Fallout 4 - PlayStation 4

Ok, 5 star review on an imperfect game? Well, to me, a 4/5 is a B rating (80%) and this game deserves higher. Id give it a solid 9/10 though.The good, the bad and the ugly: Ill start with the ugly - bugs/glitches. Ive played FO:NV and FO3 so im used to bugs and glitches but i was hoping FO4 would have improved on that. In those previous 2, i remember having to reboot my system seemingly every hour or so due to freeze ups (New Vegas was far worse than 3 however) so i hope this isnt the case with FO4 as i get higher in level. So far its mainly minor stuff like clipping, occasional frame rate drops and not always getting a dialogue pop up when pointing at NPCs without a little work, but these are occasional and not too huge an issue. The one thing that does piss me off is that followers dont seem to listen when i send them to a settlement. Ive lost 2 followers already because of this so i hope they implement something like what NV had where you can see where they are on your map. To not have included this at release was dumb.The bad - the ugly things are things that i feel are somewhat inexcusable. The bad is just stuff i dont really care for, but this is a lot more opinion than it is fact. Anyone who has played previous Fallouts will know what im talking about here - dialogue is really lacking the fun factor of past games. The voice acting is fine (more on that in the good). What im talking about is the limited options you have when talking to someone. Basically a yes, no, maybe and sarcastic option. Thats it. I miss the S.P.E.C.I.A.L or skill based options. Playing the game with 1 or 2 in intelligence was always funny. Sometimes when interrogating someone, if you had high intelligence or perception, you had unique choices. That went for most other attributes and skills. It made dialogue a lot more interesting and made each play through unique in that respect. I definitely miss thatThe good - ok, this might be long, so bear with me. I just hope i can convince you to still play this game even with those negatives listed above (just trying to be unbiased and honest)*The new leveling system - i freakin LOVE it. The skills from past games are still there, theyre just disguised as a much more advanced perk system. The past games made decisions too easy at level up in my opinion. Now, having everything available right from the start, you really have to plan out your build form the get go. If you want the Concentrated fire perk at level 2, you can do that (i think you got that at level 18 in previous games), BUT it requires you to max out perception right off the bat. Or maybe youre a sneaky sniper type and want the better criticals perk early on - possible if you have enough luck. That may or may not be a great idea. Its your CHOICE. Thats what i love about this new system, you can build your character how you want, even if it may not be the smartest choice :D. The character building was pretty meh in both FO3 & NV because by level 28-30 or so, you were maxed out in everything if you did it right. Choices didnt really feel that important like they do now. Im level 20 right now and have so many skills that im lacking in, but thats a good thing in my opinion.*The story. For me, FO3's main story was just ok. Its not what made me fall in love with that game. It was the brilliant side quests and unmarked quests, the huge, strangely beautiful world filled with goodies to find and baddies to avoid, and the numerous buildings with interesting stories behind them if you took the time to fully explore. FO:NV did a better job i think, introducing multiple factions and ultimately making you pick one to support in the end so i felt that game had a better main storyline, but i felt like the side quests werent as diverse as FO3, and some were just downright annoying where you were just going back and fourth playing telephone between characters (add to that the fact that you sometimes had 3 load screens like at casinos or fort macarran) and it was an exercise in patience. FO4 to this point has been awesome, both in terms of main story and side quests. Nice variety and not too many annoying and unnecessary load screens.*Dialogue - yes, the choices you have in dialogue is a bad for me, but what we DO have is a really well voice acted game. Gone are the days of what seemed to be like 5 voices for every character in the game. This is another area of major improvement for this series. The voice acting is wonderful and i cant remember hearing the same voice on 2 characters yet. Im sure theyre there, but it isnt obvious.*Crafting - major improvements over New Vegas, and quite literally makes everything you pick up useful, and not just for selling for caps. The settlement stuff leaves much to be desired though. I dont see much use for it for as un-userfriendly as it is. If it proved more useful, i could see myself trying to work it out, or if it were more user friendly, i wouldnt really care that it wasnt helpful, id just do it for fun. But as it is now, i dont care for it much.*The companions - much like New Vegas, interesting companions with fun quest lines of their own. Me *hearts* Piper. I cant wait to go through each of their quest lines.*The world - ok, so i saved the best for last. Oh my goodness this world has so much to explore! Ive spent over 30 hours in this game so far and my map is probably 20% explored. Maybe not even that much actually. Im loving the new legendary enemies and the loot theyre dropping. Ive died many times just trying to beat these guys cuz the loot is almost always worth it. Originally being from the northeast, getting to explore a post apocalyptic Boston is so fun. Running into NPCs with that distinct accent makes me a little home sick :). When i first arrived at Diamond City, i was just in complete awe. Those folks sure are proud of their Green protector. I could go on about how awesome this world is, but ive been typing too long as it is.Bottom line - the game took a little while to grab me, maybe 5-6 hours, but now im hooked and i can easily see myself playing through this one a few times, allying with different factions each time.