War… War never changes.

But video games do. From its isometric beginnings in 1996 to its first 3D entry in 2008, the Fallout series has gone through a lot of changes. But the core concept of a nuclear war destroying our world has not changed.

Fallout 4, the newest edition to the franchise continues many of the series’ traditions while at the same time making many much needed changes.

First, the combat is much smoother than the previous titles in the series. The original four Fallout games were isometric, meaning that the combat was turn based, and the two previous 3D titles in the series had much clunkier combat than Fallout 4 has. In the previous games, a major part of combat was being able to use a system called V.A.T.S, where the player could target a specific body part of the enemy while freezing time. Although V.A.T.S is still present, it now just slows down time instead of completely stopping it, making V.A.T.S less of an overpowered feature and more of a strategic one. Overall, Fallout 4 feels much smoother than the other Fallout games, and although it may not look as good as other triple-A titles like the Witcher 3, the game is still absolutely gorgeous.

Fallout 4 also streamlines looting enemies, a feature that is very important to the survival of any Fallout player. Whereas in the other games the game would freeze and a completely separate loot menu would be brought up, in Fallout 4, looting is done in real time and is a much faster process. The game also has added a crafting aspect for almost any item, and players can spend hundreds of hours just building their own towns and items from scrap metal and junk around the wasteland.

Of course, even though Fallout 4 is a great game, there are still a few mistakes that Bethesda should not have to rely on the fans to fix. For example, when playing in third person mode where you can view your character’s whole body, you are not able to see any holstered weapons. This means that you could be holding a massive rocket launcher which just disappears when you try to put it away.

The only other major problem I have encountered is the game’s role-playing aspect. Because your character has an actual voice, the first Fallout game to have this feature, you cannot truly role-play as almost all conversations will have you start talking about your family. This does not allow you to play as whoever you want to, which is one of the best parts of most Fallout games.

Despite these flaws, Fallout 4 is intense, enjoyable, and one of the most fun video games out there. In my book, Fallout 4 gets a 9.5/10, a nearly perfect game and one where you can spend thousands of hours doing whatever you want in the irradiated wasteland.