Fans of Fallout 3 will not find much significantly new but can still experience an interesting story and fun gameplay.
GAMEPLAY (8.5) – New Vegas is not a sequel in the way that many will expect. It doesn't introduce a bunch of new gameplay possibilities to differentiate it from its predecessor. It doesn't continue the narrative that many sunk hundreds of hours into in Fallout 3. New Vegas is a feature-length expansion that gives a west coast account of the apocalypse. The core gameplay of Fallout: New Vegas is no different from Fallout 3. The level of character personalization is as it was in Fallout 3. The V.A.T.S (Vault-tec Assisted Targeting System) has been improved and does aim better. Overall New Vegas feels like the same game but in a different place with a new set of characters and a new set of challenges. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it feels far from new.
One of the frustrating things about Fallout 3 was the need to travel under the DC wasteland from one area to the next. Fortunately this is gone as the environment of New Vegas is huge and walking over open ground to move from one quest marker to the next is accomplished with ease. Allied companions who will fight alongside you are easier to locate and persuade in New Vegas and the resulting collective experience points do allow you to level up and gain perks and skills that much quicker. Each companion brings their own perk that augments your perks, but if they are killed or are sent away you lose the corresponding perk. It is possible to travel through the game with a posse of three companions, which can greatly enhance your chances for success in battle.
The karma system changes quite a bit from that of Fallout 3. Factions, such as the NCR, the Legion, or your own "Wild Card" choices, will alter the outcome of the game. For example, if you help the New California Republic (NCR), an army trying to restore order and civility to the area, against Caesar's Legion, a Roman-style army looking to destroy the NCR, your status in the NCR will grow while your reputation with Caesar's Legion will suffer. Either choice will change the outcome of the game. You can also walk the tightrope of the middle ground and follow the "Wild Card" quest line.
GRAPHICS (8.0) – For the most part very similar to Fallout 3. Those very same graphics that impressed only a couple years ago don't quite have that wow factor this time around. The surroundings are still highly detailed but the graphics can be a let down when coming up close to objects. It does have somewhat poor draw distance with slowly loading graphics, which is more noticeable because of the vistas of the desert environment surrounding New Vegas. The most annoying issue is the loading times. The game is so open-ended that there is a desire to open every door and enter every building to see what's on the other side. The only problem here is behind every door there is a loading screen. That will really limit one's exploring ambitions.
SOUND (9.0) – Very good voice acting and more varied than either Fallout 3 or Oblivion, where it seemed like only a handful of different actors were used. There are significantly more people and creatures in this part of the country and Obsidian did a nice job with the background noise. Another plus is that there is a radio station that features Mr. Vegas himself, Wayne Newton.
VALUE (9.5) - Fallout: New Vegas might be more like an expansion, but it is one very long expansion. The game with the main and side missions will take more than 80 hours to complete. To make things even better, the side missions are not just boring quests on the side to waste time, many were actually more interesting and intense than the main story itself! The player needs to keep his eyes wide open playing this game, as every corner can have something interesting in store. The one problem is that right after finishing the game the player will not be allowed to continue with the quests and missions. That is a big disappointment considering Fallout 3 had the same issue early on. Fallout 3 did get a patch to fix this problem and allowed gamers to play on. Hopefully New Vegas will get a similar patch in the very near future.
SUMMARY - Very good but could have been better sums this one up. Fallout New Vegas will be played by some for a couple of years again and again. New harder modes that require taking care of the character more (Feeding him and keeping a regular supply of water) means the game can be played twice or 3 times and feel completely different each time. Having 3 possible endings depending on which faction was joined will surely help this game stay in the console for a while too. I would recommend Fallout New Vegas to every gamer out there for the story alone and how they can create the twists with their own hands.