Recent reviews by Opperslang

Wanted to give it another chance after not really getting into it on launch. With almost a thousand hours in Fallout 4 I really had an itch for something new Fallout. The first two hours were great, compared to Fallout 4 and 76 at launch there were many improvements I noticed and I looked forward to spending many more hours. I especially enjoyed being able to start at level 20 from the vault so you spend less time with pipe weapons.

Then it all started to crumble.
Every single thing you do comes with some sort of latency or lag and even when playing solo it's very obvious you are online. (I have 85mb/s wired, it should be flawless) I discoverd Vault 51 and was excited to explore, before entering the door glitched out twice and I got kicked out after a loading screen. I finally enter and start exploring, I see a holotape and play it, in the 3+(!!!!) minutes this holotape plays I find 4 more holotapes which I have to skip because the first one is still playing. The holotapes I did listed to seemed to have very unnatural pacing. After this I had to go do something else so I close the game. Of course since it's online the moment I return I am outside of the vault and all enemies and loot inside have respawned. I enter again and clear it in about 20 minutes, then I spend 10 minutes shooting all ammo I have at the 'boss fight' and in return I get nothing but XP. Walking back to the exit all enemies respawn for some reason so now I have to kill all enemies I just killed.

Some general things I thought were stupid:
> Thanks to being online even a conversation with an NPC feels bad and laggy
> Thanks to being online building now comes with latency
> Thanks to being online you can't mod and fix the bugs
> Thanks to being online you can't enjoy playing solo because of latency
> Thanks to being online things respawn constantly and it feels weird
> Thanks to being online you can't continue a dungeon later, you have to do it now from start to finish
> Bullet sponges
> Found a friendly raider camp, they all came across a little cringe and you can't fight them, bullets phase through them for some reason. That's even worse then the unconscious essential character in other games
> Found a different raider camp I couldn't enter "because the boss isn't here." This one I could kill so I did and I entered, all enemies were aggro'd and started attacking but none of them moved from their spots, very immersive
> 8 years after release the UI/HUD on 21:9 is somehow more broken?
> Writing just feels so bland and not really RPG-like. For example lack of choice.
> Can't turn off annoying event notifications
> Just too silly and over the top. Sure Fallout 3 and NV have silly things but this is just getting too much.


Edit: Did not get this for free, box is unchecked yet it still shows that I did.

This is the type of game I've been missing in my life. Just a fun shooter with good graphics, great sound design and interesting locations. Short and sweet but not too short. Great 21:9 support for game play, less so for cut scenes.

Pro's
- Feel like RoboCop
- Good graphics and sound design
- Locations feel 'lived in' with all sorts of random clutter and details
- Small 'open worlds' with some side content
- You can choose what kind of cop you want to be through small choices in game play and dialogue

Cons
- The robot is the best voice actor
- Cut scenes can feel very stiff due too bad pacing, animations or voice acting
- No saving, have to rely on checkpoints
- Cut scenes have black bars to force 21:9 or 16:9. On a 21:9 monitor this means you always have black bars
- So many puddles (not a real problem, just a meme at this point)

I really loved this game, but after 140 hours I realized that it's only because I almost forced myself to love it. There is just no reason for me to ever return to the game. While you could say that 140 hours is more than enough, if you compare it to any other Bethesda game those are rookie numbers. I've played 200+ hours of Skyrim, FNV, F3 and F4 and it still feels like there are more ways to play and locations I have never seen.

A year after release I am nostalgic for the vibe of Starfield but I just can't get myself to play it more because every time I do it just makes me realize how lacking this game really is. This is supposed to be a roleplaying game yet the only roles you can choose are "Yes I'd love to do this for you because I am such a good guy" or "No thanks, I'd rather not." You can't be neutral, you can't be a jerk, you can't be evil, you can't kill everybody. You are once again the single person saving the entire universe while being the goodest little boy for every faction in the game. Maybe Bethesda considered the Crimson Fleet to be evil/the bad guys but they simply aren't, they just come across as cringe. The biggest issue is the writing, it just feels very PG13, compared to games like Cyberpunk the writing is laughably bad, bland and boring.


Pros
- Good graphics, for a Bethesda game
- Improved gunplay compared to Fallout 4
- Excellent music, although a bit reminiscent of Fallout 4
- Ship building is a lot of fun, although if feels like you barely use your ship


Cons
- No more NPC schedules which completely sucks the life out of any good location. Store owners are just there, 24/7
- Content MADE BY BETHESDA THEMSELVES that should be free for this lacking game is locked behind a Creation Club paywall
- Exploration, the one thing Bethesda should excel at, does not feel like exploration but more like a chore
- If a location is fun to explore it usually gets ruined by the incredibly dumb enemy AI, how does this get worse every year?
- Points of Interest are badly implemented, completely by accident I went to the exact same abandoned lab three times in a row in completely different systems for completely different quest. Enemy and loot locations were all exactly the same.
- Weapon modding and outpost building downgraded heavily compared to Fallout 4
- Conversations with NPC's feel extremely robotic, they just stare you down, it does not look human
- Dialog options have not improved at all compared to Fallout 4
- Persuasion is absolutely pathetic
- If I have to compare the game to Fallout 4 and you come out as the worse game you are doing something wrong


PS: the extra 20 hours I tried to start a new game to play the DLC with some mods but I just don't enjoy it.

Wish I could play this improved version of my favorite childhood game but there is zero ultra wide support. Not even stretched HUD or whatever, no literally just forced 16:9 with black bars. The original game does support ultra wide.

Mr. Rowland? It's been such a long tiiimmee

If you played the original I am sure you will love this (if you buy it on sale)! I played the original as a kid and it was one of my most memorable games so I always hoped for a remaster or a sequel. I waited playing this game because of all the bad reviews and I am glad I waited because lot's of bugs have been fixed and one of the more recent updates (09-2022) greatly improved the comic style graphics as they were really lacking before this. Also props to the developers as the most recent update was in January of 2023 so it seems like they want the game to be good.

Pros
- Original audio so voice acting is decent and soundtrack is amazing, mixing seems a bit off though, especially for XIII himself
- Modernized controls with ADS and sprinting. I've seen people criticize this but as a fan of FPS games and somebody who likes to explore every nook and cranny they were a very welcome feature!
- FOV slider and decent 21:9 support
- Maps are greatly modernized with a bit more detail without straying too far from the original

Cons
- ALERT!!
- Remade cutscenes are not great and are still in the old Fortnite looking style before the 09-2022 update
- Some cutscenes are missing making a couple mission transitions weird
- AI can be a bit dumb like a lot of modern games
- I noticed a few bugs but nothing game breaking
- Multiplayer is dead (obviously)


I recommend it on sale but probably only if you enjoyed the original. For me it was a great nostalgia trip that I finished in two or three sittings.

Pretty decent