When Fallout 4 was finally revealed recently, the only puncture to the balloon of excitement about the game swelling all over the world was its graphics- they looked colorful and aesthetically pleasing, I guess, but on a technical level, they were barely a step up from Skyrim on the Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2011. Or so the detractors would have you believe. Defenders of the game pointed out that the game would be unparalleled in scope, and would be amazingly fun to play, so as long as the graphics met a certain minimum threshold, who cared, anyway?
Apparently, Todd Howard, the director of the game, does. He cares about the graphics, and he also thinks Fallout 4 will deliver on that front, he stated on stage at E3 2015
“The volumetric lighting, when the weather rolls in, that sense of haze isn’t just a series of effects that are on screen. That’s actually tessellated polygonal volumetric lighting and it creates an atmosphere that we haven’t been able to do before”
He also discussed how about the game’s weather system. “We have a new weather system for this one so these radiation storms can flare up and blow through the world and that creates a very post-apocalyptic look. Having that change while you’re playing the game is really important to us.”
Personally, I think I buy into his arguments- all of them. I think Fallout 4 looks great, artistically and technically, and that it makes for a nice change from Fallout 3. I’m pretty excited to get my hands on it once it releases later this year in November, on PC, Xbox One, and PS4.
