MYSTERD'S VERDICT:
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED...to those who can accept Fallout 4's base-game change in direction - i.e. FO4 is more shooter/ARPG hybrid, but less of the moral decision-making (that the FO series is known for) than ever before.

REASON FOR THE VERDICT:
FO4 base-game improves drastically on the feel of the combat, weapon systems & upgrading equipment stuff by a mile - but it doesn't offer up choices galore (of good, evil, neutral & special choices) per quest like previous FO games do.

SIDE NOTE ON THE ABOVE VERDICT:
Far Harbor DLC (15-20 hours DLC) could be the saving grace for many FO fans here w/ FO4, as that DLC offers up the classic FO-style of moral decision-making in most quests (both main & side quests). That DLC is excellent & will get a review of its own (if it hasn't already).

INTRO:
Let's get this right out of the way: Fallout 4 base-game is not as deep of the previous two modern-day Fallout games (when compared to even Fallout 3 base-game & especially Fallout: New Vegas), in terms of actual choices & the RPG elements; the base-game has been cut back a bit on that stuff. If you were expecting good, neutral, evil & special choices per quest in a FO game like many previous games (even including Bethesda's Fallout 3 & its DLC's did this well), you will often not find that here in Fallout 4 base-game - though, the Far Harbor DLC expands on the FO4 foundation of excellent combat & offers that RPG decision-making stuff up often & consistently.

What you will find often are different shades of good, in most of FO4's base-game quests: you can be a sarcastic jerk & still do nice things (i.e. think Mass Effect-like options); or you can be straight-up nice and do morally good things; and/or you can often extort/persuade to earn more caps (money) per quest. Most of the time, that's it though. Once & a while, you might also get actual others choices (evil, neutral, or special choices for a quest).

NEW DIRECTION = COMBAT & ARPG STUFF:
FO4 base-game now has a heavy focus on drastically improved gunplay & action, similar to that of an Id Software shooter - but combat's still not as great as an Id game b/c there's still less RPG/ARPG systems in Id's games. With Perks & SPECIAL basically now merged into the Perks system, some skills & things were tossed out the window or moved over to Perks. There's also less points to upgrade per each Perk or Skill (it won't go to 100 now; most of them often go up to numbers of say 2, 5 or up to 10 points). Since Guns stat doesn't get upgraded to 100 & bonuses are part of the Perks system - you don't have some of the clunkiness of combat that FO3 & FO:NV had going on.

VATS Mode for combat now is not a complete stand-still, but happens in a heavy slow-motion, keeping the combat flowing & action going...even if it's still going slowly. Some might be looking for that old-school inspired VATS mode (where you can pin-point body parts in a turn-based style to queue up shots/attacks), similar to Fallout 3 & NV where it actually doesn't move time at all & might not like this change. Though, some might like the new change to keep things still going even if it's ultra-slow in VATS for FO4. Personally, I'm fine with this change, as the game's combat is still slow enough in VATS & the drastic improvement in combat makes a lot of stuff for time to pass slowly in VATS.

There's also a heavy focus on ARPG loot-grabbing (weapons, materials, etc) & tinkering with equipment (upgrading), which drastically improves anything related to dealing w/ combat. Besides the game's hand-crafted quests - there's also the Radiant AI system here, in which this could go on for a very long time, as there are constant quests being given to the player that are generated randomly by the game.

If you want that FO4 combat - but you also really want all of that classic Fallout-style moral decision-making, you really should try Far Harbor DLC. For classic Fallout fans (Fallout 1 & 2), Fallout 3 fans, and especially Fallout: New Vegas fans that really want the decision-making stuff, FH DLC is the DLC that Fallout fans look should take on. If it isn't up already, a separate review for Far Harbor on that its DLC page will be up or incoming, as I recently finished that DLC.

OPEN WORLD & EXPLORING:
As usual per Bethesda games, this is usually one of the main reasons to play a Bethesda Softworks game. Boston is an absolutely fantastic choice for the game to be set & based around, with a location with so much history surrounding it. Bethesda's version of a Fallout-style Boston is excellent. Many historical locations & landmarks are here, with (of course) the Fallout-destroyed twist thrown on top of it - such as Diamond City is their take on Fenway Park; CIT is their take on MIT; Faneuil Hall is here; Bunker Hill; Old North Church; Boston Common; Goodneighbor is where the old Scollay Square & Old State House resides here; The Old North Church; etc etc. With so many interesting & different locations here in FO4, when compared to FO3, FO4 certainly has going a lot more usage of color & whatnot than FO3's base-game (which used lots of brown, gray & some green).

