Fallout: New Vegas

BethesdaPlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC

This is a game that has very large shoes to fill. As the spiritual successor to 2008’s Fallout 3, which won several Game of the Year awards and received universal praise from critics and fans alike, Fallout: New Vegas has arrived on a wave of hype and high expectations. Does it live up to the glory of its predecessor? Yes…and no. Suffice it to say that this is one of the deepest and most enjoyable games you’ll ever play, but at the same time, it’s also one of the most frustrating.

For those unfamiliar with the Fallout universe, it takes place in the future, in a world where nuclear war has decimated the landscape. Water is undrinkable, vegetation has ceased to grow, and radiation has mutated animals and many unlucky humans. Those who survived with their skin intact are now forced to live in a lawless world, where bands of murderers and thieves run rampant and terrifying monstrosities roam the wasteland. In short, it’s one step away from hell on earth.

In Fallout: New Vegas, you play the role of a courier who is ambushed and left for dead while delivering a mysterious package. You’re eventually found and brought back around by a kindly doctor, and you set out back into the wasteland to find out who sabotaged you…and why they did it.

Fallout: New Vegas uses the same engine as Fallout 3 did, so fans of that game will feel right at home here. And like Fallout 3, New Vegas’ biggest strength is its size. Quite simply, you’d be hard pressed to find another game that has this much stuff to do. You can stick to the main quest, which will take you a good 15 hours to play through. Or you can completely ignore it and simply explore the wasteland, which is littered with things to do. There are dozens of side quests, hidden secrets to find, and different paths that you can take your character down. You can even choose if you want your character to be good or evil – every decision you make affects your karma. If you want to stay on the straight and narrow, you can help people that you come across and stick to the laws of the real world. Or you can murder, steal, and destroy, which will gain you a negative reputation and directly affect how people react to you.

Combat is a major part of Fallout, and the game boasts one of the most unique and enjoyable combat systems ever implemented. V.A.T.S. (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) allows you to slow down the action in real time and target specific body parts of your enemies, which will often fly off in a magnificent spray of blood and limbs. It’s a very cool feature that really sets the game apart from other Action/RPGs.

But the game does have its share of problems – quite a few of them, to be exact. One of the biggest issues that players had with Fallout 3 was its long list of technical glitches. New Vegas has the same issues, and in fact, they’re more prominent than ever. The game freezes during intense moments of combat. Your character will often get stuck in walls, cliffs, and corners. Enemies will suddenly hurl into the air, the character models ripping apart at the seams. All of this happens much more frequently than it should, and while it doesn’t detract from the overall experience of the game, it is very disappointing that the problems couldn’t be ironed out before the game was shipped to retailers.

Basically, it comes down to one simple fact: if you enjoyed Fallout 3, you’ll love Fallout: New Vegas. But if you had trouble looking past Fallout 3’s technical issues, than it’s best that you stay away.