A well-crafted Fallout game marred by a lack of polish or considerable improvements over Fallout 3.
The story starts off with your player character, a courier tasked with delivering a certain poker chip, being ambushed, shot in the head and left to die in a shallow grave. As luck would have it, the player is able to survive due to the efforts of a mysterious robot and a friendly doctor who gives you a vault outfit, a pip-boy, some of your gear and sends you on your way. The cinematic intro is stylish and sets up the antagonist (voiced by Matthew Perry), but the introduction sequence itself is lacking. The concept of a well-traveled courier isn't something that would normally fit in a series that prides itself on having the player character see this new world as you might, and it does raise questions on much of the occurrences (such as why you don't get the clothes you wore before or why you don't know anything about yourself or why your character seems to know so little about the world he/she grew up in). Of course these are minor nitpicks in the story, and player character quibbles aside the tale is fantastically told, with a variety of interesting NPC's and factions warring for control of Vegas, each presented realistically and forcing you to make some tough decisions. The NPC's are also easily some of the most interesting you will come across in a game, all of them feeling like fully rounded characters and the companions you face all offering their own thoughts on what is going on and developing a relationship with your character that can bring to light their own history, an impressive system that gives each follower their own identity beyond that of their specific gameplay skills (and certainly much more fun to be around then the dull and almost interchangeable Fallout 3 companions, of which there were very few of).
The different factions include Caesar's Legion, a Roman styled faction of warriors vying to turn Vegas into a modern Rome, the NCR a government attempting to bring back control from the vestiges of the former world before the bombs, and Mr. House, an enigmatic figure who saved Vegas from being totaled in the nuclear war and who has plans for Vegas, along with about half a dozen other smaller factions that can help or hinder you (such as the Brotherhood of Steel, Fiends, Boomers and super mutants). The overarching plot pulls you into something much bigger, from the basic quest for revenge to finding out about the chip and the stakes in Vegas, which really paces the game well to the extent that even going off the beaten path and neglecting the main mission will have you feeling like you are contributing to the overall plot (especially when so many side missions have you working for one faction or the other and attempting to take control of New Vegas or a portion of the Mojave).
Towards the end you'll have the usual power you get towards the higher levels of any RPG, but within the setting its well explained as you gain infamy for your actions and become a vital part of the war due to your knowledge of the area and the following you gain as a result. The game's quest giving system impressively avoids making you feel like a rookie in the later portions of the game when your fame ramps up, but it also avoids making you come off as overly important too early in the plot which is likely just well-placed dialogue in the right parts (and something especially helped by the harsh world that does not lend certain areas well for gameplay up until a certain point, lest you die repeatedly from a super powered enemy in a place you shouldn't be). It's not restrictive and the game does encourage freedom, but it's definitely more of a relief then relying on leveling up enemies alongside the player to keep it feeling "fair" and holding your hand.
The story and writing is probably one of the strongest aspects of the game, and really ends up feeling more nuanced and well-crafted to Fallout 3's plot (which, while stellar, was very basic and shallow to make way for the exploration and world around it). Of course while the story and writing offer more to keep you going, conversely the world itself isn't very interesting in comparison to the Capital Wasteland and ruins of DC presented in Fallout 3. Vegas is placed on some pillar of perfection and is but a bright light in the distance, and once you arrive it ends up feeling empty and hollow and not very fun to be in.
Nothing ever really happens in the strip and the city feels tiny and almost inconsequential compared to the events occurring around it (which almost makes someone wonder why anybody cares so much about it). The game being more open and choice based also has a negative side effect of completely removing the option of post end game play, while also unfortunately neutering set pieces that made Fallout 3 so memorable (such as the Tranquility Lane simulation, a moment that nothing in New Vegas really compares to) and leading to minor inconsistency issues with some of the choices you make. Its impressive the game can take stock of the decisions you make and build the world around it though, which does make the smaller forgotten things stand out more. Certainly it seems there are some points in the story where it just seems they cut out an important bit of plot because they didn't expect you to do a certain action or go down a certain route, and it is something that could be attributed to the play testing (which is something the game apparently didn't have very much of).