As you would expect, given how excellent a lot of areas & levels were built in previous Bethesda-developed games, you can expect excellent design throughout. With the awesome open-world; how linear certain buildings & missions; and also how open some of the level design is for buildings & locations you explore inside - as usual, everything here is great & it has a nice mix of everything pretty much.

PERFORMANCE & GRAPHICS:
Running mostly at 50-60fps at 1440p with most stuff set on Medium (and GodRays set to Off) on my desktop PC (W7 64; i7 950; 16 GB RAM; GTX 970) - yes, Fallout 4 ran quite well on my desktop PC. It also has ran quite well on other laptops that I've thrown this at - such as my W10-based SC15 Laptop (60fps no problem at 1080p) & even my W10 Acer Nitro Laptop (at 900p with Medium settings @ 30fps w/out drops). So, if anything: shouldn't be much of a problem to get Fallout 4 running well on most modern-systems, which is great.

Mind you, FO4 does have tons of textures, objects, things & little details everywhere - which is great, BTW - this really doesn't always look like a game from this generation of systems. It also doesn't look like a game from the last generation of PC's & console systems either, as it's beyond that also. The graphics quality look somewhere b/t a game from the Xbox 360/PS3 & XBox 1/PS4 generation. Given with so many systems & things Fallout 4 has going on and with its huge open-world, this makes a lot of sense. Animations might be better than usual for a Bethesda game (which isn't saying much, as their animations have never been that good by any means), but still aren't on the level of many other higher AAA games. I also don't think most people here meet the GTX 1080 recommendations either for the highest end of textures either, which likely could improve quality on the textures & graphics.

But, seriously: most people probably will not be here for the graphics & animations - but will be playing Fallout 4 for the exploration, open-world, gameplay, ARPG elements, & gunplay - which certainly delivers an awesome experience here with just that stuff alone.

OUTRO:
After 142 hours w/ the FO4 base-game, this game is an outstanding open-world shooter/ARPG experience. If you're looking for a game with tons to do, a huge open-world (of Boston) to explore & immensely improved combat - you're going to love Fallout 4. For the most part, it's a very addictive & time consuming shooter/ARPG with a huge open-world (of the awesome location of Boston in a Fallout-destroyed manner) and absolutely tons to do. While I was disappointed quite a bit with the questing (namely & especially on many side-quests), I still enjoyed the game immensely w/ its exploration, setting & its awesome main quest, even despite its few flaws.

