[HEADING=1]Rei plays Fallout: New Vegas[/HEADING]
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Fallout: New Vegas is an open world RPG created by Obsidian Entertainment that serves as the newest installment in the long-running Fallout series. Produced by some of the same developers who were behind the first two Fallout games and using the game engine of Bethesda's Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas returns the Fallout franchise back to its roots on the West Coast to a land filled with colorful characters and dark humor. Playing the part of a courier making a routine delivery that goes awry, the player undergoes a quest that brings them to the center stage of the ongoing struggle for dominance over the Mojave Wasteland's wealth and resources. Fallout: New Vegas is a game that blends the setting of the older Fallout games with the game play style of Fallout 3, but can this newest title in the Fallout series meet the expectations set by its predecessors?
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Fallout: New Vegas takes place in the year 2281, or 4 years after the events of Fallout 3, 40 years after Fallout 2, and over 200 years since the Nuclear War. The city of New Vegas (formerly Las Vegas) managed to avoid destruction, ensuring that the "City of Sin" remains very much alive in the present day. Because of vast wealth of New Vegas and the Hoover Dam's ability to provide electricity, the Mojave Wasteland has attracted the attention of two foreign powers that seek to control these resources: the imperialistic pre-war style government of the New California Republic (NCR) and the Roman-inspired band of brutal conquerors known as Caesar's Legion. As these two powers battle against each other, Mr. House, the enigmatic leader of the New Vegas Strip, watches from the sidelines while formulating his own ambitious plans for the future. In addition to these three major factions, there are several smaller groups, such as the Great Khans, Brotherhood of Steel, various raider gangs, and many more that each have their own agendas in the struggle over the Mojave.
Into this complex situation comes the player, who fills the role of a Courier that ends up being ambushed, shot, and left for dead as your assassins make off with what you had been delivering. Rescued and nursed back to health by local citizens, the player then undertakes a quest to find their would-be assassins and to discover what was in the package that they were carrying. It is while pursuing this course that the player will find themselves involved in the conflict over control of the Mojave Wasteland, and so being able to play a large part in determining its outcome. The system of factions involved in this story is very much the core of the game and its story, and it is the player's actions that determine just how everything turns out. It is a level of free choice and difference in the course of the main storyline that is not found in Fallout 3 or most other RPG's in general, since most just tend to follow the same overall story with perhaps one big choice at the very end of the game. In Fallout: New Vegas, the player's actions, even the minor side-quests, have very real effects upon the main story, resulting in a level of quality and replayability that is potentially even higher than that found in Fallout 3.
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Because Fallout: New Vegas returns to the "Classic Fallout" setting, this game has a very different tone than Bethesda's Fallout 3. Compared to the Capital Wasteland, the Mojave Wasteland is a far less bleak and depressing place, even though it still is a land plagued by mutants, radiation, and other remnants of the pre-war era. In New Vegas, humanity has managed to progress enough so that its citizens are concerned with the rebuilding of society as well as the difficulties of survival in a post-apocalyptic world. As for the city of New Vegas itself, it is a place filled with all of the elements that one would expect to see: drugs, gambling, prostitution, gangsters, and much more. The game is also filled with references to the first two Fallout games, and the player will encounter several characters and factions, with my favorite being the Super Mutant remnants of the Master's Army at Black Mountain who have their own radio station. Last, but certainly not least, New Vegas brings back the black comedy that the old games were well known for, adding a level of humor to the game that was largely missing from Fallout 3. New Vegas is a welcome return to the style of the old Fallout games, and veterans of the series who were disappointed by Fallout 3's atmosphere probably will feel right at home with this game. Either way, the world of Fallout: New Vegas is one that is certain to be enjoyed.
Fallout: New Vegas may have broken from Fallout 3 and returned to the old style and setting of the Fallout universe, but in terms of game play they are very similar. This should not come as a very big surprise since New Vegas was created on the same engine as Fallout 3, and it was Bethesda that published this game for Obsidian. New Vegas is, as Fallout 3 was, a Bethesda-style first person open-world RPG with a lot of opportunity for exploration. The core game play in Fallout 3 such as its interface, V.A.T.S, the leveling system, the radio stations, and more are all brought into New Vegas and left basically untouched. Although New Vegas did add a lot of new locations, music, and textures to the game, you will find that quite a lot of textures found in this game are exactly what you would find in Fallout 3 as well. On some level it is kind of annoying at first because it feels as if Obsidian only made half of the game, but it still works out rather well. All things considered, if you liked Fallout 3's style of game play, you probably will enjoy Fallout: New Vegas just as much if not more.
