There are bugs and technical issues galore but it doesn't make Fallout New Vegas any less addicting and fun.
User Rating: 9 | Fallout: New Vegas PC
Fallout 3 was one of the best games I've had the pleasure to play in 2008 so when a new title called New Vegas was announced, I was brimming with excitement as the release date neared. Fallout New Vegas was developed by Obsidian Entertainment while Fallout 3 was developed in-house by Bethesda. Many of the people who worked on New Vegas also worked on the first two Fallout games. New Vegas doesn't depart too much from Fallout 3 and the improvements aren't too significant but it still provides the same great fun despite its numerous technical issues. Four years after the events of Fallout 3, a lone Courier is killed while attempting to deliver a secretive package. Rescued by Doc Mitchell, the Courier sets out into the open world to discover who wanted him dead and decide the fate of the Mojave Wasteland. The story is well-told for the most part but doesn't seem to be as long in length as in Fallout 3. If you're spent quite a bit of time in the third game, you'll feel right at home here. The major difference is the faction system which has a direct effect on how people react to you rather than the karma system (which is still here). Depending on your actions, different factions will either help you or shoot you on sight. Major factions include the New California Republic and Caesar's Legion but there are other factions including the returning Brotherhood of Steel. The other major change is a new companion wheel where you can equip weapons or change combat tactics. You can have one humanoid and one animal companion at one time. Other than that most of the changes are minor at best, including a crafting system for weapons and plant collecting similar to Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion. Weapons can also be modded and repaired to 100%. The Mojave Wasteland didn't suffer as much nuclear bombardment as Washington DC so you'll find that it has a much cleaner, more civilized atmosphere. Gameplay in terms of shooting is the same with the VATS system with your Pip-Boy providing your statistics and vitals. The game uses the Gamebryo engine once again and it's starting to look rather dated and coasts by thanks to the detail of its world. Of course, the PC version will provide much sharper textures and the added benefit of anti-aliasing. The music is largely recycled from Fallout 3 with a few new tunes and there's a healthy dose of celebrity voice talent including Matthew Perry, Zachary Levi, Kris Kristofferson, Danny Trejo, Michael Dorn, Felicia Day, Wayne Newton and Ron Perlman as the Narrator. Fallout New Vegas didn't have a smooth launch and the PC version suffered from numerous issues such as low framerates during conversations as the code for the facial animation was unoptimized. This has since been fixed with the latest patch but I had to use a Dx9 .dll file to smooth out the stuttering and framerate issues. Other bugs include broken quests where I was unable to advance to a certain point without using a console command and unresponsive controls, which was also fixed with a console command. It's certainly a lot more issues than I had to deal with compared to Fallout 3 but it did nothing to lower the quality of the game in my eyes. Since it's released, I've spent 43 hours in the game and enjoyed every minute of it. The game uses Steam for DRM and achievements. There is without a doubt many issues that still need to be fixed but Fallout New Vegas is an addictive, open world game that offers just enough tweaks to make it a different experience. Hardcore fans already have the game but if you're still on the fence, the game is for the most part a lot more stable so run out to the store and buy it!