Gameplay wise, it really is more Fallout 3, but with some additions that make it a noticeable improvement. Weapons offer sighted aiming now and have a significant amount of extra features, such as varied ammunition for different situations and a wider selection of weaponry. Even melee weaponry offers more options, with specific animations and abilities given to players with a certain skill level with those weapons. The various dialogue and minigames systems have also been slightly tweaked; lockpicking and hacking are exactly as they were in Fallout 3, but speech checks are no longer based on luck and percentages, forcing a player to have a certain skill before they can initiate a successful speech check instead of giving them a chance for success and allowing them to reload a save and try again if they fail. Of course the lack of real change in this aspect of gameplay may have been to make way for one of the best pastimes in Vegas: Gambling. From blackjack and slots in the casinos of the game, to a game called Caravan you can play with almost any New Vegas resident for fun or a minor sum of caps. The game does a good job of preventing cheating and cheesing the system, the economy is harsher then Fallout 3's to keep players from becoming too rich too fast, and the game puts in place systems to prevent someone from amassing infinite wealth or constantly reloading a save to get the best result. The gambling is well done, which does make it a shame that the casinos are so lifeless and dull.
The game world is something the game tries very hard to impress upon the player, with the different areas available for exploration, history behind the Mojave Wasteland, and the ongoing factional conflict. As mentioned it doesn't hold a candle to the Capital Wasteland, but it's also not trying to portray the same type of world. Vegas isn't some lawless wasteland, and the only reason so much death and gunfighting occurs is due to the ongoing war between Caesar's Legion, The New California Republic and Mr. House's Securitrons. There isn't much all-out war, with sabotage and tension lending itself as more of a cold war, though it's likely the game's resources just couldn't have too many NPC's fighting each other at once (since even the set piece battles don't have more than a few enemies and allies on screen at a time). Though within the Mojave there is certainly a lot more to worry about then warring factions, since bandits, escaped criminals, fiends and wild animals will all keep you on your toes and with a gun in hand while you stray off the beaten path.
The Hardcore mode the game offers definitely changes the way you play, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a challenge. The game world becomes a much harsher place, forcing you to eat, sleep and drink to avoid fatigue and stat loss, while combat is also deadlier with crippled limbs not easily healed and followers being just as vulnerable as you (though not to the point you would have to babysit them, their mortality does force you to play it safe and use them appropriately). The game world may not have the interest or feeling of desperation you see in Fallout 3, and isn't as fun to explore, but the world has plenty to offer and is definitely a much different location to the lawless east. Though it is confusing as to how a place so protected from the bombs and occupied by a new society can still have issues with high radiation zones and the need to fight for survival, but it won't impact how much fun you have.
Of course even with the world being a bit less interesting and story putting a different focus, there hasn't been much negative about the game to discuss. It's an amazing game and one I might even sing more praise about, but unfortunately the crippling issue behind it that might turn off many players is the astonishing amount of technical issues, bugs and game crashes. The game does have the minor issues you might see in such a large scale, like clipping and animation problems, but the game also routinely freezes up and drops framerate for absolutely no reason. It's easy to see why the game avoids activity since even simply walking around can cause a crash, while an explosion or minor battle and drop framerates to the single digits. As mentioned the game also doesn't feel like a massive upgrade to Fallout 3, and this shows in the graphics and animations of the game, just as wooden and unimpressive as in Fallout 3, and more of an issue two years later when we might expect improvement in these areas. The game is just a technical mess and it ends up burying this amazing game underneath the weight of it all. It ruins the immersion of the stellar story and game world when my follower repeatedly disappears into the ground and I get a message of their death, it's frustrating when I lose important items or characters. To its credit the game does at least allow you to go through the main story path with a minimal chance of a progress blocking bug, but its little consolation when it feels like the game had to work like that and when blocked off dialogue and random character disappearances might prevent you from getting the specific path you wanted. Even with heavy patching some of these issues persist, most notably the crashing and freezing.
Overall, Fallout: New Vegas is a really fantastic game made by a talented team, and one that is hampered by what seems to have been a limited budget and time frame. It's a shame, the cut content hinted at seems like it has so much more potential and the game itself is fun and addicting, but it's hard to lose myself in it when the game seems to make a habit of reminding me that I'm playing a game, and a poorly optimized one as well. Anyone without the ability to play the PC version (which has the advantage of user created patches, higher end cards to support the game better and console commands to get around some of the biggest issues) should still check out this game if they enjoy Fallout or great RPG games in general, but only if you have the patience and capacity for forgiveness to overlook some of the biggest flaws that plague the game.