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But to be honest, New Vegas is not just Fallout 3 transplanted into a new story and setting, or at least it is not that simple. There are several little game play changes that Obsidian made that improve elements of Fallout 3 to make New Vegas a more enjoyable experience. The biggest game play change of all is the aforementioned faction system, which results in the extensive variety and importance of the character's choices in the overall story. The new hardcore mode adds realistic elements into the game that make the overall experience much more immersive and difficult. Hardcore mode is a very welcome addition, though it is one that PC gamers who have modded their Fallout 3 have probably already experienced. Another element that existed as a mod for Fallout 3 is the more robust crafting system, including the ability to modify your weapons. The gambling in New Vegas' various casinos is a simple yet quite entertaining mini-game that can get you to make (or lose!) a lot of money in a short period of time. Also, the new companion wheel system is another addition that has made dealing with your followers and ordering them commands a far easier affair than it was in Fallout 3.
While on the subject of companions, those in New Vegas seem to have more personality behind them, and the one I recruited gave me a quest later on involving her past. It is not quite as involved as what Bioware does with its characters, but this was a really nice touch that I was happy to see. More additions to New Vegas involve changes to combat with the inclusion of iron-sight aiming, more accurate weapons than the ones in Fallout 3, and the ability to realistically play in third person mode. Another excellent improvement is how speech challenges were changed so that rather than just being a percentage chance, you actually get to see what skill levels you need in order to make such a speech check succeed. There is also a larger variety of weapons and enemies to find in the Mohave, some being from Fallout 3, previous Fallout games, or entirely new. The list of changes that New Vegas made to the Fallout 3 formula continues, but the core game play is still basically just like Fallout 3. The changes that Obsidian made are all welcome improvements that make New Vegas a quality game in its own right, even if the core of the game is still very much Bethesda's beast.
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Unfortunately, while Fallout: New Vegas does make improvements to Fallout 3's game play, it does not address some of that game's more serious problems. First and foremost on this list are the bugs. The Fallout 3 engine was notoriously buggy, and it was a game experience marked by glitches, game crashes, and other similar problems. Fortunately, I only had Fallout: New Vegas crash on me once in the 20 hours that it took for me to race to the end of the main storyline. But as I progressed through the game, I started running into more and more problems ranging from quest glitches, trouble with my save games and strange AI behavior, not to mention a myriad of other complications regarding my companions and them getting either stuck on the terrain or just falling through the floor. Another problem I ran into, though for all I know this may be intentional, was that some of the enemies and their spawning patterns made things more difficult than anything I had experienced in Fallout 3. At one point I came across a mountain pass area that was virtually blocked by Deathclaws close enough together that if I shot at one I would pull 3 or 4 others. Although this game may have been designed to be more difficult than Fallout 3, fighting 4 or 5 Deathclaws at once without Power Armor or a Fat Man is a little ridiculous. Even if that was intentional, it cannot be denied that Fallout: New Vegas has more than a few problems that were present in Fallout 3 as well.
There are other problems in New Vegas that also existed in Fallout 3. It might be because my Fallout 3 is loaded with add-ons that give me a ton of character customization options, but I found the same limited appearance and hairstyle choices in New Vegas to be really irritating. Animations did not get much better either, with character and NPC animations still having that stiff unnatural quality about them that screws up the immersion. Voice acting is a mixed bag of good and bad as it was in Fallout 3, but New Vegas also seems to have less recorded dialogue, and especially so for hostile NPC's. This was most apparent for me when I was going up against the Fiends, New Vegas' equivalent to Fallout 3 Raiders, and found it depressing that their voice acting was nowhere near the hilarious quality of their counterparts in the Capital Wasteland. I do wonder just how much freedom Obsidian actually had to tinker with Bethesda's formula and if they could not do some things they may have wanted to do, but that still does not change the fact that New Vegas has lingering problems from Fallout 3 that should have been fixed. It is an unfortunate flaw in a game that is otherwise quite satisfying.
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Fallout: New Vegas is an enjoyable gaming experience and a worthy installment in the Fallout franchise that unfortunately does not fix some of Fallout 3's biggest problems. The changes that New Vegas makes, though small, create an improved experience from Fallout 3 while keeping the same quality game play. As a story experience, New Vegas may very well be superior to Fallout 3 because of the more interesting setting and the player's ability to decide how events turn out. The player who loves Fallout 3, the classic Fallout setting, or RPG's in general will find a lot to like in New Vegas. But those who did not like Fallout 3, Bethesda-style RPG's, or get easily irritated by buggy games probably won't appreciate Fallout: New Vegas as much. Even if the bugs are not game-breaking at this moment, waiting a week or two for Obsidian to fix things may not be a bad idea. In any case, Fallout: New Vegas is an excellent game that is almost certain to consume countless hours as players seek out the treasures of the Mohave Wasteland and then squander that treasure in the Strip's casinos.
- Rei
