With Bethesda electing to keep Fallout 4 under wraps until they were only doing final bug-testing, it emerged fully-formed out of the ether back at E3 in June, 2015, only for the run-up to release being filled with hardly any glimpses of it in action. Now it's out fans are... divided, to say the least, and as the days since November 10th continue to roll by, Fallout 4's reception needle edges closer and closer towards 'Meh' from many very vocal players, as the critics sing its praises from the rooftops. The Case For: No one makes RPGs quite like Bethesda. They've proven themselves to be the absolute masters of the craft in Western markets, and Fallout 4 is a brilliantly interwoven system of loot-grinding, settlement-building and narrative payoff that encourages exploration, but rewards you considerably at every turn. The Case Against: It's less Fallout 4 and more Fallout 3.5. There's a distinct feeling of age when you're piloting your character around the Wasteland, and that comes from Bethesda reusing the same game engine as Skyrim - complete with all the animation quirks, bugs and crippling glitches that game had. My Take: There's definitely something weird about waiting so long for a game to come out - and noting the massive leap from Oblivion to Skyrim - only for Fallout 4 to feel so familiar. Going directly from 3 to 4 in the space of a few days really highlights just how much hasn't changed, and although the new gunplay does fix one of the worst parts about the older experience, there's hardly anything you could sell Fallout 4 on that 3 didn't already nail back in 2008. Let us know your thoughts on any of these games in the comments, and please create an account if you'd like to write for the site!
