Fallout: New Vegas - Despite champing at the bit to get hold if it, it took a long time to finally "grip" me. If I thought Fallout 3 offered so much more than I was used to in a game, FNV was determined (and rightly so!) to add to it. Aside from the usual bugs (and an annoying amount of crashes), nearly all the crafting menus seem to be bugged.
It just seems daft that they put so much time and effort into making a massive and varied world to explore, letting us do more stuff and changing several things for the better, only to cock up something so relatively simple as a barter menu.
I can only speak for the PC version but the campfire, workbench, reloading bench and Lucky 38 suite upgrade menu's all spaz out and need to be exited and re-entered way too many times.
That said, there is a "fix" for the Lucky 38 suite upgrade terminal menu issues and it's so simple!
Activate the console, choose to upgrade the suite (it's the only option) and when the menu appears, the terminal will fade-out a little to give the menu focus. All you have to do is click on the terminal's "power" button (even though it's out of focus it is still active) - the terminal will close but the menu will stay open and should work properly!
There are many other bug reports flooding in and, somewhat ironically, I couldn't add the ones I found on the Wikia page because there was a scripting error on it! I'm guessing Bethesda and/or Obsidian are being flooded with the bug reports too and yet already I see the first DLC will be available soon? If I were them I would work on ironing out the bugs before making the game bigger! Of course they wont do this because bug-fixes cost money rather than make money but they really should fix what they have made, first. Word of mouth counts for a lot, you know?
GUN was also a classic case of "great idea, shit implementation". Again it was minor things that could have been easily avoided. For starters the story continuity was fucked, making us all think that Colton White was suffering from premature ageing syndrome. So much effort was put into realising a beautifully rendered "Wild West" environment although, due to limitations, the scenery changes were somewhat...compressed. Also, the score is still the finest music I have ever heard in a game and that's a pretty large boast, not to mention a rather fine cast of voice actors.
Sadly the game (fun as it was!) was marred by the wonky timeline / continuity and rushed storyline. Certain parts of it really did jerk from one arc to the next and I couldn't help but wonder if parts of it had to be cut to meet deadlines or something.
The most glaring is when you are appointed as a lawman of Empire. I expected several law-enforcement missions but on your very first outing, the law is exposed as corrupt and the Sherrif / mayor a mere pawn of the game's main antagonist. In the space of twenty minutes of gameplay, I'd gone from barely making it to Empire after Indians attacked the wagon I was travelling on, becoming a lawman, raiding a farmstead, finding out I was being "played like a fiddle", getting caught by the baddy, breaking out of jail and joining the resistance.
It is my fond hope (although I recognise it as being very unlikely) that someone takes GUN, fixes all the issues, makes the game world bigger (without changing the overall look, which was PERFECT), adds more to the story and side missions (maybe introducing faction-loyalty like in FNV) and give us more reason to explore the sandbox element. Just so long as they remember one golden rule: Do NOT alter the soundtrack!
Wardy
