Fallout 76 – Can It Be That Bad?
Fallout 76 – Can It Be That Bad?
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We’ve reviewed Fallout 76 on GamesReviews.com a number of times now. Our first score hovered around a 4.5 and our second score hovered around a 5.5. As we move into the games second month of availability, and realize a number of patches have launched to fix some of the games more glaring issues, is the experience worth jumping into now? The answer can be both yes, and no. Let’s dive in!
When the game first launched, players required a giant snow plow to scrap the issues the game had under the rug. We might have downgraded to a slightly smaller plow now, but the game is still riddled with problems that range from mildly annoying to down right game breaking. But that doesn’t mean Fallout 76 doesn’t have a few bright spots, and we want to highlight those here. Because despite the many issues, we’ve just crossed 75 hours with the game, a significant amount of time spent on a understandably, “bad game.”
If you are itching to get into the Fallout universe again, Fallout 76 will definitely scratch that itch. And for those worried that the multiplayer aspect of the experience might ruin their time with the game, again I urge you to pump the breaks. There were times were I would go hours upon hours without running into another person on my 24 person server. Sure, you can see where people are when you bring up the mini map, but this is an expansive world to explore, live in, and build in. And with only a handful of people trying to master it, running into someone is fairly uncommon. In fact, you are more likely to pass people without actually realizing it, than you are to walk up to someone face-to-face.
If you want to explore with friends in a group, that is definitely a possibility; but if you want to run through the game solo, that is completely fine as well. Most interactions with other humans will be civil anyways, since the ‘reward’ for defeating another player is fairly meagre.
Sometimes with a game like Fallout 76, it’s about finding the diamonds amongst the rough. And I’ve been able to do that in a number of ways, listed below for easy reading!
- Immersive Story – Many have complained that Fallout 76 has no human NPC characters to interact with, and therefore, the game has a dismal story. While no NPCs is initially a let down, reading and listening to the various clips you find lying around is incredibly immersive if you take the time to enjoy them. It takes some work, but the story is incredibly deep, and you’ll quickly understand why there are no human NPCs around (outside of other players).
- Fallout 4 base building is back, and if you enjoyed it then, you’ll enjoy it now. Roaming the world to find the blueprints for various items you’ll want in your fallout structure is pretty fun, although at times tedious. You don’t always want to wait for that great item for your fort, but when you find it, it is like toys on Christmas!
- This is still Fallout, although a Fallout world with more colour than I remember. While Bethesda might be using the older Fallout 4 engine to power Fallout 76, this game is still very much a Fallout experience in both visual style and audio cues.
There are other great features in the game as well. Taking down swarms of mutants is a lot of fun, and finding some of the more epic monsters out in the wasteland is a great experience. With lots of quests to complete, items to find, and things to craft, you’ll find hours of entertainment if you can look past the numerous bugs that still plague this experience. I do believe, however, that over time, Bethesda will slowly but surely cut these bugs down to a few nuisance encounters.
Article By Adam Roffel
Adam Roffel has only been writing about video games for a short time, but has honed his skills completing a Master's Degree. He loves Nintendo, and almost anything they have released...even Tomodachi Life.
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