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Fallout 76 | Xbox One | Review

19/11/2018

 
Fallout 76 review on Pass the Controller - power armour

Does Fallout need NPCs to work? That’s the question we’ve been pondering almost the entire time we’ve been thinking about this review. The short answer is, as always, the cop-out answer, which is - erm, probably not?

James Michael Parry - Pass the Controller

​by James
Michael
​Parry

@james_parry on Twitter

​@james_parry

Fallout 76 - Xbox One
Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher: Bethesda
Platforms: Xbox One, PS4, PC
Players: 1 - 24 

In taking the Fallout franchise - developer Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic epic, as opposed to the fantasy one - online, 76 throws out a lot of what is, arguably, that which made the previous games come alive.

Fallout 76 takes us to a new region of America, West Virginia, and a slightly new time period in that we’re closer to the nuclear war that irreparably scorched the Earth than ever before. The most obvious result of this, in terms of the game’s world, is that everything - enemies and environments alike - feels a little less broken down.

Waking up in Vault 76 - which is special, we’re assured - on Reclamation Day, or possibly later, due to your character’s drunken stupor, the party has died off to leave you as the only remaining dweller. In their apparent guilt, the folks did at least leave you a party hat and a few other equally key supplies to kickstart the adventure.

​
Setting up your character is a little different to previous entries, as the returning S.P.E.C.I.A.L. skill stats are now card-based, rather than relying on the assignment of points, resulting in an overall simplified progression experience. The game doesn’t do too much hand-holding here though, leaving you to work out for yourself that you can, in fact, equip more than one card at a time, provided you meet certain prerequisites.

V.A.T.S. is a little different too, or just completely absent depending on your playstyle. The targeting system was indispensable in 3 and 4 but here, in real-time, there's very little advantage other than snapping your view to enemies. With no slow-motion at all there's a tendency for percentages to fluctuate widely and that led us, ultimately, to dispense with it altogether. Far from ideal for such a series staple.
This Fallout adventure is designed with friends in mind, up to 23 others at a time in fact, as you share your instance of West Virginia with fellow survivors getting busy living. Teaming up works as you’d expect, though finding other players isn’t necessarily an easy task with so much real estate to roam, and even the invites only gingerly pop up in the corner instead of really pushing the co-op experience.

For those wanting to be more traditional lone wolves this is somewhat of a godsend, but it gives an indication as to Bethesda's odd approach to playing together. Teaming up with friends to build a ridiculous base is plenty of fun by itself, but even more so is picking a point on the map and just going there, collecting the materials required to build and bringing the gameplay loop full circle along the way.

There’s PvP as well, unlocked at level 5 along with the hassle-free pacifist mode, but so far most players have largely been behaving themselves (perhaps everyone’s focused on levelling?) and there's little to actively encourage player encounters this early in the game's life.

​
76’s story relies heavily on your patience (which will certainly be tested in a multiplayer environment) for discovering and engaging with holotapes and written logs, as there aren’t any human AI characters to bump into and have deliver exposition through conversations. At first you feel a glimmer of hope that one or two of the quests might end up with you, somehow, coming to the rescue of a relieved NPC, but alas, everything seems to end in death. Death, it seems, never changes…
Fallout 76 review - red rocket
Building and crafting makes a return in a big way, as opposed to the somewhat take-it-or-leave-it approach of Fallout 4, in that you now have a mobile workbench known as the C.A.M.P. With it, you can construct all manner of things, once you’ve discovered the relevant plans, of course, which have been absent-mindedly left strewn across the vast, open wasteland.

No longer limited to specific settlements, you can lug your C.A.M.P. across the map (which is now four times larger) and place it anywhere not too close to a named location. Honestly though, you probably wouldn’t want to anyway, as you’d forever be pestered by respawning enemies.​

While there isn’t the same throughline narrative returning players might expect, there are still main quests which take you on a gradual tour of the sizeable map, as well as side quests which pop up as you might expect, but new to Fallout are more MMO-style daily and event missions, the latter of which generally involve clearing out or protecting specific locations, and can trigger very easily if you wander even close to the marker.

Fortunately, there’s fast travel to help you get around with relative ease, however, this brings us to one of the most significant and potentially deal-breaking areas of the game - bugs.​​
Fallout 76 review - encounter
V.A.T.S. is a little different too... With no slow-motion at all there's a tendency for percentages to fluctuate widely and that led us, ultimately, to dispense with it altogether.
There’s no getting around it: Bethesda games have a reputation for… not performing to the best technical standard. Of course, huge open world games are particularly susceptible to bugs, and when you add multiplayer and base building into the mix, Bethesda certainly haven’t made it easy on themselves.

That being said, Fallout 76 has consistently thrown up more bugs than any other release we’ve experienced in 2018. One particularly nasty error repeatedly caused the console (an Xbox One X) to shut itself down entirely to protect it from overheating. Firstly, the console wasn’t at risk of overheating - ventilation was fine and the device wasn’t hot to the touch as you’d expect if that was a serious risk. Secondly, there’s almost no way to avoid the frightening issue creeping up on you, but particularly if you try to fast travel there’s a high chance of having to suffer through a hard restart.

​
Needless to say there are fixes coming, and the other, more visible reported bugs - like enemies getting stuck in place and walking at 45-degree angles, or event quests inexplicably failing - will likely be dealt with, but as a customer paying a substantial number of bottle caps to pick the game up, the reality is severely below standard.
Fallout 76 review - heated pitchfork
It looks a lot darker than this on the TV, and there's no brightness slider?!
Perhaps Bethesda didn’t realise the B.E.T.A. (boy, do they love their acronyms) would throw up as many issues as it did, but, for a game of its standing, the stability should really be a lot better.

​
To address the big question then, does Fallout really need NPCs? It definitely depends on the game you’re looking for. If you imagine this game as a Conan Exiles or Minecraft survival experience then it might exceed expectations, but if you go in looking for Bethesda-does-Destiny then it could go the other way.

While NPCs aren’t essential to make it feel like a Fallout game (76 does still feel very Fallout), there’s really no specific reason - putting Bethesda’s stance on it emphasising player interaction aside - that there shouldn’t be anyone around, particularly when compared to previous games. To implement a blanket ban seemingly on principle makes the world feel a little more empty and locations a little less exciting; just the odd bit of characterisation here and there (besides identical robots) would have made all the difference.

It may get better in time, but right now it’s hard to fully recommend Fallout 76 for anyone other than die-hard series fans that are hungry for more.

Pros

  • West Virginia shines, despite being founded on an aging engine
  • Base building feels more extensive
  • A pitchfork combined with a flamethrower is an inspired melee weapon

Cons

  • Game-breaking bugs are frequent
  • World feels vast, but empty without NPCs
  • Quests are uninspired & rarely memorable

6/10
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