Review: Fallout: New Vegas

[Jon Shannow]

I can't wait to get this, i loved fallout 3 but i've heard that like 3 when you complete the final mission it just ends like in fallout, damm

 

[Not-here-anymore]

Man with the hat is an obvious nod to that Indiana Jones rip-off film that came out a couple of years ago... can't remember what it was called though, utterly forgettable. So the comparison of leaving it to die in a fridge in the desert is apt!

After a nuclear war, there is a man, with a hat (presumably an awesome hat), who tried to survive a nuclear blast in a fridge. Blatant nod to Indy, methinks. Complete with realistic interpretation of your actual survival chance in a refrigerator...

Not sure on this one... I'm torn between this, Black Ops, and Dead Rising 2. I have a flat-mate who'll definitely get New Vegas and Black Ops though, so I'll be able to try before I buy.

If he's your roommate why not just get Dead Rising 2 then and just swap him for New Vegas later?

...I feel vaguely stupid that this never occurred to me. Good plan!
Although now I've remembered that Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is coming out. Curse my financial situation as a student!

 

[Darth Sea Bass]

Arrgh i have a dilemna now do i get fallout or hold on for fable 3?

 

[the_maestro_sartori]

I have just finished the game on hardcore, as far as I;m aware all I got was the achievement :-(

This makes me sad.

 

[SirCannonFodder]

Die-hard fans of the original Fallout game will also be pleased at the addition of "Hardcore Mode," which assigns weight to ammunition...and requires you keep your character hydrated, well rested and fed.

Ammo with weight was the older Fallout games, but food, water, and rest weren't. Well, you could rest, but all it was for was killing time and healing. This is even more hardcore than the older games!

This whole thing sounds like what Fallout 3 should have been in the first place.

On food and water, I believe that when travelling on the world map you would occasionally get a "dehydration" encounter, where you'd be thrown into one of those random encounter screens with a message telling you that you had to waste time looking for water and you get a few HP points knocked off. Your outdoorsman skill affected how often you'd get the encounter.

 

[PurpleSky]

first hours into the game I was shooting crucified people to put them out of their misery.... yeah this game is "funnier".....

 

[Socius]

As the doors to yet another part of the wasteland opens and I escape from my vault, or in this case, clinic. I feel the suns embrace as it's light blinds me yet again, for the first time. As the 50th's music plays in the backround I wander the wastes, exploring and destroying. Trying to bring light back to those who lost it, thinking, I am home again. Asfor this time, the only thing this vaultdweller has to share is: Vegas baby!

 

[Sronpop]

Great review Russ, I know exactly where I am now in terms of buying this game which is exactly where I want to be after reading a review.

Ill be happily picking this up in the coming weeks(hopefully when a few of the more serious bugs are found and fixed) as soon as I get the money and finally finish Dragon Age(50 hours in, I gotta be near the end right?)

No you got another 30 hours if your doing most of the side quests, I'd say its a 70 hour first playthrough average.

Finished in 52 hours at level 22 with only about 10 or so side quests left, only had 90% world explored though, not sure where I missed out. I was very through first run through, spent ages maximizing my time. Dissapointed in no free roam after the end though :/

 

[Straz]

Ahem, Bethesda also had developed Fallout 3 on what I'd assume was an improvement of or the same engine as the engine used in Oblivion, and probably what is being used by Obsidian to run New Vegas.
The games have gotten less buggy as they've gone, but this has probably been one of the buggiest engines used by major developers.

So I guess we all saw that coming. Save often. And in different slots.

(Snip)

:edited to say: Fallout 3? Depressing? Gloomy? Huh, must have played a completely different game. I mean, it wasn't funny, at least not intentionally, but it certainly wasn't gloomy thanks to the hammy acting, poor script and laughable attempts at dark and mature subjects within the game.

Ahem, am I forced to mention the injection of Liam Neeson into the game?
Liam Neeson as voice actor = instant success concerning all aspects of acting.
True fact.

 

[adderseal]

3:56 epic sniper fail.

Really good review, hardcore mode looks interesting and it's nice to see that they're not afraid of potentially alienating the Fallout 3 fanbase.

