Review – Fallout: New Vegas, A Buggy Yet Awesome Game

 Print This Article |  Email This Article

I’ve been playing Fallout:  New Vegas since I grabbed it off the shelf of my local Best Buy the day it came out.  I had been saving my pennies for several weeks, and was totally stoked to play it.  I practically broke my XBOX 360 travelling all over the DC wasteland in Fallout 3, and was ready for some more awesome gaming.  I haven’t been disappointed.

Fallout: New Vegas (FONV from now on) is about you.  You’re found after taking a bullet to the head by a robot who drags you to a nearby town to get fixed up.  It’s your job to find who shot you and discover what they stole from you.  It’s a long journey from one end of the desert to the other, and along the way, you get to meet all kinds of crazy people and animals and shoot most of them.

If you liked Fallout 3, with VATS and the quests, and the moral choices, and picking locks, and hacking computers, well, then this is the game for you.  A lot of these elements have made the journey with you.  There are some cool changes, though.  And there are some I’m not as keen on.  Some of the good:  you can modify weapons by finding and purchasing equipment for them.  You earn perks by doing certain challenges.  For example, you kill a certain number of people with a one-handed gun, or kill a certain number of animals, etc.  In negative, though, you don’t get a perk every level.  This makes it much more important when you do have a choice.

FONV is a great game, but it isn’t as good or as compelling as Fallout 3 (FO3 from now on).  I’m about 56 hours in to it (can that be?! Yikes!  No wonder my wife called herself a Fallout Widow and banned me from playing all weekend), and haven’t had a “Holy Cow, that’s amazing!” moment like I had many times while playing the FO3.  Also, the whole pure water storyline in FO3 was really compelling.  I’m just not finding any of the plot lines to be in as interesting as some of the better FO3 ones.

Another thing I do like is that there are many more colors in this Fallout game.  Many of the colors are bright and vibrant, which is a nice change from the drabness of the DC wasteland.

Also, many of the animations seem smoother.  The characters aren’t as wooden looking and the voice acting is much improved (at least the secondary characters).  I find myself missing Malcom McDowell’s President Eden, and Eric Dellums as Three Dog, however.  They were awesome.  I also miss the music.  I listened to the radio much more in FO3 that I have in this game.  I found Wayne Newton grating.  But then again, I always have.

OK, so as you may have guessed from the title, there are bugs, and not just the irradiated kind.  There are several bugs that prevent you from completing a quest.  One in particular is currently vexing me:  if you talk to one of the characters before getting a certain quest, and exhaust all the dialog options, every time you go back to him later (to deliver drugs), all you can do is say goodbye.  This leaves you holding a ten pound suspicious package that you can’t get rid of.  Nice.

Also, numerous animals get stuck in walls and hills and inside rocks.  They can hurt you but are very difficult to kill.

If you have both a PS3 and an XBOX360, and want to get Fallout: New Vegas right now, I might choose the XBox 360 version.  From what I hear,  DLC will come to the 360 first as with FO3.

All in all, Fallout:  New Vegas is a pretty awesome game.   In summary:  It’s not as good or as polished as Fallout 3 was in some respects.  In others it is much better.  The stories aren’t as compelling, especially the main quest.  However, it is extremely addicting and a great time waster.  Replay value is insanely high because there are so many quests.  You could play the thing through several times and do completely different side quests.  Also, there are many different ways you can play your character.  Who do you side with?  Are you good or bad?  Your choices even more affect how you are treated by others.

Total Rating:

Share, Promote and Bookmark to:

Related Entries:

1. Rainbow Six: Vegas for PS3 review
2. Review: Rainbow Six Vegas 2
3. How to Hack a Computer in Fallout 3 or Fallout New Vegas
4. Fallout 3 Patch Released! Fixes Bugs and Quest Glitches
5. How to Get Out With ALL the Gold In Fallout New Vegas Dead Money