 4 isn't as good as you think...

The most immediately noticeable downside to Bethesda's latest is the fact that it doesn't look much different from its predecessor. Textures are muddy, the world generally lacks color, and there are more recycled buildings than we'd like. Sure, graphics aren't as important as they used to be, and not every game needs to blow us out of our seats with impressive visuals. But with great new hardware comes a great responsibility to push that hardware to its limits, and Fallout 4 simply doesn't look impressive. It's littered with the same glazed-over, shiny eyes that soullessly stare at your character while chatting with an NPC, hair looks like it's pasted down, and water looks lifeless, without any ripples on the surface.

It's surprising that Fallout 4 is seemingly getting a pass with critics, despite its numerous bugs and glitches. Maybe we've just come to expect a game with such an impressive scope to contain minor issues, but that doesn't mean these issues aren't any less abundant. There are major framerate problems, especially on the Xbox One version. Your companions are frequently in your way, often stopping you from leaving a room you just entered. We've also come across numerous frozen AI enemies that aren't alerted when you're nearby. Most famously, there's a glitch that allows you to get an infinite amount of in-game currency in the form of bottle caps, which kind of defeats the purpose of playing the game.

The main mechanic in Fallout 4 is shooting, but it doesn't feel as satisfying as it should. In fact, it feels exactly like it did in Fallout 3: a clunky, unreliable mess. The shooting mechanics in the game aren't accurate, and you can actually shoot an enemy visually without them taking a hit in the game. Sure, it's a small step up from the miserable combat experience that was Skyrim, but it's still not up to par with what we've come to expect in a next-generation game.

One of the new features to the franchise is the ability to build your own base, to craft weapon- and armor-upgrades, and to deck out your digs. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of time and effort. Like, seriously, a lot of time and effort. Even if you pick up the various materials you find out and about in your travels and bring them back to your base, you'll hardly be able to build any structures. If you focus solely on crafting/upgrading your base, you'll have less time to finish the main story quest.

With games nowadays having such large maps and so many different things to do, the idea of completing quests is truly daunting. If you're out on your main quest, you'll find more quests to complete in your travels along the way, with buzzwords like "you must come now" or "time is running out and we need your help." So, you'll drop the main quest, and head to the side quest. On your way to the side quest, you get another radio transmission with a voice telling you the same thing. Before you know it, you're doing more side quests than main story missions, and at that rate, you'll never find out how the story unravels.

There are a couple of interesting characters in Fallout 4, the most notable being your trusty robot companion, Codsworth. But chatting with Codsworth isn't much of a rewarding experience, since chats are just a random numbers game. In fact, chats with all of the characters in Fallout 4 are underwhelming. Instead of being allowed to be immersed in your role play, you're tasked with finding the right combination of dialogue choices based on blind luck to get through the chat.

By now, the majority of gamers have come across "fetch me" quests that have been a major part of video games since the first MMORPGs. But, you'd think Fallout 4 would have excluded such menial quests. Many quests tell you to go here, kill this, take whatever item drops, and return the items to the quest-giver for a small handful of bottle caps as a reward. This is 2015, and we're done with those types of quests.