With my knowledge and experience of having played Fallout 3, I was able to survive quite well in this new wasteland, and knowing all about the morality system,  I decided from the start that my first play through would be as a good character.  I would have to miss out on many opportunities as scoring equipment, ammo and caps (the currency of the Fallout world) along with experience that comes from picking locks and hacking computer systems.  

And yes, I said my first play through.  I fully intend to play through New vegas a second time, but the second play through I won’t be quit so morally pure.  If no one is around to see me, I will be stealing and murdering innocent people.  Who cares if my karma takes a dive and no one wants to be my friend!  It’s all part of the experience, seeing just how different everything plays out when you have that kind of a reputation.

Now to be honest with you, I’m writing this review whilst I feel like I’ve hardly scratched the surface of New Vegas – but then thats the kind of game it is – I could play it for the next year or so and still have things to discover.  The one thing I learnt from Fallout 3 was that you should take your time.  Don’t rush through the story – if you do it’ll be over way too quick.

The open world nature of the game means that there is plenty to explore, as well as a huge number of side quests to complete – some of which you’ll want to come back to when you’ve ranked up a bit, as there are some nasty new creatures in New Vegas.  Exploring can be a whole heap of fun, especially if your listen to the people you meet – I went swimming in the lake behind the Hoover Dam (it’s clean water!) because I heard some characters talking about a plane that was supposed to have crashed in there before the war – I didn’t find the plane, but found a floating community of alien/fish like creature with advance weapons who were non-too pleased to see me.

In short, if you had a blast playing Fallout 3, you’ll have a blast playing New Vegas.  It might look and feel the same as the old game, but it does have some new features, the most welcome to a FPS fan like me being the ability to look down the sight of your weapon.

Of course, being such a huge open world game, there are bound to be a few bugs or glitches, and I’ve seen a few myself.  Once I got ambushed by a bandit who jumped through a wall and attacked me.  Another time I got attacked my a pack of feral dogs, the last of which got stuck in a boulder with only his head sticking out.  He was snarly and barking at me, but couldn’t get out of the rock.

I put him out of his misery.

So Bethesda seem t have taken the don’t fix it if it ain’t broke approach, and good on them – New Vegas is a solid game that will offer many hours of play and a huge amount of replay value.  As I mentioned before, even the simple morality meter means you can play though as different types of people.

For the hardcore player however, Bethesda have a special treat in store for you; hardcore mode.  In this mode everything has a weight factor, even ammo.  You have to eat, drink and rest to stay healthy, and serious injuries to you limbs can’t be healed by drugs (which take time to heal in hardcore mode) but have to be fixed up by a doctor.

Whilst New Vegas probably won’t win as many accolades as Fallout 3, it’s is another great chapter in the Fallout franchise.

Related

Released back in 2008, Fallout 3 was almost unanimously raved about as being one of the best open-world role playing games ever created.  The positive buzz was so constant that I decide to put my dislike of RPG’s aside, and jump into the post nuclear American wasteland.  Two years later and I was still exploring undiscovered areas and amassing a fortune of ill-gotten gains.The only reason I retired Fallout 3 was the imminent arrival of Fallout: New Vegas.

I’d had a couple of months break between Fallout games, but as soon as I awoke at the start of New Vegas, It felt like I was back home.  This was the Fallout world that I had fallen in love with.  It was almost as if Bethesda had released another DLC add-on.  But no, New Vegas was much bigger than that.  It was a vast expense just waiting to be explored. 

With my knowledge and experience of having played Fallout 3, I was able to survive quite well in this new wasteland, and knowing all about the morality system,  I decided from the start that my first play through would be as a good character.  I would have to miss out on many opportunities as scoring equipment, ammo and caps (the currency of the Fallout world) along with experience that comes from picking locks and hacking computer systems.  And yes, I said my first play through.  I fully intend to play through New vegas a second time, but the second play through I won’t be quit so morally pure.  If no one is around to see me, I will be stealing and murdering innocent people.  Who cares if my karma takes a dive and no one wants to be my friend!  It’s all part of the experience, seeing just how different everything plays out when you have that kind of a reputation.Now to be honest with you, I’m writing this review whilst I feel like I’ve hardly scratched the surface of New Vegas – but then thats the kind of game it is – I could play it for the next year or so and still have things to discover.  The one thing I learnt from Fallout 3 was that you should take your time.  Don’t rush through the story – if you do it’ll be over way too quick.The open world nature of the game means that there is plenty to explore, as well as a huge number of side quests to complete – some of which you’ll want to come back to when you’ve ranked up a bit, as there are some nasty new creatures in New Vegas.  Exploring can be a whole heap of fun, especially if your listen to the people you meet – I went swimming in the lake behind the Hoover Dam (it’s clean water!) because I heard some characters talking about a plane that was supposed to have crashed in there before the war – I didn’t find the plane, but found a floating community of alien/fish like creature with advance weapons who were non-too pleased to see me.In short, if you had a blast playing Fallout 3, you’ll have a blast playing New Vegas.  It might look and feel the same as the old game, but it does have some new features, the most welcome to a FPS fan like me being the ability to look down the sight of your weapon.Of course, being such a huge open world game, there are bound to be a few bugs or glitches, and I’ve seen a few myself.  Once I got ambushed by a bandit who jumped through a wall and attacked me.  Another time I got attacked my a pack of feral dogs, the last of which got stuck in a boulder with only his head sticking out.  He was snarly and barking at me, but couldn’t get out of the rock.I put him out of his misery.So Bethesda seem t have taken the don’t fix it if it ain’t broke approach, and good on them – New Vegas is a solid game that will offer many hours of play and a huge amount of replay value.  As I mentioned before, even the simple morality meter means you can play though as different types of people.For the hardcore player however, Bethesda have a special treat in store for you; hardcore mode.  In this mode everything has a weight factor, even ammo.  You have to eat, drink and rest to stay healthy, and serious injuries to you limbs can’t be healed by drugs (which take time to heal in hardcore mode) but have to be fixed up by a doctor.

Whilst New Vegas probably won’t win as many accolades as Fallout 3, it’s is another great chapter in the Fallout franchise.