Fallout: New Vegas is the highly anticipated follow-up to IGN Entertainment’s 2008 Game of the Year Fallout 3. And this time Obsidian Entertainment handles the game with their sights set on bringing some post-apocalyptic life into Las Vegas.
The game throws you into the role of a Courier for the Mojave Express who has been tasked with delivering a special package. But in the opening, you are shot by a man in a suit, and left for dead in a grave. Soon you awake in the home of a local doctor with two things in mind: where is the package you were tasked with and, more importantly, revenge.
Much of the game is driven by the rival factions around the Mojave Desert.
Two of the most popular and sought after are the rivals: New California Republic and the slaver group, Ceaser’s Legion. Each group wants control of the coveted Hoover Dam, because of its clean water and generation of electricity.
New Vegas brings back the use of a buddy system and the reinstallment of the “companion wheel,” which has been M.I.A. since Fallout 2.
The combat in the game has been tweaked and glorified to a new level.
The V.A.T.S. system is brought back with a new “kill cam,” and the two go hand-in-hand.
Compared to Fallout 3 the combat in New Vegas is more personalized. The amount of choices in weapon modification combined with the Fallout series always robust amount of weapons makes the combat in New Vegas less repetitive than Fallout 3’s.
The numerous amounts of gangs helps add a sea of choices to the play itself. Each gang brings a slew of missions that give the player more options.
This is one area that the game is heavily improved on. The amount of choices the player has within the game leaves a more self-tailored feel. New Vegas doesn’t leave you at the beck and call of the Brotherhood of Steel.
The looser nature of the narrative allows for a more unique role-playing experience.
Whether helping bring peace to the Wastelands with the NCR or ravaging the land with the Legion, every option in the story feels as if it has an impact on the world that feels more satisfying than just being an errand boy with no influence for most of the experience as in Fallout 3.
Each Casino on the Strip provides a place to spend or double all those hard earned caps.
There are only a few games in each casino with a roulette wheel and Blackjack tables, but they provide the needed touch.
Fallout brings a new Hardcore mode into the picture with New Vegas.
The mode is beyond difficult, essentially giving a more realistic feel to the game. Healing type items like Stimpaks and RadAway are effective over time unlike before, and each piece of ammo is counted in the player’s allowed weight. And if that wasn’t enough, to stay alive the player must now worry about dehydration, starvation and sleep deprivation.
While the task of keeping fed and hydrated may seem intimidating, it’s not too difficult thanks to an abundance of food and drink to be found in the dozens of locations in the Wastes.
Overall “Fallout: New Vegas” is a fine addition to the franchise