I’ve been a fan of the Fallout franchise for some time now. I have very fond memories of exploring the desolate outskirts of Washington D.C. with my well read super mutant companion, Fawkes. In Fallout: New Vegas, I would often take pleasure in observing the rolling desert from the dinosaur structure (lovingly named Dinky) that stands guard in the town of Novac so when I first saw Bethesda’s announcement trailer for Fallout 4, I watched the entire cinematic in complete and utter silence. It got my heart pumping. It even resulted in a genuine smile on this sullen face of mine. There’s something so special (and oddly morbid) about seeing my home city turned into an apocalyptic landscape.
The new game takes place in the city of Boston and its surrounding areas. I currently work in Boston, which makes the familiar landmarks in both the trailer and gameplay footage all the more exciting. I’ve spent many a night driving through the city’s winding, nonsensical roads, and I grew up near here, so these landmarks stand as physical markers of my childhood and teenage years. I was initially stunned by the attention to detail in the announcement trailer because the developers managed to capture the very unique style of Boston’s apartment buildings and houses. Compared to other cities like NYC or Chicago, there’s a kind of uniformity in terms of building style and overall appearance. Boston’s an interesting if not unconventional place because it’s a mishmash of varying styles.
There’s the costly brownstone apartments near Kenmore Square, the antique gas lanterns in the Beacon Hill area, and the more modern Zakim bridge next to the imposing Boston Garden. It’s a unique and beautiful city where the old marries the new. There are remnants of the past scattered throughout the city but it also contains a lot of progressive and artistic elements. The apocalyptic Boston, strangely enough, is reflective of a place I’m rather acquainted with. Throughout the trailer, the viewer is given glimpses of popular Boston landmarks: Quincy Market, Fenway Park, the statehouse. It’s all very recognizable, especially the statehouse with its golden dome. The franchise is, in some ways, comparable to Assassin’s Creed because of the attention to detail when it comes to architecture and the capturing of a place. Rather than mirroring a specific place in a specific time period, the Fallout series differs from the Assassin’s Creed games because it transforms a pre-existing place into something that feels simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar.
The gameplay footage shown at E3 helped paint a larger picture in terms of game mechanics, AI intelligence, character customization, and setting. Todd Howard, Bethesda’s game director, allowed himself a moment to marvel at the enormity of E3. He relished in the fact that games have become something larger than what they were years ago. The clip begins with the diverse character customization feature where a heterosexual couple stand posed in front of a semi-fogged up bathroom mirror. For me, the characters in the game no longer resemble potatoes and that’s a wonderful thing. The graphics are now wonderfully crisp and clean. Not only has there been incredible improvement with the graphics, the customization feature permits the player to sculpt their character’s face in any way they see fit. It’s really impressive and unique. The player is able to adjust their character’s face with a sense of complete ease. All the player has to do is scroll their cursor over a specific area and adjust as needed. The character’s face is highly pliable in the sense that the tip of the nose can be elongated by just grabbing it with the cursor. When Howard informed the audience that they could play as a female, he was met with sounds of cheers and applause. It was an inspiring if not momentous instance because I felt as though female protagonists reached a point where they’re widely celebrated, welcomed, and wanted.
The game mechanics are smooth and seamless as well. The main character appears to move from place to place with relative ease. The protagonist can easily access their Pip-Boy, change weapons, and send their canine companion off to retrieve various items. There’s also an optional build mode which allows the player to create houses and other establishments by salvaging scrap items available in the world. It’s reminiscent of the build mode in The Sims where the player can temporarily freeze the characters in place and focus on building, decorating, furnishing rooms, etc. Bethesda’s really selling me on the ease of it all. Their presentation of the gameplay footage almost seems user friendly and exceedingly easy.
Lastly, in circling back to the Bostonian setting, the gameplay footage shows more of the city. The area around the Bunker Hill monument is particularly fascinating to me because it’s a structure that represents the conflict between the British and the Patriot forces. It’s a revolutionary symbol and, perhaps more importantly, a symbol of freedom. Boston’s history is steeped in revolutions and a hardy fight led by the underdogs. There’s a permeating air or general mindset of “we’re going to grit our teeth and fight back, even if we die trying” that encompasses the city like a blanket of fog. Though it’s a bit cool to see my home city as a post-apocalyptic city, it’s a little sad at the same time because the people of Boston are so resilient and yet the area is in ruins. Even so, the footage reveals an operating settlement inside of Fenway Park and that’s the kind of undying spirit I’m referring to and want to see.
