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Fallout: New Vegas
PlayStation 3
Flawed Fun in the Desert Sun
4/5 stars
So, now that's I've finally beaten the game, I can give an honest review. Fallout: New Vegas is an open-world FPS with RPG elements thrown in. If you've played Fallout 3, this is pretty much the same thing with a different setting and a few tweaked elements.
I really liked Fallout 3 and the similar-themed Oblivion. The freedom to roam around, gather companions, engage in side missions and aid or destroy a variety of factions means that you can spend plenty of time wandering the wastes. Because this takes place in the desert, the color palette is not exactly exciting. Sure, you have the bright lights of New Vegas and some surrounding cities, but for the most part it's a lot of brown and light brown.
The story is a bit more fleshed out - instead of nameless vault dweller, you're a nameless courier and the game opens with you... dead. That's right, you're shot and almost buried, but wake up in small town where you have miraculously survived. After a short tutorial (if you so choose) you are set on a path to track down the man who shot you and figure out why. There is also a bigger picture - a few years prior, the Ceasar's Legion, a large group of slavers, attempted to take Hoover Dam, which supplies power to the entire area, but was beat back by the New California Republic (NCR) - pretty much the defacto government in the post-nuclear wasteland. Now the Legion is back, and with new leadership and is once again threatening to take the dam. As you go along through the game you can decide to help out either the NCR (a good route) or the Legion (the evil route) and once you finally get to New Vegas a third, neutral route opens by aiding Mr. House - a Howard Hughes-like reclusive savior of New Vegas or Yes Man, a reprogrammed robot with no motivations other than what you decide.
That's a lot to chew on, and that's not even digging into the side quests involving various gangs or your companions (you can recruit up to 8 and have one human and non-human with you at all times). Needless to say, there's a lot you can do with your time.
Aside from the story, I also love the ambiance of the Fallout Games - remember, this is world that looks like it's stuck in the 50s, but has future technology. I especially like the old-tyme music - though it does lose its charm after a few hours. Just like Fallout 3, Radio New Vegas (featuring the voice of Mr. Vegas himself - Wayne Newton) will updated stories based on your actions - good or bad. Speaking of vocal talent, I recognized quite a few, people like Zachary Levi, Matthew Perry, Dave Foley, Danny Trejo and Kris Kristofferson - plus quite a few names that sci-fi TV fans will recognize - Michael Dorn, René Auberjonois and Wil Weaton. There's not skimping on the voice talent here, and they actually do a good job - it's not liked they phoned it in. Another great thing about the game is that it throws in a lot of references to the previous games - all the way back to the original Fallout, so fans can geek out all they want.
Combat and enemies are about the same as Fallout 3, although they did bring back Damage Threshold that they removed in the last installment. It does make combat slightly more challenging, but nothing seems that much different. You also have much more crafting you can do this time around, from ammo to supplies to food - you can find recipes and schematics, though I never found much need to do much cooking or crafting myself. For dedicated gamers, the hardcore mode makes thing more realistic by requiring things like water and sleep and giving weight to ammo, healing over time and causing permanent death to companions. I haven't decided if it's worth my time to try it out or not.
With all the good, there's bound to be bad and, in the tradition of Fallout 3 and Oblivion, it's the bugs that will kill you. While I didn't encounter any game-ending bugs or even broken quest bugs, I have encountered frequent freezing. Luckily the game has an auto-save feature that kicks in often, but even so, saving often is encouraged and having a backup "safe" file is not a bad idea. I found times when the game would slow to crawl as well - often times in Freeside or when entering or exiting VATS mode - sometimes it would recover, sometimes it would freeze. It's because of these bugs I cannot rate the game higher. I'm just glad I waited on the purchase - from what I hear the bugs were much worse before the first 2-3 patches were introduced.
All in all if you're a fan of sandbox games and have the time to spare, New Vegas isn't such a bad place to visit. Just make sure you're prepared to reset your system every so often. I haven't had a chance to test the DLC, but adding to the vast world can only make things better.
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