Fallout 4 made the Fallout universe more accessible to casuals than ever. For this, many long time Fallout fans throw rocks at Fallout 4. Myself? Dare I say, I love Fallout 4 as much as New Vegas. Fallout 4 improves on the series' in ways I appreciate. The FPS mechanics are faster, more fluid, and more tactical than in previous entries. Cover, sniping, and iron sight aiming are greatly improved over New Vegas. Weapon mods are are numerous and even armor mods are available. The environments are much more vertical with much more dynamic interiors. Gone are the dull grey or brown environments of earlier entries. The four main factions are well realized with differing motives, tactics, access to equipment, mission objectives, and no absolutes. Companions are even more varied than the factions with interesting backstories and side quests. The DLCs dump even more of these features into the GOTY release. In these regards, Fallout 4 improves on much of what I like about New Vegas. On to the not-so cool. The dialogue options are much more limited from New Vegas and sometimes yield the same results regardless of what you choose. There are a few beaks in the lore which - can be overlooked but - will irritate series vets to no end. In a lore heavy and story driven series, limiting the dialogue options and mucking up the lore are big steps backward. All-in-all, Fallout 4 GOTY is every bit worth owning, and even sweeter for the more casual crowd that found earlier installments difficult to approach.
