In the last Fallout, ferals seemed more intelligent, more 'aware' of themselves and the world, more like any other kind of semi-competent monster in the game- they might have lost their humanity, but they could still be a dangerous opponent if you didn't watch yourself. In F4, Bethesda apparently put all those hours watching the Walking Dead TV show to good use, and have zombified them. Now they are totally brain dead, just laying around like a corpse most of the time until they sense you near, then they slowly get up and akwardly shamble towards you like a classic Day of the Dead zombie. They eventually pick up speed during their attacks, but they're so clumsy they usually fall over themselves after lunging at you. I find myself missing the F3 ferals.

While F3 ferals were kind of depicted a bit cartoonishly, all skeleton and gristle, at least the art was fairly good, and they could definitely look frightening as their slavering jaws closed in towards your face in VATS... they looked- quite animated. I don't think the crappy ghoul artwork in F4 even has any facial animations that I've noticed, the poorly-drawn unmoving ghoul faces always have the same muddy, low-res, awfully textured look on them no matter what is happening. While the world in general is much better looking in F4, the monster art seems to have gone way down hill- on most everything.

To each their own, I guess, but I LOVE the F4 ghouls; way creepy. I love how they can ambush, pour in through windows, and how they sometimes dodge side to side and they hurl themselves at you. They're much better than F3.

Walking Dead zombies shamble. Period. There's no comparison . These are more like World War Z (movie).

Seems to me like all the changes they made to feral ghouls were to make them more fun and intense to fight. Sure, they are more zombie like now, but they are faster than they have ever been and being clumsy is to throw off the players aim. I'm not sure what difficulty you have it on, but Ive fought a couple ferals that were dodging my crosshairs quite well, or when they lunge at you and hit the floor, if you don't have AP to use vats they can sometimes get up and hit you again before you can track them.

With enough play time all this stuff can become predictable, sure, but when first fighting them I certainly enjoyed it more than previous games.

They are humans mutated by radiation left in the wasteland alone for 100 years till the radiation started to decay turning them feral, walking dead zombies are humans with an air born virus that reactivates only enough of your brain to turn you feral after you die so they are different

I like the FO4 ghouls, quite clear this is how they wanted them to be back in 3, but couldn't due to engine limits, they are fast, twitchy and overall hard to hit, nothing makes me love vats more then these things.

And walking dead zombies don't run. 28 days later would make for a better comparison.

And f3 ferals had the same behaviour as every other humanoid, so they were hardly interesting. Now ferals are a unique foe.

They're supposed to look wizened and desiccated, like an emaciated scrotum.

The F3 Ghouls are too succulent for radiation zombies.

Well, if that's the look they were shooting for, they definitely hit it on the head. As expressive as one, too.

Mmmm, indeed. I thought that seemed apt.

From the few minutes I've seen of Walking Dead, ghouls are nowhere near the comically slow and non-threatening zombies they show. Ghouls remind me more of the zombies from I Am Legend, fast swarming and pale skin.

Legendary ghouls remind me of I Am Legend zombies. They're insane and pack a lot of punch even with power armor. Regular ghouls are comical though. I have Ninja (3/3), Sneak (4/5) and Mr Sandman (3/3), Blitz (2/2) perks so it's fun creeping up on them and slashing them with Kremvh's Tooth.

I really don't see a strong resemblance. The zombies in Walking Dead are Walkers, that shuffle and shamble about. When I first saw the feral ghouls in FO4 I was more reminded of the zombies in World War Z: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P83b9CdI9D0

I like The Fallout 4 Ghouls, though I hate that they inflict radiation damage.

I find FO4 feral ghouls better than past games honestly, it was kinda silly that you plug one in the head in FO3 or NV and they turn at you then roar into the air THEN run at you in a straight line.

Feral ghouls are nothing like the zombies from walking dead. Like another person said, they are more similar to the zombies in 28 days later. Where they aren't actually dead people, but people whose brains have been mutated to the point they have gone rabid.

I feel the same about Deathclaws in 4. I get about a half dozen shotgun blasts in its gut before it finishes doing its "spread arms out, roar into the sky" routine.

Super mutants seem to do that more often these days, too. They're very accommodating.

In Deathclaw speak he's saying "I'm a Thespian! Hear my ROAR!".

Deathclaw Cabaret is coming in the first DLC too!

The changes to a lot of the monsters seem to have the same objective. In Fallout 3 they would just be dropped in an area where they would sort of pace back and forth. You could see them from a distance and they were snipe fodder.

Now things are far less visible from a distance. Super mutants and raiders always seem to rest out of sight until they detect the player. Mole rats and scorpions spring from the ground. Feral Ghouls will be hidden in rubbish or lying on the ground like a corpse. The baddies are much better at concealment and are much more likely to see you before you see them in this game than they were in Fallout 3.

Well. Hmmmph! I still think their artwork svcks, though. Didn't see anyone falling over themselves to compliment that part.

I can only assume it's a console-graphics gimp thing. Surely they can afford better artists for such things.

I love the new take on feral ghouls, they're my favorite bad guy/woman to kill.