Fallout: New Vegas Reviews

  • devourerplzdevourerplz239,845
    07 Nov 2010
    80 15 12
    A lone courier's life hangs in the balance. Bound and gagged, sitting next to a freshly dug grave, his fate lies in the hands of Benny, a ruthless opportunist, with his eyes on what the courier had been charged with delivering. With no intent of leaving a trail, he shoots the courier. However, a robot with the personality of a cowboy stumbles upon the courier and brings him to the local doctor.

    Enter Fallout: New Vegas.

    After you awake in Doctor Mitchell's bed, you go through the standard rigamarole of creating your character, similarly to that of Fallout 3's character creation, with the Doc walking you through a series of tests to determine your skills and stats. After molding your character, Doc Mitchell gives you your gear back, which corresponds to your tagged skills, and sends you on your way into the Mojave Wasteland.

    The Mojave Wasteland is a wonderful and beautiful change of pace from the Capital Wasteland, with a wide variety of different terrains and landscapes, ranging from wide, desert-like regions to snow capped mountaintops to lush, forested areas. Not to mention the majesty of the Strip, which has survived the nuclear apocalypse surprisingly well, with neon lights and loud, 50's music adorning the exteriors of the many casinos along the Strip. The look and feel of Vegas has survived entirely, despite the condition of the world surrounding it.

    Immediately after departing Doc Mitchell's office, you're thrust into a sort of tutorial quest, highlighting some of the game's new features, like the game's new crafting system, allowing players to create food, ammo, and other various items at campfires and different benches. However, you don't run into the components for these items common enough for it to be a useful feature. But after completing the minor tutorial, you're guided right into your next quest. Many quests are like this: it's not uncommon for a quest to be inside of another. This is an excellent design component, it genuinely feels like you're working towards a bigger goal when you complete the objectives within a quest. However, this feeling of accomplishment doesn't carry onto the ending, which without giving much away, is rather anticlimactic. The odd thing about the story, however, is that there isn't much of one. After dealing with the guy who originally shot you, the courier becomes a mercenary of sorts, fighting for one of the factions for control of Hoover Dam and New Vegas.

    Thankfully, the game's lacking story is made better by the massive amount of varied content in the game. Mojave Wasteland is inhabited by creatures both new and old, with many returning creatures redone, most notably the super mutants, which now look more human, yet are more mobile and vicious. In addition to the new creatures, there are a plethora of new items of all types, including much more weapon variety, which is a welcome change from the few types of weapons in Fallout 3. Most importantly, there are many ways to complete a specific quest or objective, as well as many branching pathways to the endgame, depending on the factions you side with.

    But these branching pathways aren't without a cost. Fallout: New Vegas is not exactly at a technical strong point. Bugs range from the minor (floating weapons, enemies stuck in landscape) to the severe (broken quests, disappearing NPCs), not to mention the game's desire to freeze up. However, with the latest patch (1.01 at the time of review), these aren't as frequent, and the game is fairly solid, with the exception of the bugs contaminating the game. While the game's size is not an excuse for being as buggy as it is, the sheer amount of things to do in the game does help alleviate the pain of it's instability.

    Admittedly, I was a bit skeptical of how Obsidian, a company formed from the ashes of the now-defunct Black Isle Studios, would handle Fallout on the Gamebryo engine. Coming out of Fallout: New Vegas, however, I've been shown that Obsidian hasn't lost their touch when it comes to the Fallout franchise. Obsidian has essentially created the spiritual successor to Fallout 2, striking that sweet spot of the spot in between the depth and complexity of Fallouts 1 and 2 whilst maintaining the immersion and feel of Fallout 3. It's an exceptional RPG, with a ton of depth and replay value, and will keep you entertained for a long, long time.
    5.0
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    Solo P3T3RYou're actually giving Obsidian a thumbs up?! The company that glitched fallout into the grave LMAO.
    Posted by Solo P3T3R on 15 Mar 11 at 02:04
    Ashen SeraphAgreeing with Theo, Norris, and Lushion. This is NOT a 5 star game.

    If the bugs weren't there... personally I still wouldn't call it 5 stars personally (I'd stick with 4 most likely), but I wouldn't bother pointing out how wrong a review would be by trying to call it 5 stars.

    I have had this game corrupt the autosave twice now, and both times it took at least 1 of my manual saves with it, the first time loosing a whole days progress and this last time only a couple hours.
    Posted by Ashen Seraph on 08 Oct 11 at 11:42
    gcarter8505those talking of bugs, you do need to realize that every RPG is going to have bugs no matter what, but most in Fallout: NV have been fixed...
    Posted by gcarter8505 on 17 Jun 12 at 06:17
  • buttnpresserbuttnpresser173,337
    18 Mar 2011
    27 4 0
    The House doesn't always win.


    I first picked up Fallout: New Vegas like many of you might have back in October. About a week later, I took it back. Somehow when I fired a weapon, I would receive a message that my controller was disconnected. When I hot-keyed apparel, the game would freeze. Even worse was key quests would not be completed even though the requirements were met.

    I really wanted to play this game at launch, but it just would not let me.

    Skip to 2011, I decide to pick the game back up again after hearing of multiple patches being implemented, and a discounted price.

    50 hours later, I'm still playing this game.



    Fallout New Vegas is everything you loved about Fallout 3, and pretty much just more of that with a few tweaks to give it an Obsidian feel. The action this time takes places in the Mojave Wasteland, home to factions of people who seek to control the Hoover Dam and the Neon heaven that is New Vegas. Why can't they? The man who saved New Vegas with his knowledge of society and technology, Mr. House, and he isn't ready to give up just yet. Plus, he's got control of the securitrons, so no one wants to make a move against him, and that's when you come into play.

    It's no spoiler that you play as a Courier who finds him/her self with a bullet in the head after being ambushed while delivering a package. From the moment you awake thanks to people of Goodsprings, your goal is to find out why and who shot you.

