The wasteland used to be a lonely affair. Just my faithful companion, Dogmeat, and I traversing the ruined remnants of Boston.
Sure, I’d occasionally come across others, but they’d never stay nor would I linger around. My character was a loner. With a name like Mad Max, he had a legacy to uphold.
The main game of “Fallout 4” seemed to reinforce that game style. You could only have one companion, and the developer made Dogmeat too adorable in his armor to switch out for one of the many other potential sidekicks you come across in the wasteland.
“Who needs a super mutant?” I thought as my character patted Dogmeat on the head. “Who’s a little wasteland marauder? You are. Yes you are.”
But perhaps Mad Max grew more sociable in his old age. Attacking a group of bandits at a steel mill, I turned to find a synthetic android, nosey news reporter, wasteland soldier, robot manservant, alien and a creepy astronaut monkey fighting for me in stylish 80’s rockstar wigs. Mad Max had amassed himself quite a fellowship on his way to Mordor.
The last two aren’t even in the game. The monkey’s creepy silent stare as it swung a two by four will haunt my dreams.
Decked out in a Batman cowl, Mad Max launched a cat to the tune of Peter Griffin’s laugh and watched as it collided with a bandit and explode in an atomic blast.
The wasteland was getting weirder. One word: mods. When Bethesda announced last year “Fallout 4” would support mods, I didn’t realize how game changing, pun intended, or exciting mods could be.
Mods are user created content using a video game’s assets. Whereas console gamers usually depend on paid downloadable content, mods have long been a way of extending a game’s life on computers or creating an exciting game out of a boring one. But, “Fallout 4” marks the first time mods have been allowed on a console, and hopefully, more developers will follow suit.
Not, that there aren’t limits. Unlike “Fallout 4” on the computer, not all of the mods created will find their way onto the Xbox One or PS4, and likewise, there’s a two gigabyte cap whether that’s because of a hardware limitation or fear of downloadable content sales being negatively affected.
Still, what’s available is robust and more than enough reason to reenter the wasteland. Jet-packing over a swarm of 2,500 ghouls while listening to an old west radio station, I sung in my best Batman voice, “Because I’m Batman.” At least, until the game crashed.
Too many mods, I guessed staring at the blank screen. Let’s add more.
