The Fallout 4 trailer was released yesterday amidst an explosion of excitement, and thus the game is officially announced and set for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.
Personally, I’m thrilled to see the return of the masterpiece franchise in what should be Bethesda’s greatest title yet.
There were some issues I have with the trailer, however.
As cool as scenes like this were, the trailer was not without its flaws.
Perhaps the most obvious point is that the graphics seemed underwhelming.
When the dog, who I’m assuming is Dogmeat, initially came into the room, its fur was flat and the fella lacked the realism seen in many animals in other games already released or that are set to release.
His muscles are seen to move, but his fur is uninspired, flat and a little dreary.
The apartment the dog moves through also seemed rather lacklustre and the peeling paint did not feel life-like. Upon further investigation, I discovered that the engine they’re using is the Gamebryo one they’ve used for the previous instalment, Fallout 3, as well as Oblivion.
The moment is endearing, but it’s also visually a little flat.
Although this engine astonished us X number of years ago when we first played these fantastic classics, this is unacceptable for the current-gen.
We have been waiting a long time for this, the least Bethesda could have done is use a new engine, let alone develop a new one.
Something like the Tech 5 engine id is currently using, for exampe, which produces fantastic-looking worlds. Bethesda and id are practically siblings under parent company ZeniMax Media. And why not Skyrim’s Creation Engine?
To be fair, everything we saw in the trailer was in-game. This is a lot better than some overblown cinematic posing as in game footage where you sit there thinking ‘There’s no way!’
To add to that, the game is still in development (albeit nearly finished seeing as its release date has been announced as 2015), and often we get sucker-punched by the sheer surprise of what a game actually looks like when we finally get our hands on it.
The world in general does seem more detailed.
Ghouls certainly seem to move more realistically, and the physics seems a lot more capable.
With more detailed textures, better lighting effects and more particles, the Death Claw is far more menacing this time.
Given the images just above, there’s hope yet.
Another issue I have is the lack of new features and environments shown in the trailer. For a game we’ve waited so long for, it would be nice to have been shown some kind of combat or mechanics.
Obviously, Bethesda wants to keep it all under wraps for an explosive revelation. The environments shown seemed almost identical to Fallout 3, save for Boston.
Apocalyptic wastelands are amazing and all, but no one wants to trudge through the same barren matchstick forests or craggy swamps ad nauseam.
It would be great to see a new take on nuclear apocalypse, something different from monochrome baby-poo coloured hellscapes.
This is why the juxtaposition of the colourful world pre-apocalypse was such a great touch, and I really hope that it’s more than just a prologue, that there is some clever hopping between present and past throughout the game.
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