Righto, so this is one of the most anticipated titles of the year. And yeah it's good - very, very good. No, superb, it really is. So why do the faces look like they've been ripped from a PS3 and stapled on? I don't understand. Don't give me a game this big and slap on badly-rendered faces. It's even an insult to some PS3 titles (Uncharted for one) to suggest F4's mugs are similar. No, I'm not happy with them, alright?

But.

Other than this, Fallout 4 is a piece of work. There is a LOT to do, and nearly none of it is tedious. Even when you find yourself scrapping a house for its parts to erect a retaining wall for your new home next door. Sound dull? It isn't, because this is all about survival among some pretty bizarre post-apocalyptic creatures.

The alternate reality Fallout 4 offers is a colourful 1950s-heavy utopia, resplendent with future tech. Think steampunk meets Happy Days in 2077.

Then it all goes to nuclear hell.

Safety turns to tragedy and then hope amid the wasteland of the Boston area, now known as the Commonwealth. And what a wealth it offers with all manner of worthless and worthwhile to salvage. In this respect it's all very Skyrim (unsurprisingly given both are Bethesda titles), picking up your body-weight in coffee mugs will weigh you down until you can't move freely. But some 'junk' can be worth the trouble. Pencils = lead (no graphite for these apparently health-ignorant folks) which adds up to protection from the Commonwealth's abundant radiation issues.

There's also the minor issue of a bad-ass mech suit. It needs improving, but also constant supplies of fuel cells.

No story mode is complete without side missions, and no game - surely - has as many as Fallout 4. You'll have trouble merrily skipping from one mission to the next without getting sidetracked by some nonsense or other. And then another. And before you know it, you've got 18 missions on the go with the prospect of scores more. It gets in the way of those in a hurry to complete a linear-style game but, honestly, who wants that? I'd rather have my world populated by weirdos who give me useful stuff for enriching their radiation-infused lives.

Crafting is also big amid the devastation, as is cooking, handily-placed chemical sets and armour fashioning. Each settlement has its fair share of these and other interesting doo-dads, many of which are controlled by terminals, some of which require hacking. One such robot in a dilapidated supermarket had various programmable personalities, one of which helped clear up the zombie (or feral ghoul) infestation.

Fallout 4 doesn't require your 10-minute interest. If you plunge your face inside, it will suck several hours of your life before you've noticed your existence passing you by.

But hell, which life is more interesting, really...