    Your adventure will take anywhere from 20-50+ hours all depending on how much you want to put into the game. You could strictly focus on the main quest and still find yourself losing hours of sleep while you explore the Mojave.

    Combat is still very familiar as well, but if you play in 1st person, you now have an option to aim down the sight of your weapon which make headshots a bit easier when not using V.A.T.S to help. Speaking of V.A.T.S, it's still as helpful as ever, and special attacks can be seen when using VATS depending on what you choose to level up.

    The main differences from this game compared to Fallout 3 are more about interactions with your new companions and the many factions you can interact with. When choosing to interact with companions, a new radial menu will appear and allow you to choose commands you wish for them to use. Besides talking to them and trading equipment, you can command how they attack, whether it be with melee weapons or at a distance with firearms.

    Most of the companions will have a few quests you can complete in order to learn more about them and help to gain their trust. A nice little bonus can be given as well, since each new companion will offer you a unique perk every time they accompany. The limit for companion has been cut back, so you can have one human or nonhuman companion, and a animal in your party. It sucks at first, but you should be able to get by with no problems.

    The main factions that wish to take over New Vegas are the NCR, Caesar's Legion, the Great Khans. These factions are in a battle of control, and you can either aid or sabatoge their attempts. Be careful when looting their bodies though; wearing their apparel in view of an enemy will cause them to attack, so be careful where you wear their gear. There's more to these guys, but it's attached to the main quest, so I'll stop here.

    If you're up for a challenge, you can try out Hardcore mode. In this mode you're tasked with maintaining your characters health by frequently eating and drinking to prevent dehydration. Stimpaks will not heal instantly anymore and sleeping will no longer heal you. Worse is that upon being crippled, the only way to fix this is to locate a doctor or use a doctor's bag. It's tough, put will offer up great rewards...ok you only get a achievement for doing this, but it's still a fun mode to play in.

    Despite the initial problems I had with this game, Fallout New Vegas is a worthy iteration in the series. I wish the problems were fixed earlier, but with so much available to you in this game, it outweighs the problems.
    compute http://thebuttonpresser.blogspot.com/
    4.0
  • MrsodMrsod777,930
    14 Mar 2011
    23 6 2
    Back in the 80's, Interplay released a game (published by EA) called Wasteland. To that date, it was the best game I had ever played. The premise may sound familiar: WWIII had happened, but the nukes had somehow missed the area around Las Vegas. As a member of the Desert Rangers, it is your job to clean up the Wasteland and eventually defeat a man who is now a machine, and has a robot army. The writing was gritty yet funny, you had a variety of modern and futuristic weapons and using skills gave you experience points. You could gamble, take drugs/alcohol, and get VD from a prostitute. Fallout: New Vegas has callouts to Fallout 1 and 2 but its heart belongs to Wasteland. I just wish they had included Hobodogs and Snake Squeezins'.
    Fallout: New Vegas has hundreds of areas to explore, interesting characters to interact with. I found it to be very fun and engrossing. I did not start it until after Christmas and found that most of the bugs had been ironed out: it was not any less stable than Fallout 3. I'd recommend this game to almost anyone.
    5.0
  • KungFooZombieKungFooZombie214,773
    08 Mar 2011 09 Mar 2011
    21 5 0
    I assume the people that read this already played the game. If you haven't, go play it, for that will be the bottomline of this review. This article will not go into the basics of the game, but will point out the biggest differences between Fallout 3. Oh, and this review does contain spoilers.

    It may be the easy way out, but comparing it to Fallout 3 would be an okay thing to do.

    The premiss of the Fallout: New Vegas (F:NV) isn't of the same grandeur as the one in Fallout 3 (F3). Heck, that game started with your birth and makes you chase your father throughout the wasteland! What else should happen to make you feel involved?
    F:NV does things differently and though it's a stand-alone game, it still leans on F3 lore-wise. I mean, any questions about vaults or the years after the big war are kinda answered in F3. I think F3's storyline could be considered a much more personal one and therefore makes the player much more involved in its story. F:NV's story can be distilled to mere politics. Choose your favorite side, follow their instructions and watch the pawns shift.

    As an errand boy you are being sent into the wasteland. This time the wasteland fits better with the other ingredients of the game. The mutants, robots and over the top killing in and around the serious setting of Washington, didn't quite fit for me in F3.. It does, however, fit Vegas. The campy setting of Las Vegas being immersed in a post-apocalyptic sauce simply makes it a better fit.

    Another thing that somehow really kept the pace of the game, were the ingame challenges. Almost everything you do is being tracked and can result in winning perks or even some achievements. It really triggered my creativity and made me fight in ways that I otherwise wouldn't have.

    In short I think that F:NV favors the people that want to be acitvely playing over the people that want a touching and immersive storyline (F3). There is replay value because you can choose differentn political allies everytime you play, there is simply put much more to do in the wastes and the challenges keep you competitive even when you're in quieter spot in the game.For people who want to experience an emotional bond being strained by a nuclear holocaust, there's always Fallout 3.
    4.0
  • Sonic SleuthSonic Sleuth299,808
    18 Apr 2011
    18 3 3
    Two years ago, Bethesda Softworks released the best post-apocalyptic role playing adventure of all time, the epic Fallout 3. Two years later, Obsidian Entertainment has finished its follow-up, a sort of Fallout 3.5, with essentially the same look and feel of its predecessor in a different iconic locale. Fallout 3 fans will go all in while waiting for next year's Fallout 4, but is the game worth sixty bucks, or just a long expansion pack?

    Immediately on beginning Fallout: New Vegas, fans of the series will recognize... everything. The graphic style, conversation dialogues, even your trusty Pip-Boy have remained essentially untouched. Cheap gamers may groan at the stark similiarities between the games, thinking this should have followed up the existing Fallout 3 DLC. Well, unless you're used to DLC that stretches well past 50 hours and features an all-star voice cast, that's a pretty weak argument. The incredible size and scope of New Vegas and its missions will make you forget the sixty bucks you dropped... as well as whatever TV shows, meals, and birthdays you're missing while enjoying the adventures of Sin City.

    Another note about the "DLC" argument is that Obsidian clearly modified enough of Fallout 3's existing code to make their stamp on it. This cuts both ways, unfortunately, as we get the great experience they intended... but lots and lots of new bugs come along with it. Save early and often in Fallout: New Vegas, or you will regret not doing so. Bogged down by system lock-ups, geometry you fall through, and a few glitched quests, it's nearly impossible to experience this game's great moments without also experiencing some incredibly frustrating lows as well.

    The biggest changes to the series come in the form of your character's background and the very fun and welcome Hardcore mode. Unlike the Vault dwellers of the past, your character is a Red Dead: Redemption-style wronged survivor, shot in the head by a mysterious enemy while doing his (or her) job. Your new homebase is the town that saved your life, and the core quest is clear - find the would-be assassin and get some good ol' revenge. If gamers opt for the Hardcore mode, they immediately start hustling for food, water, and shelter, and these needs remain throughout the game (that is, unless you consume enough soda or chew to avoid sleeping). The Survivalist ability is key to the Hardcore experience - gamers need to gain the skills to hack together meals and healing products on the fly.

    Hardcore is fun, and it highlights one of the greatest features of New Vegas - the ability to play the game you want to play, instead of what they want you to play. If you're a peacenik, you can complete the game without killing anything. If you're a warrior, you can kill everybody you aren't siding with in the desert conflicts, and surely your allies will appreciate the effort. Speaking of allies, Fallout: New Vegas doesn't offer any Xbox Live or co-operative play, but gamers can add companions to aid them in their quest. If the right decisions are made, one human, one non-human, and one faction can all come to your rescue in a given battle, with the human and non-human traveling with the gamer, and helping haul heavy equipment and ammo. This is a necessary addition in Hardcore mode, which gives actual weight to ammunition and weapons (but not healing items, strangely). Gamers will have to identify a few reliable weapons and carry them, and their ammo... no more loading yourself down with thousands of rounds and hundreds of missiles.

    New Vegas is a sensational environment, so the developers have commissioned some of the best voice talent to give gamers the best possible experience. Sin City icon Wayne Newton voices the ever-present radio voice Mr. New Vegas, and the cast is filled with Star Trek veterans (Rene Auburjonois, Michael Dorn, Will Wheaton), comedic TV personalities (Matthew Perry, Dave Foley, Rob Corddry, Zachary Levi) and recognizable greybeards (Kris Kristofferson, Danny Trejo, William Sadler). After Fallout 3's Liam Neeson, Malcolm McDowell, and the returning narrator Ron Perlman, Bethesda makes a strong statement about their commitment to cinematic storytelling.

    Past all these extras, is the core story anything comparable to Fallout 3? Well, no, not really. Fallout 3 was an epic story of a child finding their hero father in the dangerous wilderness that culminated in a moment of supreme geekdom on the National Mall. Where New Vegas shines is in the depth of the individual factions you'll side with, and the political intrigue that boils over while picking a side. Save early and often so one decision doesn't make you an enemy of Caesar's Legion, the New California Republic, or Vegas overlord Mr. House... and add to that at least four other smaller factions that will benefit you in your quests. Bored one day, I attacked and destroyed a location full of robots... then got verbally admonished at the end of the game, over and over again, for my stupidity. Responsiblity in video games... who knew?

    This installment offers lots in the way of achievements and trophies, although gamers will need to replay a lot of action if they want to score both Desert Survivalist and Stim-ply Amazing, which both reward healing with food or stimpacks. The same goes for weapons achievements like New Vegas Samurai, Love the Bomb, and Blaster Mastery... there just aren't enough enemies in New Vegas to amass enough damage to get them all in one go. Gamers could wait for DLC to score these achievements, but it's far easier to just load up 4k damage on enemies in a particular vault or cavern, then return with another weapon type and do it again. Sure, it's gaming the system, but this is Vegas... everyone's got a system.

    While New Vegas isn't new and fresh technology, the Hardcore mode and easily fifty hours of gameplay make this an automatic purchase for any fans of the genre. What the game lacks in cinematic (Wow!) moments like the closing sequence of Fallout 3, it makes up for in depth and replayability. Chances are by the time you see the closing credits, you'll be updated on the story of a character you've never even met while playing... that's how many characters and quests there are. The game loses a half-point for its bugs, and another half-point for its lack of multiplayer gaming, but it's still one of the best games of 2010, without question. I can't wait to see what they do in Fallout 4.

    Check out our other reviews at www.gamedebateclub.com!
    5.0
  • InktoidInktoid741,636
    23 Apr 2013
    13 1 0
    Just like the great, but flawed, Fallout 3 and Oblivion before it New Vegas has a wide array of technical issues. But that is by no means a valid reason to not play this game. It can freeze out of nowhere and leave you holding the bag on a chunk of the game that you had forgotten to save, making you replay it. It also has a tendency to glitch in the same manner as its predecessors and when too much is going on it will slow down the frame-rate and make you feel like you're back to playing Morrowind all over again. With all of the technical issues aside this game stands alone as a wonderful experience.

    This time around you are set in the fictional city of New Vegas, and of course the surrounding areas. This time around it seems like they decided to put things slightly closer together, and the fact you won’t be wading through sewers in the DC Metro area for endless hours is a massive turn in the right direction. Once you begin your journey you’ll start to notice right away that a lot of the character models from the last game are recycled and used to form new identities for character faces you’ve come to know from Fallout 3.

    All of the aspects that made Fallout 3 such a wonderful experience are present once again as you run rampant through the streets of run down towns and tear a path across New Vegas. A new aspect of the game is the introduction of the faction system, which I believe was present in some of the earlier games. People will no longer run from you just because you’re a sadistic piece of work that enjoyed slaughtering their neighboring town. One small town may hate you and cast you out as a monster and leper, while the town right down the way will welcome you with open arms and a clean slate. Leaving you to decide what you want to do in each ‘shanty town’ you come to.

    As far as the engine for the game goes, the same one from previous games is here. The graphics are nearly indistinguishable from those of Fallout 3. As I’ve said before you’ll find yourself seeing the same faces as Fallout 3 before it. One disappointing factor I found was when they stated you’ll have more customization in this installment then its predecessor when it comes to creating your character, “the courier”. This is by no means true; I didn’t see anything different between the character creation in this, and that of Fallout 3.

    New Vegas differs in what happens after that. You get to choose traits, up to two at the start of the game, which will enhance your character in one facet, while hampering them in another. This is besides the Wild Wasteland trait, which just offers some very interesting and sometimes absurd special encounters. The stats are mostly the same, no more distinguished points for big guns or small guns, now it’s just Guns. A new stat which offers a new element to the game, especially for Hardcore Mode, is the Survival Stat.

    Once you begin your journey and get that first level up you’ll also notice that the perks have changed somewhat. Certain perks are back while others have seemed to be melded together or taken out. Which is nice considering some perks were completely useless from the get go. Speaking of the Hardcore Mode, which means Ammo has weight, you have to drink and sleep regularly adds a deeper interest to the game. Your levels actually matter, and you need to choose what you want to use for the game and stick with it.

    When it comes to new factions the game has a lot to offer. It has a colorful cast of new people to meet. New enemies to make; But the new faction system allows you to choose if friends are enemies and enemies are friends. These factions can ultimately affect the outcome your game has, something the Fallout 3 did not offer you on the level it does in this installment.

    All in all Fallout: New Vegas does a lot of things right, but at the same time you need to be able to look over all the issues that hinder this game; weather that be the technical ones or the recycled graphics and overall feel of the game. Fallout: New Vegas was one of the most anticipated games of this year but does it live up to the hype? Sadly I have to say the answer to that question is No. If you loved Fallout 3 you will love this game, but if not you may be better off steering clear and waiting for them to correct some of these issues that have been plaguing the company since it started thinking about Morrowind over a decade ago.
    4.0
  • KienamaruKienamaru257,112
    01 May 2012 17 Sep 2013
    13 1 0
    Review number 4... Fallout New Vegas.. This is one of my all time favorite games. So as always; time for a Pros, Cons, Overall review. Also, this review will mention Fallout 3 a small number of times, using comparisons.

    PROS

    A Massive World to explore- This game is big. Bigger than most games nowadays, and no two places are even remotely similar. You could beat the main game having explored maybe 20% of the wasteland. With a world so large, you can expect many surprises, amazing views, and tons of rare finds.

    Weapon Variety- There are much more weapons in here than Fallout 3. There is somewhere around 90+ weapons to use without DLC. Most of which can be modified to better suit your style. There are now enough Energy weapons to fully deck out a character for energy use as opposed to Conventional. You can upgrade familiar weapons such as laser rifles or Laser Pistols with Scopes, Beam splitters (more damage), etc. All of which can be purchased at stores, which randomly restock items every few days. Other weapons include mods such as Extended Mags, Silencers, and quite a bit more

    Ways to Play- Unlike Fallout 3, you can only unlock perks every other level. However, these perks can greatly impact your playstyle and you also learn perks by completing certain events or side quests. This time around you have enough variety to effectively main Melee Weapons, Explosives, and even Unarmed is an effective weapons choice when paired with stealth.

    Crafting System- Now you can create Ammo, food, and other stimulant type items as well as buying or finding them. This helps for the money cautious, as well as those looking to play hardcore mode.

    Hardcore Mode- A very fun, welcome addition to Fallout. You have to eat, drink, and sleep to survive, bullets have weight, and stimpaks no longer heal broken limbs. It sounds like a pain at first, but when you actually play it there isn't much that compares to the realistic, dangerous world vibe. Managing your inventory size, avoiding risky encounters, rationing health items, only picking up what's necessary... It feels amazing and is in my opinion the way Fallout is meant to be played.

    Story- New Vegas essentially has 4 separate but somewhat connected stories. You can choose to complete the game with either of the 4 Governing forces. This increases the replay value by so much more to the point that making a new character just to see what happens is very rewarding. The storyline itself isn't half bad either, there are twists and turns as well as a few chances to double cross people along the way.

    Music- The music in this game is amazing. Mostly you'll hear a sort of ambient music that plays while wandering the wasteland which adds atmosphere to the area you're in. Other than that you have great battle music that fits the Mojave to a tee. Lastly for people who dislike ambiance there is an in game radio with a few stations and tracks.

    Sound/ Voice- This game has better voice acting than many movies. Every conversation sounds pretty realistic and there are quite a few famous actors doing voice roles in the game. As for the sounds themselves... I could not ask for better quality. The gun sounds are amazing, footsteps sound real and vary depending on the terrain, small things like soda bottles, crates, and boxes all make different sounds according to weight and material. The enemies have varying sound effects, some of which put you on edge if you have your volume up high or a good headset.

    Companion System- In Fallout 3 you could have certain people follow you and help out in combat. On here that aspect has been amped up to the fullest. You can have companions hold items you find, issue commands to them such as close range weapon, become passive or aggressive, etc. You can tell them to follow close or far behind, wait at a location, and to go back to your base (home) The companions also have so much variety in appearance, abilities, and personalities, and can unlock special perks unique to them. You can equip them yourself with weapons and health items which they use when appropriate, and each member has a full length side quest that can be initiated after you learn enough about them through conversation or some other means. There is a member suitable pretty much for any playstyle, and you can play solo if you'd prefer.

    Gameplay- A few new features includes True Iron sights which allows your aim to literally be like that of a FPS. Aside of that, the melee is upgraded with special attacks, weapon stats, and damage variety and effectiveness against armor. You can still level up and distribute points and make a specialty of your choice as in Fallout 3 and there are a few new skills or combined skills. (Guns = Small guns and big guns.) The game feels much more balanced than 3 and wearing armor makes more of a difference than before.

    Fun Rewarding Achievements- Every achievement in this game will unlock something in game aside of the story questlines. Usually in the form of bonus perks or rare weaponry. This makes it pretty much no hassle at all to go for achievements as you know to expect more than just a gamerscore reward.

    Challenges- Challenges are a new feature to New Vegas. They reward you with Xp for doing certain tasks and have multiple categories ranging from killing enemies or doing damage with a weapon type, to healing so much health.

    Factions- Four major factions mentioned above, though without spoilers exist in the game that have a major impact on gameplay. You can build up a good reputation or a bad one which may bring about special rewards or... Things that are not so good like getting assassins sent after you. This adds complexity when trying to balance relationships with the groups. A great feature is the option to take faction member clothing and disguise yourself as a member. This way you won't be attacked by hostile groups unless you break their rules. Along with a main quest line, each faction also has numerous side quests to complete. Just be careful who you work for, because each action breeds a consequence for the opposing faction.

    Fallout Ultimate Edition- A version that comes at a reduced price and includes all of the DLC. This increases your level cap from 30 to 50, adds a ton of quests, weapons, clothing items, and new perks. Not to mention new regions to explore.

    CONS

    Customization- While not bad, the customization of your character's clothing, build, and hair hasn't changed at all from Fallout 3. This isn't bad but it could have been at least slightly improved.

    Broken Radio- Half of the tracks intended to be in the game were lost some kind of way, so the radio features about 12 songs. This gets boring and repetitive, so you may wind up not listening to the radio after a while.

    Strange Things Happen- Headshots never kill enemies in one hit unless you get a critical with a powerful weapon. Aside of that, there will occasionally be an enemy who is extremely powerful or seemingly invulnerable.

    Glitched Quests- Some quest items can be glitched and stuck in your inventory. While it has a minimal effect on gameplay, it can be annoying because you can never remove the item.

    Thieving Partners- If you have a full party in your base (home) You will sometimes notice certain items being removed from where you stored them. Most noticeable when you place a Nuka Cola (rare type) in a drawer or fridge.

    OVERALL

    Fallout New Vegas is an amazing buy, and at the low price nowadays there is literally no reason to not buy this game if you haven't played or beat it already. The DLC makes the deal much sweeter and the game's only faults can be easily overlooked and avoided if you choose a certain playstyle. Multiple stories and weapon types keep you coming back to the Wasteland and guarantee that no two players (or files) will have the same experience.
    5.0
  • WhyattThrashWhyattThrash565,178
    23 Jul 2013 23 Jul 2013
    10 1 0
    For newcomers to the Fallout franchise: This was my first Fallout game, and three hours into it I was convinced it was the worst game I've ever played. I yelled out in frustration many a time, simply for not understanding what I was supposed to do.

    Other reviews do a good job of describing the various aspects of the game, so I won't get into that.

    While it is a good game once you get into it, it does a horrible job of explaining how things work. Some controls are horribly ass-backwards (I'm looking at you, map) and loads of features are never explained in-game. Like what the symbols on the hud means, how the pip-boy works, or the in-game game of Caravan, for example. No explanation whatsoever. You're basically given tools to play and is left alone to figure out how to do it. The percentage of people on TA who have only one achievement for this game is a strong indication of how hard it is to get into.

    But once you do, it's WORTH IT! It has great, encompassing storylines, loads to discover and do (once you figure out that the small, bordered triangles on your HUD are undiscovered landmarks) and will keep you occupied for hours finding unique weapons, that last trinket or handing out retribution (or punishment, it's up to you) to that last survivor you met.

    If you're stuck, look up some tutorials online, if you don't understand something, google it. If you're the kind of person like me who stay away from walkthroughs at least until you've cleared the game, make an exception for this one. Some places they just don't explain at all what you're supposed to do. For this game, it's not cheating. The game developers screwed up, it's not your fault, look it up. I promise you, it's better than just giving up on it in frustration.

    When it comes to achievements, it'll take a while but you'll get most of them during normal story progression. Then there are a few with ridiculous requirements (the "get 10.000 of...") that you'll get partway to but will find you grinding a lot to get that last bit.

    In summation: If you've got the time to put in, it's an awesome waste of time.
    4.5
  • ostermann1992ostermann199233,384
    09 Jan 2011 11 Jan 2011
    25 17 11
    Fallout New Vegas ist genau das, was ich erwartet hatte. Nämlich Fallout 3 mit neuen Waffen, neuer Spielwelt und ein paar neuen Fähigkeiten. Das ist jedoch nicht so negativ gemeint wie es klingt. Denn genau das wollte ich persönlich auch! Fallout 3 ist eins meiner absoluten Lieblingsspiele und was "Obsidian entertaiment", die Ursprünglichen Erfinder der Fallout Reihe, hier abgeliefert haben ist ein gelungener Nachfolger!


    Zuerst zur Story. Ihr seid ein Paket Kurier in der Gegend um das frühere Las Vegas. Diese Gegend unterscheidet sich hauptsächlich durch 2 große Merkmale vom Ödland der Hauptstadt aus Fallout 3. Es gibt Strom und sauberes Wasser! beides kommt vom Hooverstaudamm in der Nähe von "New Vegas". Natürlich gibt es auch hier wieder unterschiedliche Gruppen mit unterschiedlichen Zielen, welche den Staudamm unter ihre Gewalt bringen wollen. Die zwei größten von ihnen sind die "RNK" und die "Caesar's Legion". Die RNK sind eine bürokratische, Vereinigung aus Kalifornien, welche Amerika wieder aufbauen will und zwar mit den alten Werten der Vorkriegszeit. Ihre erbitterten Feinde die Caesar's Legion sind eine brutale, wie römische Legionäre gekleidete Gruppe, die von einem gewissen "Caesar" angeführt wird.

    Ihr geratet natürlich zwischen die Fronten der beiden Gruppen und müsst euch entscheiden. Denn nach einer missglückten Lieferung und einer Kugel in eurem Kopf erwacht ihr bei einem Doktor und macht euch gleich auf die Suche nach dem "Typen im feinen Anzug" der euch erschossen hat. Da hier natürlich alles Spoiler frei laufen soll war das soweit die Story... ich kann persönlich nur sagen, dass mich die Story in Fallout 3 mit der ganzen "Wasser-Problematik" eher angesprochen hat. Aber das muss jeder für sich selbst entscheiden.


    Das Gameplay hat sich nur sehr gering bis gar nicht verändert. Es besteht nun die Möglichkeit richtig mit Kimme und Korn zu zielen, was in Fallout 3 nicht möglich war. Davon abgesehen sind zwar einige neue Möglichkeiten wie z.B. Glückspiel, die Herstellung von Spezialmunition, verwendbare Waffenmodifikationen wie z.B. Zielfernrohre oder den seinen Namen verdienenden "Hardcore" Modus (bei diesem müsst ihr regelmäßig trinken, essen und schlafen), hinzugekommen, aber dabei handelt es sich nicht gerade um großartige Innovationen.


    Zur Atmosphäre kann wie schon bei Fallout 3 wieder gesagt werden: Das Spiel zieht einen in seinen Bann! wenn ihr euch darauf einlasst und richtig in die Welt eintaucht dann seid ihr gefesselt und wollt gar nicht mehr in die reale nicht nuklear verseuchte Welt zurück. Auch die wirklich gelungene deutsche Syncro trägt dazu bei. Diese kommt natürlich nicht an die, viele Promis enthaltende, amerikanische Version herran, jedoch ist sie für die gewohnten Verhältnisse wirklich gut!

    Zwar hat sich das Spiel grafisch kaum weiterentwickelt, und auch diejenigen die bombastische Inszenierungen wie bei "Black Ops" erwarten werden enttäuscht sein, doch die postapokalyptische Stimmung wird auch hier wieder voll eingefangen und vermittelt. Es fehlt zwar der "WOW"-Effekt, wie ihn Fallout 3 hatte, wenn man das erste Mal durch das Ödland läuft. Aber die Welt erscheint trotzdem immernoch total glaubwürdig und vorallem die oft satirischen Witze im Spiel welche momentane politische Systeme, oder religiöse Gruppen und Sekten behandeln regen immer wieder zum schmunzeln an.

    Abschließend muss ich sagen, dass Fallout New Vegas genau dass geworden ist was ich persönlich wollte. Fallout 3 in neuer Umgebung und mit neuen Waffen! Wer wie ich Fallout3 geliebt hat und sich einfach stundenlang in den Wastlands aufhalten konnte, der macht hier sicherlich nichts falsch! Allen anderen, besonders die die noch nie Fallout gespielt haben, denen kann ich nur sagen: Wenn ihr ein erwachsenes Action RPG ohne den ganzen Fantasy Quatsch wollt, dann kauft euch Fallout! Ihr werdet es nicht bereuen!
    4.0
  • TheSecondLetterTheSecondLetter111,592
    18 Jan 2013
    9 3 0

    For some strange reason, I decided to pick Fallout New Vegas back up this month. Chalk it up to the winter slump or my disappointment with several other games from last year. I think I just wanted to get lost in a big open world with interesting things to do and see. Regardless of the cause, I'm glad I decided to give FNV another go. Fallout New Vegas' big, open world has always been my biggest incentive to play these types of games. This same world serves as FNV's biggest strength and weakness.

    With that said, let's talk about what types of gamers who will enjoy and potentially be disappointed by Fallout New Vegas.

    On the positive side, we'll start with:

    Explorers: As I pointed out a few seconds ago, Fallout New Vegas boasts a fairly large world for you to explore. There are great sights to see, powerful weapons and other loot to be found and an interesting cast of characters to engage. Unfortunately, much of the world outside of towns and other key locations is void of activity. This made long treks across the wasteland a chore to deal with at times.

    Bookworms: This Bethsidian collaboration doesn't deviate from the same story formula Bethesda has been using for years. Instead of focusing on telling an epic linear story, they allow the world and its characters to hook you with their various subplots. These subplots are typically more memorable than the main storyline. FNV's choice not to deviate from this formula works in their favor. I mean, what could be more interesting than being commissioned by a club-owner as a pimp to find unique escorts for clients with strange fetishes?

    Builders: Aside from the sparce options for choosing how your character looks, FNV gives you many options for leveling and developing your avatar. Do you want to be a smooth-talking explosives expert? A sharp-shooting merchant? Or would you like to run through the game buck naked using nothing but your fists? New Vegas gives you a multitude of options to create a character that suits your unique tastes.

    Audiophiles: Much like Fallout 3, New Vegas gives you access to an awesome radio station DJ'ed by the silver-tongued Mr. New Vegas. His dynamic commentary that adjusts to your deeds - or misdeeds - throughout the couse of the game and the excellent oldies music he plays are like sex for your ears. To sweeten the deal, New Vegas places several subtle audio nuances in the game Gunshots constantly echo over the ridgelines in the distance, letting you know that danger is never far away. The idle chatter and white noise in bars, clubs and public areas really helps you feel as though you are there.


    On the negative end:

    Action Junkies: While Fallout New Vegas is part shooter, you really can't escape using the VATS. FNV's controls are not sharp enough to allow you to play it like an FPS. Also, depending on how you play, you may find yourself doing more talking than fighting to solve problems. After all, FNV is also part RPG. In short, don't expect to find a heavy dose of gunplay throughout the game unless you play like an asshole--which can be fun too.

    Strategiests: The VATS system is very functional and its often fun to watch your enemies explode into a bloody mess in slow motion. However, VATS in and of itself does not force you to use varying tactics. Winning most fights only requires you to target your enemy in areas with a high hit percentage and fire away--This is especially true when you are closer to max level. The bottom line here is that you get out what you put in. FNV's VATS provides you a tactical system, but rarely punishes or rewards you for using it.


    Neutral categories:

    Visualists: Simply put, Fallout New Vegas aint much to look at from a technical perspective. On the flip side, the artists did a great job creating a desolate world that really looks like it's been hammered by neuclear war and the evil that men do. Whether or not you dig FNV as a visualist really depends on whether you prefer sheer beauty over style.


