Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Highly addictive"

The Fallout games have always been brilliant Sci-Fi RPGs. Fallout 1 and 2 defined the genre, and Fallout 3 added First Person Shooter elements to the mix. Which created the basis of which games like Rage and Borderlands are built one.

The latest installment, however, is not as groundbreaking. The story is pretty well thought of, be also pretty basic, unlike the last games in the series that had long and complex stories. The main gameplay mechanics are nothing new, it plays almost exactly the same as the previous game and even features the same controls.

However, the game features a new mode, called Hardcore. At first glance you might think Hardcore mode is simply another difficulty, one harder then hard. (Like Gears of War's Insane Mode, or Halo's Legendary) But this is not the case. Hardcore mode adds a survival element to the game. While in normal modes and previous titles, food, water and sleep simply replenishes the players health, in Hardcore mode these items are essential to survival. For instance, if the player goes to long without eating food, he/she will become sick with starvation. (Much like Radiation poisoning) The same goes with sleep and water. For each level of sickness, the player will lose points off their S.P.E.C.A.L. (Eg, on Minor Starvation, they will lose 1 strength, and on Minor Sleep Deprivation, they will lose 1 perception). Stimpacks also take time to work and ammo has a weight valve, making players having to think which weapons and ammo would help them most in which situation and then only bringing those weapons and ammo.

Another new feature is that the game features different ammo types. Such as Hollow Point Rounds and Armor Piercing Rounds. And the play can load any weapons with these ammo types, provided the weapon supports that ammo.
There are also weapon mods in the game. Unlike in Fallout 3, where all weapon mods were pre-fitted to the weapons, (Like The Scoped. 44 Magnum) these mods must be bought first, and then fitted to the weapon they are for. This include, Scopes, Laser Sights, Stocks, Missile Laser Guides and much more. However I was disappointed to find that there are no Grenade Launcher Bayonet mods.

There is also a new stealth element to the game. LIke in games like Hitman, the player can kill an NPC of a certain Faction, (Eg, A Great Khan Raider) put on their clothes and as long as you don't attack any other NPCs of that faction and stay out of view of guards, you will be disguised as a member of that faction.

The final new features are Traits. 2 of these are selected at the beginning of the game and most of these make certain skills higher at the cost of making another skill. The only exemption of these is the "Wild Wastland" Trait which adds new Random occurrences and Easter Eggs. However, these are only new to players of Fallout 3, as they were featured in Fallout 1 and 2

Apart from these, and the Iron Sight Zoom feature, there are no new gameplay mechanics, and it plays much like the previous game. There are plenty of new weapons (Especially Energy) plus weapons from the Fallout 3 expansion packs and rare weapons. (Like the Alien Blaster) But the main story will end before the player gets to collect all of these weapons as the main story quests are very short and any player with experience of Fallout or RPG games could finish them in a day. However the game makes up for this with its many side quests. There are much more side quests in the normal game then there were in Fallout 3. And those ones to the ones in the DLCs, and you have almost 100 hours of gameplay.

So, I recommend to get the best out of this game, play it in Hardcore Mode, with the Wild Wasteland Perk and play the side quests before the main quests, and you have a long and enjoyable gaming time.

In the end, because of the story's shortness and un-complexity and the fact that the graphics aren't much of an improvement, I'll have to give this game 8.5. I preferred the original, but it doesn't mean this game wasn't one of the best of last year, as I would say it well deserved it's "Game Of The Year" Title.