 

[SomebodyNowhere]

Wild wasteland has given me a few nice moments so far. In Nipton I found two skeletons on the ground marked Beru and Owen and I won't spoil it, but Broc Flower Cave was pretty good too.
If they can find a way to patch it so that there's not so many enemies getting stuck that would be awesome. I've played nearly 28 hours(6 or so I think I've lost to crashes) and I've spent so much time exploring away from the main questline that I havn't even gotten to Novac yet.

 

[C95J]

brilliant game.
brilliant review.

 

[Denamic]

first hours into the game I was shooting crucified people to put them out of their misery.... yeah this game is "funnier".....

Haha!
Yeah, that was hilarious!
I didn't kill them though.
Their suffering amused me more.

On a more serious note, it is a brutal environment.
It's Fallout, man. The world has ended, and desperation and struggle for survival has brought out the worst in people.
This is pretty much the core of what makes Fallout Fallout.
And it's balanced out with a bit of humour, like the Elvis reference with 'the Kings' and dead people in refrigerators.

 

[PurpleSky]

Anybody figure out the hardcore reward yet? That'll probably affect my decision to do it or not.

Actually screw it, I'll probably just go for it.

An achievement/trophy.

Hardcore mode really isn't that hard, the most difficult thing about it is probably dealing with crippled limbs, the food/water aspect isn't difficult as finding food that restores them both at the same time (for a couple rads usually) isn't difficult.

I've become dehydrated once after sleeping for 12 hours (wanted daylight) and two dirty water's fixed that up in a jiffy.

The ammo weight isn't much of a problem either if you are going for small guns playstyle, might be a problem with big guns however, just pick a few gun types to use and be on your way.

The addition of armor and hence, armor piercing rounds (also has hallow points) is a fun change, Radscorpions + Armor piercing rounds = dead scorpion.

I'm having a lot of fun playing so far, the improvements overall from Fallout 3 are nice, still lots of weird bugs from time to time, many can be resolved however by putting away your weapon and pulling it back out. For example, a few times I've gone to bring up my pipboy and it was either invisible, unreadable, or off-screen, in all situations the "gun trick" i just mentioned corrected it. Game has frozen on me once after 6 straight hours of play, luckily I had just auto-saved so I lost nothing but 1 radscorpion kill.

I cannot wait to beat the game and do everything I can do, and then start over with the Wild Wasteland trait

To be honest that was just the end of my first day of playing, I found a guy in New Vegas on the street telling jokes like he was on stage doing stand-up, hilarious stuff.

 

[J3llo]

preorderd it in martch, the guy in the stor gave me a t-shirt and a poster for being a hardcore fallout fan (i went to buy it in my homemade vault-tec jumpsuit)

 

[Zenn3k]

Die-hard fans of the original Fallout game will also be pleased at the addition of "Hardcore Mode," which assigns weight to ammunition...and requires you keep your character hydrated, well rested and fed.

Ammo with weight was the older Fallout games, but food, water, and rest weren't. Well, you could rest, but all it was for was killing time and healing. This is even more hardcore than the older games!

This whole thing sounds like what Fallout 3 should have been in the first place.

On food and water, I believe that when travelling on the world map you would occasionally get a "dehydration" encounter, where you'd be thrown into one of those random encounter screens with a message telling you that you had to waste time looking for water and you get a few HP points knocked off. Your outdoorsman skill affected how often you'd get the encounter.

I don't remember that happening. Maybe I just forgot.

That's not a thirst mechanic, though; it's just a random event.

I think people who are disapointed that you apparently just receive another empty achivement pip for finishing on hardcore are missing the point. You should play on hardcore for the experiance, the immersion, and the "realism".

Totally!

Hardcore mode is super fun, game really wants to kill me right now however...almost lost the entire population of 188 to a Legion assassination attempt on my life.

I'm rollin in caps with Boone and Rex...getting tired however of having to re-load saves everytime Rex decides to run off and kill himself, stupid dog.

Loving it!

 

[gl1koz3]

Don't know if it was suggested already, but for those with the PC version, use the console and type "save [save name]" or "load [save name]" and do the saving part very often.

Won't lose a bit of time because of crashes and the literally non-existent load times. At least, I didn't and am pleased with how well a paranoid saving habit deals with crashes.

In overall, best FO game I played.