Fallout would have been better off staying on the east coast
A Review by Chris Camz of UnfashionablyLateReviews@blogspot.com
Let me begin this review by saying that buying Fallout 3 was one of the greatest, albeit unfashionably late, purchases in my life with video games. The story was excellently done, the gameplay was fun, and aside from the frame-rate hiccups that were to be expected with my low-end laptop, the game was phenomenal. Fast forward a year later, New Vegas has been released and has received less than stellar reviews online. Being who I am, I had to wait for the GameStop sale to buy the game for my PS3 for a sexy half off the price tag. Half price, however, was not enough for this game to stay in my library for more than a few months. I chose to believe in you, Bethesda, after the incredible game that was Fallout 3, how could the sequel possibly fail? I asked myself. The answer was a pursuit of realism.
The story was okay, but extremely clustered. There were two main factions to worry about: the New California Republic, the Legion of Caesar, but both were being pulled along by Mr. House, who, like President Eden of Fallout 3, was a super-computer with an axe to grind. This is one of the many things that made me want to put the disc into the drywall: they used the same freaking model for both of the computers. This is just lazy, Bethesda. At least make a few changes to the system. They might have even used the same voice actor.
After fighting my way through a considerable amount of plot holes, enemies strong enough to discourage exploration, menus less helpful than a Spanish-speaking woman in a sit-in restaurant, and an inexplicable lack of stimpaks and stores in the Mojave Wasteland I was finally stonewalled by a battle with a super-powered legionary who I suspect to be somehow related to the hulk. After being sufficiently trounced, I realized that, prior to a shot at his cranium, he is an awfully chatty fellow who could be swayed with the proper speech. This however required a 100 speech level, which would be hard for a renowned speaker to accomplish, and virtually impossible for me with my meager 75 speech. It was at this point that the game was lost to me forever. I looked up the ending and, while less flashy than the ending of Fallout 3, it provides closure, and even provides back-story based on relations with groups and individuals throughout the wastes.
The game is frustrating from a stand-alone point, but considering the game it followed, it was a massive disappointment. Maybe someday I will spin up Fallout 3 on my computer to relive my glory days in Capital Wasteland, but Vegas is somewhere I will always choose to avoid. Vegas….and New Jersey.
Sound…6
Gameplay…7
Graphics…7
Replayability…7
Average…6.8