F3 in a warmer climate. Worth the price of admission and just enough new mechanics to make this sandbox feel fres
So I popped back into D.C. a few hours before New Vegas released and showed them the VATS system, the crazy characters and the endless expanses.
New Vegas has more of the same, although there does seem to be less random catacombs and sewers there certainly is plenty to see and the Southwest environment just feels funner to explore than the drab confines of DC and the rugged outland surrounding Capitol wasteland.
I never played Fallout 1 & 2 so I have no special love or hate towards the New California republic, but the inclusion of the reputation system was a great addition.
You can now dress yourself up like an "enemy" and stroll right into camp interacting with characters that otherwise would kill you on sight.
There are some fumbles with this system however, for example the best armor I have is an outfit from a Legion soldier, if you approach an area where the NCR are stationed they will attack you mercilessness forcing you to revert to your last auto save, I've even changed into an outfit in front of a "friendly" only to have them immediately regard me as a threat even though seconds before they were asking for my help.
It's also kind of burdensome to carry around several outfits at once to blend into different crowds, it eats up your inventory weight limit quickly and causes you to begin selectively looting much earlier on...no more 10 piece set of dinnerware rattling around in your bag just for the heck of it.
In Fallout 3, once you get some Power Armor you spend the rest of the game in that outfit or its few other counterparts (displosing of what your wearing as soon as you find an upgrade).
I have spotted a couple glitches, like barrels floating in nonexistent water in some mines occupied by the Legion but nothing game breaking and certainly nothing that won't be addressed in a future patch.
I have also noticed that the game is slightly more resources intensive that Fallout 3. It might be just the fact that you can adjust more fadeout distances.
If you never played Fallout 3, you could pick up the game and it's DLCs for pennies now (GOTY) and still have about the same experience, but if you've combed over Capital Wastelands, The Pitt and Point Lookout and your in the mood for more than you'll be pleasantly surprised by a number of nice refinements in New Vegas
I've read some reviews that say New Vegas is just a giant DLC of Fallout 3 and in truth, I wish it were.
If that were the case it would be great to be able to travel back and forth between Vegas and D.C. like the rail cart to The Pitt or ferry to Point Lookout.
But, I'm only a few hours into the game - haven't even reached Vegas yet, though it's visible from almost anywhere in the over-world, especially at night when it glows on the horizon, so I don't yet have an accurate idea of the scope of the world, although the map does appear to be smaller and the boundaries of the world that I have encountered have been massive ravines which eat up allot of fringe real estate, where as in Fallout 3 you could walk to the very edge and where then told you could go no further.
The first few levels are hard to come by as your aim is entirely horrible both in and out of VATS but eventually (if you invest in Guns stat) you'll get ahead of the curve and be able to confidently explore the world.
Some notable changes are that the Big Guns and Small Guns stat have become a single stat, so that will allow you to effectively use allot more weapons, dynamite is extremely plentiful after 6 hours I had other 50 sticks - so explosives might be a nice stat to invest in also.
I miss my T-51b Power Armor and Terrible Shotgun but hopefully there will be some Brotherhood of Steel in this new world and with the new perk "Shotgun Surgeon" I bet there will be a larger variety of shotguns than just the Sawed off, Combat Shotgun and Double Barrel from the Point Outlook DLC
So in conclusion, if your ready for more Fallout buy New Vegas, if you've never played Fallout 3 you might want to pick it up and save yourselves $30 bucks (for the time being) Theirs nothing revolutionary about New Vegas, but it has a couple new tricks up its sleeves.