The main achievement of this article is in showcasing the author's utter ignorance of Fallout. Let's delve in, shall we?
1) "This [progression] system isn't much different from past titles, but it seems to work well..." The progression system is VASTLY revised from Fallout 3 (and New Vegas). Rather than allocating skill points and selecting a single perk when leveling, they have seamlessly rolled skills into perks, making the system far deeper, while simultaneously streamlining the process.
2) "What I saw were various fragments of gameplay stitched together, where the player would enter combat, select different weapons with his Pip-Boy, shoot enemies, reload, and use the V.A.T.S. targeting system. Sound familiar?" Yeah...it's SUPPOSED to sound familiar. If BethSoft did away with the V.A.T.S. system, can you imagine the uproar this would cause in the fanbase/community? But the bigger (and more offensive) issue here, is how you make these broad-stroke generalizations without having done a modicum of preparation or research. Are you aware that BethSoft consulted extensively with id Software, and hired ex-Bungie employees in order to improve point-to-point shooting in the game? Now the game is supposed to play just like a contemporary FPS if the player doesn't want to rely on V.A.T.S. Furthermore, V.A.T.S. itself isn't simply "the same as the previous game". It's been completely overhauled; now, instead of freezing time, V.A.T.S. slows time, so enemies are still moving - meaning percentage chances of hitting body parts will change in real-time depending on which direction they're moving in, or whether they're partially behind cover, etc.
3) "I am, however, simply shocked that I had such a hard time figuring out what, if anything is new about the game. Even all the sound effects were recycled..." Again, generalized ignorance. The graphics have been massively overhauled in this game. Sure, we're not looking at The Order 1886 or Uncharted 4, but neither of those games are seamless, massive open-world games where EVERY SINGLE OBJECT can be interacted with. I am playing through Fallout 3 right now. I can tell you firsthand, when I go from FO3 to watching the FO4 E3 demo, it is a huge generational leap, from textures, to resolution, to color, to lighting/fx, to animation. Yes the ART STYLES are very similar. But you're confusing art style with visual fidelity, which is really frustrating to read. The sound effects (and general sound) has also been completely revised, despite your ill-informed commentary. Of course, certain "essential cues" will carry over...the 'location discovery' sound, the chime of killing an enemy and gaining XP, etc...these are hallowed parts of the Fallout cannon. However, did you consider some other audio basics? Like how the main protagonist is FULLY VOICE-ACTED? A male and female actor each recorded over 13,000 lines of dialogue alone; that in turn, is but a fraction of the recorded dialogue in the overall game. To simply pass off the visuals and sound as "recycled" is flat-out wrong, and frankly insulting to both BethSoft, and the fans who have a vested interest in this game, and who actually know a thing or two about it.
Side note - were you even aware about the robust settlement/structure/community building mechanic within the game? Probably not, because you apparently missed the memo at E3, and based your entire opinion of FO4 on this lone demo, without any preliminary research.
Shameful article.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram