Fallout New Vegas

Platform: PC and consoles

Price: $19.99

Developer: Obsidian Entertainment

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

 

 

I did not enjoy the early Fallout games. They were isometric, similar to Baldur’s Gate another role-playing game. I enjoyed the storyline and the environment of the games, but not the gameplay itself. When Fallout 3 was made, I hardly played it due to it being so buggy. Fallout New Vegas on the other hand runs on my two computers superbly.

Fallout New Vegas has a plot that’s been ripped out straight of a spaghetti western. Your character was left for dead. You need to investigate why out in the Mojave and in New Vegas. Think of Django or Leone’s The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. This is a spaghetti western that is also Skyrim with guns. This is a game that you can get lost in. I thoroughly enjoyed this game. Here’s why: Gameplay and the story.

Gameplay: The options are endless on how you can play the game, do I play it as a stealth-oriented ‘spy’ character or do I lean more towards the soldier-commando type? These are questions that you can ask each time you create a character in Fallout New Vegas. There are factions to ally with: The New California Republic, Caesar’s Legion, The Brotherhood of Steel, and others. These factions have perks and abilities that can assist the player. I tend to side with the NCR, so I get a two-way radio to call in reinforcements when things get pear-shaped. Combat in the game is well-refined, and this really makes you think I’m playing Elder Scrolls IV or V with guns.

Dialogue has choice and consequence. It is not only binary choices either. The conversation is the branch and there are many vines running from it if the speech skill is high. It is more complex than than DeusEx ever was or Elder Scrolls IV or V. If you are looking for an open world rpg with gameplay that is immersive play Fallout New Vegas.

The Story: The player’s character was shot and left for dead outside a town in the Mojave Desert called Goodsprings. In Goodsprings the player is introduced to the game via tutorials that seem like quests, rather than tutorials. Tutorials are oftentimes like turbulence in gaming, they are patches of boredom that disrupt the flow of gaming with many bumps.  The player is swept into an exodus to New Vegas once some information is revealed to them regarding the identity of their possible assailants.

During this exodus, quests can be undertaken, alliances can be made, and powerful weapons and objects can be obtained. This exodus is where the player’s character builds a strong base to play the middle to later stages of the main quest. I will not divulge any details about the main quest. There are multiple outcomes that can be attained via the player’s choices. Each ending is a consequence of that choice.

Parting Thoughts: Fallout New Vegas is a delightful epic of a game and an excellent example of what a role-playing game should be. Bethesda knocked the ball out of the park as they did with other games, i.e. Elder Scrolls III-V. Now I’m hearing rumors that Fallout 4 was not as good as its predecessors. Supposedly most of the RPG elements are missing. I’ve not played the game yet for myself, so I cannot confirm those rumors. But, I do know that if Bethesda did change the formula too much for this sequel it is likely that these complaints have real grounds to them. If Fallout 4 is in fact terrible, re visit Fallout New Vegas, there’s still joy to be found in older games.