Fallout: New Vegas Review

Following the successful release of Fallout 3 back in 2008, the much awaited follow-up title is finally here with Bethesda’s Fallout: New Vegas. Developed by the creators of both Fallout 1 and 2, New Vegas is an all-new game that will take players into the Mojave Wasteland where a whole new adventure will await you. The once glamorous city of Las Vegas has turned into a wasteland and everything is not the way things were before.

How is Fallout: New Vegas any different from Fallout 3? The game looks similar but what makes New Vegas a better game than Fallout 3? Let’s take a look at the HOTs and NOTs for more information.

HOT

Brand New Story, New Setting
The presentation of Fallout: New Vegas is very similar to Fallout 3, but a new adventure and setting awaits those Fallout fans. Years after the events of Fallout 3, players will be taken to the Mojave Wasteland where the factions in the state of Nevada are hungry for power to take over New Vegas. Players start off with a character that is a courier who is sent to deliver a parcel to the strip of New Vegas. A series of unexpected events happen to the character when the parcel is stolen. What could be so important in the package that the character will deliver? That is the mystery that occupies the main story of the game. Similar to previous Fallout titles, players have the power to change the course of events in the game, as every decision that a player makes can affect how the whole game plays out.

Players familiar with the city of Las Vegas will see many of the local attractions, although New Vegas is not as beautiful as Las Vegas is now. After the war, Las Vegas is in ruins and a lot of things have changed. The Nellis Air Force Base is now a refugee camp while the McCarran International Airport has become the base camp of the New California Republic. Players who played Fallout 3 will notice some similarities in the environments of the game. Be ready to explore the vast wasteland of the Mojave Desert!

Hardcore Mode
Just before starting out the adventure, the game will ask the player if they wish to play on a hardcore difficulty setting. On a hardcore difficulty setting, a reward will be available upon completing the game on that difficulty without changing it throughout the adventure. Water, food, and sleep are the three components that the player must take into account on the hardcore difficulty setting. Fast traveling and doing what a person normally does will make the character thirsty, hungry, and sleepy. Finding out the remedy to these will make the character survive while venturing forth into the Mojave Wasteland.

Tons of Quests
In addition to the twenty story-based missions, there are at least fifty more sidequests that a player can undertake. The first twenty hours will take players through only two of the twenty story missions. Comparing New Vegas to Fallout 3, New Vegas offers more quests and it sure will take players a lot longer to finish the game—roughly 80 hours or so for 100% completion. In each location of New Vegas, there are NPCs that will give players a quest. Doing them will help the character gain experience and achieve a higher level.

New Weapons and Perks
In addition to the plethora of quests, players can expect new weapons and perks throughout the game. There are a total of 84 perks that a player can choose from when they reach a certain level. Like Fallout 3, these new perks offer certain benefits for the player; for example, the Cowboy perk gives players a 25% damage bonus when a revolver type weapon or dynamite is used. As for new weapons, there are a lot to expect. Since New Vegas takes place in the west, weapons such as the .45 magnum and dynamites will finally make an appearance in the game. These new weapons are powerful and numerous, so players can select the weapon that best suits their playing style.

Choose your side
The factions that are holding the foundation of New Vegas are powerful. From a simple courier, the character will grow in skill and notoriety, eventually developing influence with the local factions of New Vegas. There are roughly five factions in New Vegas that the player will meet and depending on the decision the player picks, they can either be a friend or a foe. From the mighty Caesar’s Legion to the Boomers that reside in Nellis Air Force Base, these factions will have a great impact to the overall turnout of the game, so it is up to the player to decide the fate of New Vegas…

Lengthy Game
Compared to the length of Fallout 3, New Vegas is a much longer game. As aforementioned, New Vegas offers more missions than Fallout 3. The scope of the game is pretty much similar but with all of the things you can do in New Vegas, it can take up to 80 hours for a player to finish the game depending on the completion. There are a lot of collectibles and locations to explore too.

Challenges
New Vegas offers players myriad challenges to attempt. Completing these challenges will give players more experience points, so obtaining that level 30 will not be too hard. These challenges vary from the numbers of monsters you defeated to the specific weapons that a player will use to kill enemies. The list of challenges adds to the length of the game and these all can be looked up through the Pip boy.

Mini Games
Welcome to Sin City! Just like in Las Vegas, there are casinos in New Vegas where a player can spend time gambling. The three casino games that a player can play are Roullete, Blackjack and Slot Machines. Taking a break from the lengthy journey is a wise decision, as gambling will take away all of that stress. In addition to the three casino games, there is also a game called Caravan that involves choosing cards.

Mod your Weapons, Learn to Craft & More
There are a lot of customizations that can be done in Fallout: New Vegas. The scrap metals and other junk that the player will be finding throughout the Mojave Wasteland might be useful as some of these are useful in crafting items and modifying your weapons. There are a lot of weapons to customize and one of the ways to survive in the wasteland and get food is through crafting. By picking up the right ingredients, players will be able to make food, water, and other things that will be beneficial to the player.

NOT

Dated Graphics
The graphics of New Vegas haven’t improved from the previous game. Comparing it to the graphics of Fallout 3, everyone can conclude that Obsidian Entertainment has reused the graphic engine of Fallout 3 and just added new perks, story, setting, and weapons. Reusing it is not a bad thing because the graphics of Fallout 3 are indeed beautiful. However, the graphics could have been improved, as the engine used for Fallout 3 is several years old already.

Feels More Like An Expansion
Playing through New Vegas feels like I’m playing an expansion of Fallout 3 in lieu of a new game. Playing for the first ten hours will make the players think of the same experience as Fallout 3. Once the game has gotten to the point where they reach exotic locales of New Vegas, that is the time the player will experience an all new game. The game has a slow start but it will pick up as the player progresses.

Glitches Are Still There
For a big game, glitches in Fallout: New Vegas are to be expected. Comparing it to Fallout 3, New Vegas has fewer glitches than the ones Fallout 3 had when it was launched several years ago. One of the notable glitches in the game is characters getting stuck in one place. While this is common, the solution to get out of it is to reload the save file. Other glitches are just minor, such as occasional pop-ins in the environment and it’s not something to be alarmed about.

VERDICT

While Fallout: New Vegas may feel like an expansion to Fallout 3, it offers something that fans of Fallout cannot resist. The lengthy adventure, epic story, and the plethora of quests give gamers more reasons to spend time on the game. It may not win a Game of the Year award but it’s one of those games that we are considering. Fallout fans that played Fallout 3 might feel like they’re just playing an expansion, but it’s still worth the purchase!

[Editor’s Note: Fallout: New Vegas was reviewed on a Xbox 360 platform. Played the game for thirty hours and did three of the twenty story missions. The game was provided to us by the publisher.]