Game review: Fallout 4

A scene from the video game, Fallout 4.

Chris Schulz ventures into the wasteland, and likes what he sees.

If there's a problem with Fallout 4, it's not with the story. A menacing tale of survival in post-apocalyptic Boston, gamers take on the search for their missing son in a world where they can be attacked by deformed bugs, two-headed cretins, demon dinosaurs, mutated giants or one of Fallout's many deceitful human characters. It's one of the year's most compelling jaunts.

Neither is it with Fallout's massive open world. After a rushed opening in a bomb shelter, it delivers a charred version of Boston decimated by nuclear apocalypse.

This wasteland is a wonderful sight. Suburban streets lie in ruins. Cadillacs sit burnt-out in driveways. And motorways are mangled, twisted wrecks.

You could spend days just sightseeing in Fallout 4 and never get bored.

A scene from the video game, Fallout 4.

There's also no limit on what you can do. If you see a new city in the distance, you can explore it. Spot someone cooking around a campfire and you can talk to them - or shoot them if you don't like the way they look at you.

And if a petrol station is filled with bugs, you can slaughter them and make burgers out of their "radmeat". Yum.

But the problem with Fallout 4 is that it's just too damned big. While Fallout 3 redefined what was possible with a linear story in an open world shooter, Fallout 4 expands those boundaries to the point where it's really just ridiculous.

You can spend hours toying with endless customisation options, from building the perfect shelter, to adapting your favourite weapons, or stitching together your favourite outfit. Get into the missions and Fallout 4 demands your full attention for entire days.

A game this big also comes with bugs - literally. At one point, a flying cockroach morphed into my face. During another mission, my much-loved mini cannon decided it would float away like a balloon.

And that loyal, lovable canine sidekick Dogmeat sure can get in the way sometimes. I've accidentally kicked him so often it's a wonder we're still friends.

Thankfully, Fallout 4's simple annoyances fade the more time you spend with it. You'll fall in love with it for reasons completely different to anyone else.

For me, it's switching on the Pip-Boy's radio, turning up some 1950s big band swing, and, using the game's slow-motion targeting system, massacring the biggest mutated monster I can find.

Yep, getting wasted in the wasteland has never been so much fun.

Game: Fallout 4
Rating: R18
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One