Okay. It's very simple kiddies. So, drop the air of anger and listen.
In the 50's following the end of Wordl War II, and the panic ensuing from the invent of the atomic bomb, we entered an era filled with fear and prophecies of nuclear armageddon. Therefore, regardless of the year listed the decor of the 50's was used as it was this period of time that personified the fear o9f what has actually occured in the game.
Secondly, the era of the artwork of Bioshock was primarily art deco with afew steampunk elements thrown in for good measure. Art Deco architecture began in the mid 20s and ran until 1939. Putting it long before the decor of Fallout.
Thirdly, while I understand the initial confiusion as to what the repating element on the highwat is, as I thought the first one was a cell phonbe as well, they are actually the reflectors that are placed in the lane lines on every road in America. Do they really look like that? I don't know I've only seen them at night, and they are reflective then. Some clues to that should have been that they were always located in the lane lines, they repeated ever so many feet, and that there were no cell phones in the 50's.
Fourthly, the only noticable repeating trash texture is not a magazine, it's a pack of cigarettes. And just like today, there are dominant brands of tobacco. So, it's highly likely to see the same bran over and over.
The Oblivion engine is becoming dated regardless of the platform. I still find distant textures and architecture, as well as the use of HDR to be brilliant and beautiful, but your charcter, weapon, and nearby textures not on NPCs have begun to look dated.
Finally, I appreciate that some people may not like the retrofuturism theme present in games like this and Bioshock, but if you already knew that, why even play the game?
Regardless, I think the ambience and immersion factor surrounding the atmosphere of the game incredibly enjoyable. Elemetns such as pausing combat are there only to appease long time fans of the FO series, as it was a top-down turn-based series until FO3. No one forces you to use VATS, or to heal in the middle of combat. If you find that breaks the immersion for you, simply don't use the featires.
I find it is a great compromise between the Elder Scrolls series and the heart of the original FallOut series, and I am pleasantly surprised at how much I have enjoyed it, as I felt sure it wouldn't do FO 1 and 2 justice.