    Overall

    Fallout New Vegas is as great as you make it. Playing it vanilla and sticking only to the main story will probably make your experience feel more like an errand-running dialog simulator than a bustling action-driven role playing game. That said, Fallout New Vegas is definitely more RPG than Shooter. If you're looking for action and mayhem to be as plentiful as the narrative-driven events, you may be better served looking elsewhere or planning to play the game as a cold-blooded-killer with little regard for the NPCs who drive the game's subplots.
    4.0
  • SzM8s DragonSzM8s Dragon134,650
    26 Jan 2018
    6 2 1
    I recently played a game titled, Fallout: New Vegas, it was developed by Obsidian Studios, which many of the company’s members happen to be former members of Interplay Productions’ Black Isle Studios, the ones who brought you Fallout 1, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel, and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. The game was published by Bethesda Softworks, the Makers of Fallout 3, as well as one of my other favorite game series, The Elder Scrolls.

    The game takes place in The Mojave Wasteland, which is the Post Apocalyptic version of the areas of Nevada, California, and Arizona. The game follows a The Courier who has a package delivery go wrong, as you find out at the very start of the game. This is one of the few games that I recommend watching the intro all the way through on, as the intro is very well done, in fact I enjoyed watching it my first playthrough, and then after I had played the game through several times, after which I noticed many different things that you would only notice after having played the game in depth.

    The game is played in 1st/3rd person perspective, and the player interacts with the world and with items using a GUI called a Pipboy 3000, which can be upgraded to the Pimpboy 3 Billion (Which is a gold plated version of the Pipboy 3000.) after completing a certain quest. The game has a nicely done crafting system for creating items for the player to use/sell. You can make items from a few different hotspots, those would be, a fireplace or hot plate, a workbench as well as a repair bench.

    This game unlike so many of its kind, actually has a nonlinear questline, which basically means you can chose who you would like to side with, as well as how you want to handle a situation in most cases.

    The games main factions that you can side with during the main questline are Caesar’s Legion, Mr. House, the New California Republic (NCR), and for an independent New Vegas, you can side with a overly friendly and forthcoming robot named Yes Man.

    Caesar’s Legion is led by no other than Caesar, aka Edward Sallow, Caesar co-founded his legion with a man known as Joshua Graham, whos name is not to be spoken within The Legion without punishment.

    Mr. House or Robert House, founder of RobCo Industries, is a man who spent the latter years of his Pre-War life, planning for how to keep himself alive indefinitely, and protect the Vegas Strip from nuclear attacks.

    The New California Republic is a fairly large democratic federation that is the absolute enemy of Caesar’s Legion.

    The music choices in Fallout: New Vegas are fantastic, it perfectly fits in with the early 1900’s feel of the game and while a few may disagree the music itself is very good, with selections of the greats of the 1940s and 1950s with genres including classical and jazz. I feel like this revived a great period of time for music, so that new generations could enjoy it for themselves. This game is amazing and I would recommend it as a must play for gamers everywhere.
    5.0
  • ryanlegend95ryanlegend95198,754
    24 Oct 2012
    12 8 6
    If you liked Bethesda's Fallout 3? Then you will love Obsidian's spin-off, Fallout New Vegas. Fallout New Vegas is set after Fallout 3 and doesn't really follow on the story of it. You will notice however that the world is a little more cleaner because the water supply has been purified and this is because of Fallout 3. The world is still a mess with plenty of radiation for everyone to consume though and it will not stop at this game simply because the story has nothing to do with the radiation and what not.

    External image


    The state of this. Lets clean the streets of this vermin.

    The story is basically about a courier that has to deliver a special package to someone in New Vegas but the delivery is not so easy because there are other people who want it. Pretty much like my next door neighbor stealing my news paper every morning. Damn thieves.

    The game is set in the Mojave dessert and man isn't it charming.You get to see memorable sights like the Hoover Dam and Vegas but the new one.

    There is plenty to do and plenty to talk about in this review. Lets get started.

    Graphics:
    The graphics, well aren't awful but not good either. It's somewhere in the middle. The Mojave dessert is beautiful but it's quite empty compared to Fallout 3. There is rarely a moment where a guy will come out of no where attacking some other dude or you. At least the atmosphere is good because it does look like hell on earth and I suppose the empty open spaces created that atmosphere. The character models are decent but their animations are still reused from Oblivion which was already dated back then. Other 3D models like guns, cars etc. look pretty good though. The textures however are another story. They mostly look awful because they are blurred and stretched and stretching is very noticeable unless you cover it up. Which they haven't. Apart from that the transparent graphics are pretty good. The water looks nice and the sand and dust particles really make a convincing post-apocalyptic atmosphere.

    External image


    Better hope you don't have Agoraphobia cause it's a big open world.

    Also there are bugs. A ton of them in fact and they do effect the visuals for instance there will be some red tombstone looking things in the game. This is a bug that I recently discovered and I don't know what it's called but you can tell that it's not meant to be there. There is also a lot of clipping e.g. a monster trapped inside a rock due to poor spawning points. This is called clipping. There is also constant stutters through out the game. You will notice that when you move, the frame rate will stutter every 15 seconds but only slightly though and doesn't really effect the gameplay much.

    I give the graphics a 6/10.

    Sound:
    The sound design is a biggy and I mean that in a good way. The voice actors do a good job at selling their story to you and the dialogue is pretty clever and charming. The sound effects are great and the explosions have never sounded so booming loud. That's what I like to hear. The soundtrack for this game deserves an award for it's performance. The music on the radio are great but repetitive but everyone loves Ain't that a kick in the head by Dean Martin. A true classic. The sound scoring for the world is just so fitting for the atmosphere. There are points where it is lonely and then there are points that are actiony and then there are points where it sounds creepy. This all depends on what you are doing in the world which is pretty cool e.g. walking through a dark corridor and there will be a dark and creepy tune. There is however sound glitches but nothing to serious though. The only one which is noticeable is sometimes the game has trouble adjusting volume for each sound effect.