[b]MYSTERD'S VERDICT:[/b] HIGHLY RECOMMENDED...to those who can accept Fallout 4's base-game change in direction - i.e. FO4 is more shooter/ARPG hybrid, but less of the moral decision-making (that the FO series is known for) than ever before. [b]REASON FOR THE VERDICT:[/b] FO4 base-game improves drastically on the feel of the combat, weapon systems & upgrading equipment stuff by a mile - but it doesn't offer up choices galore (of good, evil, neutral & special choices) per quest like previous FO games do. [b]SIDE NOTE ON THE ABOVE VERDICT:[/b] Far Harbor DLC (15-20 hours DLC) could be the saving grace for many FO fans here w/ FO4, as that DLC offers up the classic FO-style of moral decision-making in most quests (both main & side quests). That DLC is excellent & will get a review of its own (if it hasn't already). [b]INTRO:[/b] Let's get this right out of the way: Fallout 4 base-game is not as deep of the previous two modern-day Fallout games (when compared to even Fallout 3 base-game & especially Fallout: New Vegas), in terms of actual choices & the RPG elements; the base-game has been cut back a bit on that stuff. If you were expecting good, neutral, evil & special choices per quest in a FO game like many previous games (even including Bethesda's Fallout 3 & its DLC's did this well), you will often not find that here in Fallout 4 base-game - though, the Far Harbor DLC expands on the FO4 foundation of excellent combat & offers that RPG decision-making stuff up often & consistently. What you will find often are different shades of good, in most of FO4's base-game quests: you can be a sarcastic jerk & still do nice things (i.e. think Mass Effect-like options); or you can be straight-up nice and do morally good things; and/or you can often extort/persuade to earn more caps (money) per quest. Most of the time, that's it though. Once & a while, you might also get actual others choices (evil, neutral, or special choices for a quest). [b]NEW DIRECTION = COMBAT & ARPG STUFF:[/b] FO4 base-game now has a heavy focus on drastically improved gunplay & action, similar to that of an Id Software shooter - but combat's still not as great as an Id game b/c there's still less RPG/ARPG systems in Id's games. With Perks & SPECIAL basically now merged into the Perks system, some skills & things were tossed out the window or moved over to Perks. There's also less points to upgrade per each Perk or Skill (it won't go to 100 now; most of them often go up to numbers of say 2, 5 or up to 10 points). Since Guns stat doesn't get upgraded to 100 & bonuses are part of the Perks system - you don't have some of the clunkiness of combat that FO3 & FO:NV had going on. VATS Mode for combat now is not a complete stand-still, but happens in a heavy slow-motion, keeping the combat flowing & action going...even if it's still going slowly. Some might be looking for that old-school inspired VATS mode (where you can pin-point body parts in a turn-based style to queue up shots/attacks), similar to Fallout 3 & NV where it actually doesn't move time at all & might not like this change. Though, some might like the new change to keep things still going even if it's ultra-slow in VATS for FO4. Personally, I'm fine with this change, as the game's combat is still slow enough in VATS & the drastic improvement in combat makes a lot of stuff for time to pass slowly in VATS. There's also a heavy focus on ARPG loot-grabbing (weapons, materials, etc) & tinkering with equipment (upgrading), which drastically improves anything related to dealing w/ combat. Besides the game's hand-crafted quests - there's also the Radiant AI system here, in which this could go on for a very long time, as there are constant quests being given to the player that are generated randomly by the game. If you want that FO4 combat - but you also really want all of that classic Fallout-style moral decision-making, you really should try Far Harbor DLC. For classic Fallout fans (Fallout 1 & 2), Fallout 3 fans, and especially Fallout: New Vegas fans that really want the decision-making stuff, FH DLC is the DLC that Fallout fans look should take on. If it isn't up already, a separate review for Far Harbor on that its DLC page will be up or incoming, as I recently finished that DLC. [b]OPEN WORLD & EXPLORING:[/b] As usual per Bethesda games, this is usually one of the main reasons to play a Bethesda Softworks game. Boston is an absolutely fantastic choice for the game to be set & based around, with a location with so much history surrounding it. Bethesda's version of a Fallout-style Boston is excellent. Many historical locations & landmarks are here, with (of course) the Fallout-destroyed twist thrown on top of it - such as Diamond City is their take on Fenway Park; CIT is their take on MIT; Faneuil Hall is here; Bunker Hill; Old North Church; Boston Common; Goodneighbor is where the old Scollay Square & Old State House resides here; The Old North Church; etc etc. With so many interesting & different locations here in FO4, when compared to FO3, FO4 certainly has going a lot more usage of color & whatnot than FO3's base-game (which used lots of brown, gray & some green). As you would expect, given how excellent a lot of areas & levels were built in previous Bethesda-developed games, you can expect excellent design throughout. With the awesome open-world; how linear certain buildings & missions; and also how open some of the level design is for buildings & locations you explore inside - as usual, everything here is great & it has a nice mix of everything pretty much. [b]PERFORMANCE & GRAPHICS:[/b] Running mostly at 50-60fps at 1440p with most stuff set on Medium (and GodRays set to Off) on my desktop PC (W7 64; i7 950; 16 GB RAM; GTX 970) - yes, Fallout 4 ran quite well on my desktop PC. It also has ran quite well on other laptops that I've thrown this at - such as my W10-based SC15 Laptop (60fps no problem at 1080p) & even my W10 Acer Nitro Laptop (at 900p with Medium settings @ 30fps w/out drops). So, if anything: shouldn't be much of a problem to get Fallout 4 running well on most modern-systems, which is great. Mind you, FO4 does have tons of textures, objects, things & little details everywhere - which is great, BTW - this really doesn't always look like a game from this generation of systems. It also doesn't look like a game from the last generation of PC's & console systems either, as it's beyond that also. The graphics quality look somewhere b/t a game from the Xbox 360/PS3 & XBox 1/PS4 generation. Given with so many systems & things Fallout 4 has going on and with its huge open-world, this makes a lot of sense. Animations might be better than usual for a Bethesda game (which isn't saying much, as their animations have never been that good by any means), but still aren't on the level of many other higher AAA games. I also don't think most people here meet the GTX 1080 recommendations either for the highest end of textures either, which likely could improve quality on the textures & graphics. But, seriously: most people probably will not be here for the graphics & animations - but will be playing Fallout 4 for the exploration, open-world, gameplay, ARPG elements, & gunplay - which certainly delivers an awesome experience here with just that stuff alone. [b]OUTRO:[/b] After 142 hours w/ the FO4 base-game, this game is an outstanding open-world shooter/ARPG experience. If you're looking for a game with tons to do, a huge open-world (of Boston) to explore & immensely improved combat - you're going to love Fallout 4. For the most part, it's a very addictive & time consuming shooter/ARPG with a huge open-world (of the awesome location of Boston in a Fallout-destroyed manner) and absolutely tons to do. While I was disappointed quite a bit with the questing (namely & especially on many side-quests), I still enjoyed the game immensely w/ its exploration, setting & its awesome main quest, even despite its few flaws.