As you look up into your killer’s eyes, he mutters "Truth is the game was rigged from the start, kid" And with that the screen blackens with a bang; as the 9mm bullet pierces your skull you fall to the ground. Your last view being the stereotypical Vegas Gambler with his black-and-white checkered suite leaving a timeless mark on your mind.
Sounds like I may have just spoiled the ending of New Vegas for you doesn’t it? But no, this is just the beginning. From the beginning Fallout: New Vegas is filled with mysteries.
Core Game Play
New Vegas features many improvements and many new features to the core aspects of the Fallout series. For one the V.A.T.S. system is back in all of its auto-aiming goodness; but who needs V.A.T.S. when you have iron sights? That’s right, Fallout is back and now with iron sights for the most advanced and skillful aiming moments. Along with iron sights New Vegas brings back the companion ability but adds in the ‘companion wheel’. This handy new feature allows you to talk with your companion, adjust the way that companion fights, whether or not they fight aggressively or calmly or whether they use long range or melee weapons. Now you may be saying "But Austin! Why do I need friends in the Mojave Wasteland!?" Well the answer to that is quite simple. Seeing as how the Fallout: New Vegas feature the largest sandbox of all the other 3 Fallout games, friends are a good idea if you want to stay alive in the Wasteland!
Movement
Now you may be wondering "How one would move around such a large wasteland? Is it Cars? Boats? Trains or Planes? The answer to all of those is no as walking is the only form of transportation for you in New Vegas. Aside from the widely known ‘fast travel’ system that was also implemented in Fallout 3 players will have to rely solely on walking if they want to get around in the Mojave Wasteland. This can come to be annoying when a quest requires one to cross to the other side of the wasteland and you must walk for a good 30 minutes.
Presentation
The graphics in Fallout: New Vegas are quite nice. As you travel through the wasteland you’ll see anything from the bright lights of New Vegas to the dark grimy caves of the once livid California Mojave Wasteland. The graphics do not disappoint and are quite good.
Glitches/Bugs
Finally, we must discuss the glitches. What would a Fallout game be without glitches? New Vegas is far from perfect and does have its fair share of glitches. Some minor and some game breaking. But fear not – Bethesda has been working since the games release to fix as many glitches as they can with one patch already set into action for all systems.
Final Thoughts
Fallout: New Vegas is a great game, but be warned – the game will take up about 20-40 hours for just a single play through and the game is very addictive. New Vegas may be a great game and was it not for the multitude of glitches that plague new Vegas it would have been given a 10.0. however, seeing as glitches are still present and affecting multiple people and the fact that the game is far from perfect I’ll have to give Fallout: New Vegas a 9.5 out of 10.
Final Score: 9.5/10
Fallout: New Vegas is developed by Bethesda and is available for retail purchase for 59.99. Rated M by the ESRB