    Other than that the sound design is great and that's why I'm giving it a 9.5/10.

    Gameplay:
    The game plays identical to Fallout 3 but with modifications and tweaks. You can now customize your weapons with modifications like silencers and scopes. The gunplay allows you to look through the iron sight for improved accuracy and the morale system has a new reputation system that effects your reputation depending on your actions for each faction. This new reputation system determines on how your game will end. Everything else is left intact but just tweaked a little bit e.g. improved dialogue options, better depth in bartering etc.

    There is plenty to do here. There are plenty of main quest but there are literally hundreds of side quests. A lot of them are enjoyable but there are some that just seem cumbersome and boring. You can also play mini games in the casino's like blackjack, slot machines, caravan etc.

    External image


    Spend you hard earned caps right here folks!

    With so much to do you can easily waste a hundred hours in this game but with all that delicious content comes with a price. I'm talking about the bugs. There are so many of them and a few of them are really annoying like Iron sight calibration issues and worst of all crashes. Luckily the crashes happen occasionally but the game still has plenty that happen regularly. Luckily they are minor so no worries there.

    I give the gameplay a 8.5/10.

    Storyline:
    Fallout 3 had a pretty good storyline. It has depth, mystery and history. Fallout New Vegas however has humor, science and wit. New Vegas doesn't have a good storyline because it was stupid and silly but I did like it's sense of humor. Especially in the Old World Blues DLC. The story is simple but kinda entertaining especially when it comes to factions and reputations. Depending on your reputation you can decide to pick a faction of your choice to progress and end the game with. It's a cool idea but the story is way too silly to be taken seriously.

    I give the storyline a 7.5/10.

    Is it your cup of tea?
    If you loved Fallout 3 then you'll love this.
    If you love RPG's or first/third person shooters then you'll be blown away.
    Not recommended for noobs cause this is a hard game.

    Summary:
    Good:
    -Great use of the reputation system.
    -Outstanding sound design and soundtrack.
    -A massive RPG experience.

    Bad:
    -A horde of bugs.
    -Bad visuals and embarrassing animations.
    -Silly storyline.

    Overall I think it's a great game but needs a ton of polishing. I give it an overall score of 8.5.
    5.0
  • Punji PuppetPunji Puppet264,530
    28 Jan 2019
    3 0 0
    This is post apocalyptic story telling done right.
    This is science fiction story telling done right.
    This is role-playing video game design done right.
    Drop what you are doing and play this game, because you will not regret it!

    Honestly, Fallout New Vegas offers one of the deepest sandbox worlds imaginable, one that feels lived in and full of life. More than this, the choices you make and the things you do genuinely feel like they have some kind of consequence somewhere in the world (granted some more so obvious than others). Plus, there is just so much to god-damned DO! so many stories, snippets of narrative to discover. And this is assuming you want to immerse yourself in the world of New Vegas. You may just wanna dip your toe. You may just wanna get a Hunny Percent (btw, not that big a challenge if you plan it out and get a good thing going).

    The game may look a little age and it may be a little buggy (honestly i think people blow Bethesda and Oblivion's susceptibility to create buggy games out of proportion; its never been game breaking in my experience and I have clocked ungodly hours on this bad boy). And sure, I'll agree some of its mechanics are a little clunky and sometimes the gameplay can be a little slow; but that's not why you should be playing New Vegas.

    Vegas is like I say a meticulously crafted post apocalyptic world; and like the rest of the franchise it also functions as one of the most vitriolic satires of the nineteen fifties I ever did see. This tie though without the obvious political commentary of say Fallout 3 (or especially 4) the Fallout aesthetic is applied to that most American of ideas; Chance, Fate and what a man might make of the hand dealt to him. The game oozes wit and charm in equal measure. This is not to mention the genuinely enthralling characters, some of whom I think are the most compelling in video games period.

    As a final note, you really should get the DLC and play those as well (you're already chasing that hunny percent, might as well get another thousand on top). It too, is nigh faultless in its rich storytelling and by now should be practically free considering the quality of game.
    5.0
  • ThinkMcFly88ThinkMcFly88232,627
    17 Nov 2010 17 Nov 2010
    30 29 5
    Being a huge fan of Fallout 3 my anticipation level for Fallout: New Vegas was through the roof. My excitementment was palpable as I opened up the package and popped in what I was sure to be a phenomenal game.

    Which, in essence, it is. It's Fallout 3: Redux. All the same things you loved from Fallout 3 are there: A world that you can get lost in for hours; A dark gritty story and side quests; VATS; voice acting. All that great stuff is back and it's still great. The only real addition is being able to craft food items and ammo, which is really only good for certain character types.

    But for some reason I just can't get into it. Mainly because all the problems that plagued Fallout 3 are back as well: Mechanical character animations that take you right out of the world; The same bugs and glitches; Horrible frame rate problems that can guarantee your game freezing on you at least once a session; And the most frustrating part for me is the same manual aiming that was terrible in FO3. Half the buildings you enter are actually pulled straight from FO3. The whole time I play this game I just have a sense of deja vu. I've been here and done this before.

    Look, it's by no means a bad game. It's definately enjoyable if you liked Fallout 3. But when you decide to spend your hard earned money on a follow up to a game I would expect the biggest improvement to be more than a command wheel for the counterparts you pick up along the way.

    I'll probably get plenty of play time out of it but despite all the shiny lights on the strip I feel like I was left out in the dark by Obsidian. I'm not saying it had to be a total overhaul since there is so much good stuff in there from FO3, but at least give me more than a glorified DLC pack for the last game.

    I gave the game 3 stars because it is an enjoyable game, but they made no real effort to do anything that pushed the series forward gameplay or quality wise. I could forgive not changing the gameplay at all but not fixing the bugs and glitches from FO3 is ridiculous. While it's definately worth a playthrough for any Fallout 3 fan, it still comes up feeling stale.
    3.0
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