This review has taken a while to get around to... first off my copy didn't get to me until 6 days after release (thanks play.com), then i was busy at uni, then i discovered Fifa 11 Creation Centre (and my team of fiction characters, politicians and genocidal maniacs/serial killers). Anyway.
I was later to the fallout craze, I played it a few times at a friends, and thoroughly enjoy blowing myself sky high with a fatman, ut never got around to getting it. I love Oblivion (also by Bethesda) so eventually got around to picking up Fallout 3 about May. I found it heavy going at first, lots to learn and take in. But after a few hours i got into it and really enjoyed i, so when NV came around I was pretty pumped, so here's my review.
ps. Can i please get some comments about the style and layout of this review since I wasn't sure how to lay it out, and also on my general writing style, thanks. :)
Right then, Game-play. It's exactly the same as FO:3 which in this case is a good thing, it's relatively heavy but not inhibiting, and has a good feel of realism to it. One difference does seem to be that Damage seems to be far higher, which makes you less of a tank and actually makes it more fun.
Another very good improvement is that the game as a whole is way way more in-depth; weights, more items, locations packed map, more weapons, items, Bethesda have excelled in expanding the catalogue of items in NV as well as making weights to decimals to make up for the realistic differences betweens items unlike FO:3. Also there's a lot more enemies, and radscorpions seems a lot stronger. I've yet to survive and attack against a giant radscorpion but i am still low levelled.
Factions, big big big positive for me, I love the idea of having factions which face each other, who's opinions of you are regulated by your actions both to them and their rival faction, and punishments/rewards you receive based on your choices, eg. Powder Gang - Goodsprings, you help the people in Goodsprings and you get a discount at the stores there HOWEVER the Powder Gang will attack you if the see you. This is something that appeals to me massively and I love the fact that your actions have consequences and it makes for a much more interesting aspect to the game and expands on the Karma system.
The main positive for NV for me is that it feels like a natural evolution from FO:3 and it feels like it's moving on the right way, they've made it a bit harder, added in some cool new features and expanded on most of the old ones while not really removing anything from FO:3. Bethesda made a big deal over this not being FO:4 but it certainly feels like it could be FO:3.5 and that's a very good thing, i'm a great believer in once you've got a good game base don't change it, don't go radical and mess around with the core elements that made the original so good, whatever that may be; in depth details or plain simplicity *cough*Mw2*cough*, stick with what made your original game good and tweak it to be better and the people that matter, your hardcore fans will be happy, and that's exactly what Bethesda have done. They've tweaked and improved without messing and radicalising.
The one big change away from FO:3 is hardcore mode, but cleverly it's an optional choice to give people the choice to play it like the Fallout they know or to take it that extra level of realism, and most people I know who play FO have said that they're playing Normal first then moving on to try Hardcore, so it adds even more playing time for gamers.
To deny that there are a few issues with New Vegas would be like saying that the world's flat. And here's the big one;
Freezing/Glitching/Generally Screwing Up, unfortunately it's plagued by the same issues that ruined FO:3 (especially DLC) for quite a few people. Glitching, enemies falling into the ground then getting stuck, freezing very often, are 2 things i've experienced while playing for only a short time (about 7 hours) also failing to load textures.
Storyline so far is weak for me, compared to FO:3 anyway, the opening is poor and you feel far less attachment to your character. It also doesn't seem to have the same addictive, compulsive effect on my that FO:3 had although like the story that might come as I get further into the game.
7.5/10 for now, fixing the issues would get it up to a 8.5/10 and a 9/10 if the Story picks up, if you like Fallout 3 you'll enjoy it, if you don't you won't because it's very similar. If you're thinking about picking up Fallout for the first time, get Fallout 3, see if you like it, then consider New Vegas, by then it'll probably be down in price or a GOTY edition with DLC will be released. You can pick up Fallout 3 GOTY pretty cheap now anyway, thanks for reading. :)
I really like the layout sam :P Very nicely put together. I agree with all of this. I think the reason the protagonist is hard to attach to is because, in FO3, you had family and saw the players childhood. In this one, you are thrown into a job gone bad and told to just go.
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