Great game, but it lacked that little extra to make it like Fallout 3.
Bad: Glitches, Dead Money, Stealth Armor from "Old World Blues", Cazador flies
Basic Setting
New Vegas takes place during the year 2281 (204 years after the Great War). The map is about the same size as the map in Fallout 3. The game takes place in parts of Arizona, California, and Nevada. One location known as "The Strip" is basically the Las Vegas Strip. It was untouched by the bombs that destroyed the United States. The entire mapped area is called the Mojave Wasteland.
Basic Plot
The game starts off with a cutscene, you see a man digging a shallow grave. You get treated to the same "War, war never changes" line featured in games like Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout 3. The opening cutscene gives you a fair idea of what the plot will be about, because it talks about the New California Republic's (NCR) ongoing struggles with Caesar's Legion; especially when it comes to Hoover Dam. Before you get too excited about a possible war over Hoover Dam, you must die first. You are a courier delivering a package to New Vegas. Things go wrong however when Chandler from Friends finds you, takes the package you were delivering, and shoots you in the head. Not one of his funniest moments, but it wasn't bad.
After you get shot and buried, a unicycle robot that looks like Woody from Toy Story takes you out of the grave and takes you to a miracle doctor named Doc Mitchell. Through some unknown forces and magic, Doc Mitchell brings you back to life, (and if you didn't download the first patch, you can be treated to a scene similar to The Exorcism).
After picking your stats and appearance (only to go into first person mode), and after you rob the man that saved your life; you set out to find Chandler (who is actually called Benny in the game, he is just voiced by Matthew Perry).
Things You Should Know
• The Dead Money DLC sucked
• Cazador flies? They may look like easy to kill bugs like bloatflies, but trust me…they aren't.
• Your actions towards certain factions can determine how other factions respond to you.
• I found this out the hard way…Killing everyone in the casinos means that the casinos will always be empty because everyone is dead. (The only exception may be Gomorrah and The Tops).
• Unlike Fallout 3, you can't just kill merchants and get your money back.
• Again, Dead Money sucks
• Want easy caps? Any Pre-war money you find, take. It doesn't weigh anything, and it can sell for 6-12 caps each, and by picking up P-W Money, you will find that it really adds up.
Why This Game Was Good
Interesting plot line, another good choice for a voice actor. The DLC's were great (except for Dead Money). I liked how they brought in factions and reputation. Overall it was a great game, it offered a lot of interactive things.
I also loved that they brought in weapon mods (like silencers, increased ammo clips, and so on).
What I Didn't Like
I don't like the location ratio in the series: West 3 - East 1. I found that there weren't a lot of settlements in New Vegas, there were a few, but overall not a lot.
Dead Money, the DLC was terrible, but the items you can get in it were pretty good.
Too many Cazador flies. Once you leave Goodsprings, it doesn't matter where you go, it's the same thing. North=Cazador Flies, South=Cazador Flies, East=Cazador Flies, West=Cazador Flies.
Funniest Moment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToKIkw3LIoQ
Final Rating
Apart from some obvious flaws in the game, it was a good game. I personally liked Fallout 3 better though, but New Vegas is definitely worth checking out if you haven't done that yet.
With Skyrim out this year, and New Vegas being a 2010 release, we can expect to see Fallout 4 out in the next 2-3 years.
My final rating of New Vegas would be 7/10. Despite the patches released, the game is still buggy, it lags, and there are powerful creatures everywhere (making it very difficult early on).