Fallout 3 tried to adapt the original Fallout games’ SPECIAL system to a first-person view, and was only partially successful - it wasn’t bad, but it was never a reason to play the game. ‘Fallout 4’ is a better role-playing gameīethesda is great at creating worlds, but it’s less successful at creating good RPG systems for wandering through them. The first moment when raindrops fall on the visor of your power armor, well, it’s special. Fallout 4 is gorgeous, and even includes things like weather effects, which provided some of the best mods for previous games. This isn’t just technical it’s also stylistic. In short, Fallout 4 is polished as hell, and gives lie to the fear that I had that it wasn’t going to be worth playing for month or even years after release, as happened with Fallout 3 and New Vegas. When playing Fallout 4, almost nothing blocks me from actually playing. Getting into the game is a matter of seconds, as is fast travel or loading games within the engine. Even better, for a huge, open-world game, there are minimal load times. There are no significant slowdowns, no major graphical glitches, and the worst technical thing that’s happened is a minor shopkeeper I tried to buy from not having anything to offer.

What’s more, it’s never felt like it’s about to. I’m playing on PC, so that’s an extra special achievement.

‘Fallout 4’ is stable and gorgeousįallout 4 hasn’t crashed once for me, over 15 hours in.

But Bethesda has also worked to fix the most glaring weaknesses of their past games. The great parts of Fallout 3 - picking a direction, wandering to a landmark, finding a story, and diving in - remain in the fourth installment of the series. But for the first time in a decade, a Bethesda game feels like it’s building on the foundation its predecessors left behind. This isn’t a full review - it’s a huge game and we’re taking our time with it. To put it simply: if you liked Fallout 3, you’ll probably love Fallout 4.

Fallout 4 first person view