Fallout: New Vegas Review

19 Oct 2010 at 13:46:11 by John Robertson
Systems used to review this title: (PS3, 360, PC)

Fittingly enough, for a game set around a post-apocalyptic reimagining of Sin City, Fallout: New Vegas starts with a bang - your own death; creating a weird asymmetry with the exiting of the womb that kicked off Fallout 3.  You play a courier who - while delivering an important package to a high profile client - is captured, shot in the head and has his/her cargo stolen.  It’s the shoddy aim of your assailant and the attempted recovery of said cargo that acts as the catalyst for everything that follows. 

What follows is a lot, a whole lot.

The asymmetry between the intros of the two games is replaced by symmetry almost everywhere else.  In terms of gameplay, visuals and nerd satisfying depth of statistical obsession, Fallout: New Vegas is almost a mirror image of Fallout 3.  Take away the neon-lit casinos of the Vegas strip, new weapons and smattering of perks and, during New Vegas’ opening hours, you’d be forgiven for writing this off as little more than a lengthy, expensive piece of additional content. 

Due to the similarities between the two games, New Vegas lacks that initial wow-factor but, once you get more involved in proceedings and begin proper interactions with the game’s various warring factions, you soon begin to appreciate the numerous differences and how they work together to create a very different narrative experience from our last outing in the nuclear war torn Wasteland. 

New Vegas is packed full of bickering groups, each with their own view on how the Mojave Wasteland should operate and who should be in control. From a gang of Elvis impersonators to a religious cult of Ghouls there are plenty of weird and wonderful characters for you to meet on your travels.

You get the feeling that even if you weren’t involved these factions would struggle amongst themselves until one eventually came out on top; such is the depth and authenticity of the various key characters and their motivations.  The story here is not so much about you as an individual, but about the choices you make in giving others the tools to achieve their own objectives.

It’s an interesting way to approach a plot driven game, as it forces you to primarily think about how your actions will impact the inhabitants of the Wasteland as opposed to solely how they’ll affect you.  The path you take through the game is largely decided by your reputation, or ‘fame/infamy’, rating with various groups; fame is achieved by completing missions for them and generally helping them out, infamy garnered by doing the opposite. 

Your ‘fame/infamy’ decides which missions are open to you and how difficult those missions are; for example, a quest is considerably more challenging when it takes place in the territory of a group that hates you.

This system gives New Vegas incredible replay value in that no two experiences are ever likely to be the same and depending on which, if any, of the game’s three primary players you decide to back – the New California Republic, Caesar’s Legion or the ruler of New Vegas, Mr House – your role within the world changes dramatically.

Like Fallout 3, the feel of the game alters depending on which abilities you opt for at the start of the game and which you improve thereafter.  Go for those stats which make you a Bruce Willis grade combative badass and you’ll be relying almost exclusively on brawn to get the job done.  Conversely, if you believe words are the most powerful weapon, raising your ‘Speech’ points allows you to talk your way through a lot of problems and get what you want without having to point a gun at someone’s face. 

Those are two extremes, the best tactic being to find a middle ground that fits your preferred play style, but you get the point.

The New Vegas Strip itself, a garish beacon among the otherwise bland landscape of the Wasteland, is like nothing we’ve ever seen in a Fallout title before.  Full of drunkards, gambling opportunities, ladies of the night and a powerful mechanised police force, the Strip initially seems out of place with what we know about the world from previous games.  However, like almost everything in New Vegas, spend enough time getting to know it and you soon come to appreciate its inclusion. 

After spending countless hours exploring the Capital Wasteland in Fallout 3, and the similar sights offered here by the Mojave Wasteland, it’s nice to have the change of visual pace.  It’s not perfect though, like the rest of the Fallout universe things still look a little stale; more party goers and entertainment options would transform it from a welcome distraction to a full on wonderland. 

Purists may be a little dismayed to hear that combat has been made slightly easier with the reworked iron sights mechanic, which makes aiming manually (independent of V.A.T.S) more of a legitimate approach to ridding the world of hostile enemies.  That’s not to say that you can run ‘n’ gun Halo style – V.A.T.S is still the smarter option – but it’s certainly more effective this time around.

For those who want to make the going even tougher than the default allows, a new ‘Hardcore’ option has been included that ups the ante considerably when it comes to taking care of yourself and planning two moves ahead.  Stimpaks, rather than healing immediately, take effect over time, making it impossible to quickly heal yourself in the heat of battle; ammunition has weight and greatly reduces the amount of gear you can carry without becoming over encumbered; and you must keep yourself hydrated, a lack of water leading to death. 

Hardcore mode represents an extremely tough test and should only be considered by the most serious and experienced of players.  Its affect on gameplay is, to say the least, dramatic and changes the focus of the experience away from the story and plot elements and more towards the grind and character preservation elements associated with traditional dungeon crawler RPGs.

The fact that you’re given the option to change the game in such a way once again highlights the best thing New Vegas has to offer – choice.  There are no right or wrong decisions here, just decisions. 

It doesn’t always get everything right - some enemy’s strength and attack balancing seems a little off (an annoyance somewhat reduced with the ability to recruit companions to aid you in scuffles) and there are a number of graphical glitches that need sorting out – but by and large it works great.

Yes, it’s not a million miles away from what Fallout 3 offered, but New Vegas is different enough to make it worth the effort.  Let’s be honest, even if it was identical to the last game with a new story tacked on itk xigh among thil togthe oas gas year’s finest options.

It’s impossible to say one game is better than the other as the fundamentals are the same; it’s the way the story progresses that provides the big difference and will invariably lead to different people preferring one over the other based on their narrative style preferences.

This is a game best enjoyed at a slow pace, taking in everything it has to offer and coming to informed decisions about which factions you want to help and why.  It’s possible to rush through and complete the story well before reaching the level 30 ceiling but to do so is to completely miss the point. 

Go out, explore the Wasteland and shape its history as you see fit.  This is Vegas after all, make your dreams come true.

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