Fallout: New Vegas

Earlier this year I posted my review of Fallout 3: Game of the Year edition, and since then I had been waiting for Bethesda/Obsidian's next outing into Post-apocalyptic America. Was it worth the wait? Well.. its really quite hard to say.

STORY
Fallout: New Vegas carries on from previous games of the series; America (nay, the world) more or less came to an end in the year 2077 after world let loose with its nuclear weapons.
Over 200 years after the apocalypse, the player finds themselves in the shoes of The Courier, assigned with the task of delivering a platinum chip to the New Vegas Strip. The story literally starts with a bang; your character finds himself/herself on the receiving end of a 9mm bullet to the skull. The Courier is revived in the town of Goodsprings, where he/she is pointed in the direction of the would-be murderer.
Along the way, however, the Courier becomes a key player in a power struggle between warring factions of the Mojave Wasteland. The main questline isn't nearly as strong as Fallout 3's, but that's not to say that it's weak. It's interesting and well thought out, but I had less of an emotional connection to the player character (if only because the tutorial levels of New Vegas don't begin at your birth, like Fallout 3).

PRESENTATION
Fallout: New Vegas looks almost exactly like it did in Fallout 3, save for the new colour scheme and slightly different environments. This is because New Vegas runs off the same engine as Fallout 3, and as such, you would expect the technical difficulties of the last title to have been fixed. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Texture and environment pop-in, massive drops in framerate, and constant crashing almost ruin this game for me. The Fallout games for Next-Gen consoles are both excellent games, but they lack the polish that could make them truly amazing. It wouldn't be such a problem, if the game was at least running differently from its predecessor.

As for music and sound design, it's fantastic as usual. Many characters have unique and fun voices full of personality, while the radio stations are full of 50's era tracks, all of which feel perfectly home at this futuristic, yet 50s cultured world.


GAMEPLAY
Much like its look and sound, New Vegas plays the same as Fallout 3. Many of the characters actions are influenced by their stats and abilities; such as gunplay, lockpicking, hacking and conversational perks. Combat can be a bit stiff, although the addition of iron sight aiming makes it much more enjoyable. Vault-tech Assisted Targeting System is still the preferable way to deal out the pain, but the iron-sight aiming AND weapons Mods really do make a difference to real time gunfights.

Talking to companions is another major change, allowing players to customize and order their companions without lengthy dialogue branches. Though many new little features like this have been added, the gameplay is largely the same; which was a little disappointing.

My favourite change to the game would have to be the addition of hardcore mode, where players must eat, sleep and drink water to survive; as well as plan the amount and types of ammo that they carry due to their added weight. This adds another layer to gameplay, as well as adding a new challenge to overcome.

That said though, challenge is about the last thing that New Vegas needs. The Damage Threshold system means that enemies take more punishment than ever, and better planning will lead to victory. As well as this, enemies don't seem to scale with the players Level; meaning that a Mother Deathclaw that will absolutely destroy you at level 6, will keep you on edge, even at levels in the high-20s.

Once again, my biggest problem with the game comes from its bugs and technical faults, often causing me to restart my console several times in 2 hours. It can be extremely frustrating and truly gamebreaking at times.

REPLAYABILITY
Though I may have been a bit harsh on New Vegas, it certainly does offer one hell of a lot to do. Gambling, combat and exploration are all addictive and fun, if you can get past the bugs, and most of these aspects will reward the player, perhaps with money, special armour or even weapons (holy hand grenades FTW).
Aside from that, theres no multiplayer aspect; which is great, because I personally am sick of games relying solely on multiplayer.

Around 51 trophies/achievements at launch will keep you crazy kids occupied for a while,and multiple endings await those bold enough to take on New Vegas.

OVERVIEW
Did you play and enjoy fallout 1 and 2? This game is for you. Did you play Fallout 3 and enjoy it? This game is probably for you. However, if you enjoyed the games, but wanted something a bit more varied from the 2008 post-apocalyptic RPG, then you may need to look elsewhere. I know its extremely harsh to say that New Vegas is just a large expansion pack, buts its really hard to not say that.

Its so similar, right down to the technical issues, that it isn't funny. In the end, yea, i enjoyed New Vegas, but only because I loved F3. I was appalled that the Dev. Team in charge didn't address these issues, but I guess it was bound to happen in a game so big. That's not to say that they couldn't fix the framerate and crashing issues.


So, Black Ops comes out on Tuesday. Whoop de doo. It'll be eating up more of my free time in the next year than anything else. Review should be on Sunday, look out for it. See you next time!