Character Customization and Perks

"Aww! They're so... cute."

Before I launched into adventuring, I first had to build my character. In Fallout 4, you're special. No really, you're S.P.E.C.I.A.L.! The core attributes, Strength, Perception, Edurance, Charisma, Agility, and Luck, make up S.P.E.C.I.A.L. They determine your health, carry weight, accuracy, action points, and more. Your attributes also dictate what perks you can select, so keep in mind what abilities you want. Since I planned on being a stealthy sniper, I focused my points into Perception and Agility at the cost of Strength and Endurance.

Perks make a splendid return, working in new and interesting ways. And boy are there a lot to choose from—the chart is giant! Each time you level up, you can put one point into either an attribute or a perk. Since level ups are limited, you need to think hard about where you put that one point. Do you want to focus on improving gun damage? Or delve into a new perk, such as picking locks or hacking terminals? You can always treat yourself to a little something with Bloody Mess, which causes enemies you hit to randomly explode.

If you max an attribute all the way up to 10, you're able to unlock the final perk in the tree. One of my favorites is Pain Train at max Strength, where wearing power armor allows you to topple over enemies by sprinting at them. "Choo choo!" indeed.

Skill points have been completely removed from the game. This streamlines stat building and ties attributes and perks closely together. However, if you like indepth RPG elements, you're out of luck. The lack of skills cuts down how much you can build your character.

Pretty Voice, Shallow Personality

New to the series, the protagonist and their dialogue options are now fully voiced. Fallout 4 boasts more dialogue lines than Fallout 3 and Skyrim combined. Considering the size of those games, that’s not too shabby. However, there is a price to your cinematic viewing pleasure.

Are you a roleplayer at heart? Because unfortunately, your dialogue options have been severely limited. Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas offered players a huge selection of clever lines to shape your character's personality. You could be a noble hero. A wisecracker. A raving lunatic. Even too stupid to form sentences.

Now, however, the Sole Survivor is locked into five response types: Yes, No, Sarcastic, Question, and Persuade. Beyond that, you don't really have any control over your character's personality. I was pretty disappointed to learn all I could really say was "My baby boy", "What's that?", and "I'll get right on that".