New Vegas is an Over-Complex/Unstructured Masterpiece flawed by glitches and FO3's grand awe-inspiring setting/story.
Pros:
-Quest Galore
-Explorers Dream (again)
-Complex Faction System
-So so interesting story
-Hardcore Mode (challenging)
-Deep Leveling-Up System
-"Play to your strength" gameplay
-Companion Perks
-An Experience
Cons:
-Very Short Main Quest Story
-Unpredicatable Freezing
-Disrespectful drop in Frame Rate
-Intense Load Times
-Poor Physics
-Dated Character Models
-Outside VATS, gunplay sucks
-GIitches
Glitches Experienced:
-Loading Screen lock up
-Companions dissappear
-Game freezes (over 20X through my playthrough)
-Enemies A.I. appear out of nowhere
-Every ending quest is glitchy (just like FO3)
It was a pleasure wasting my life playing Falloutt New Vegas this year. I did not experience as many glitches as most gamer have encountered. The internet is full of people (nerds) complaining about it and luckily I didn't have to feed into the machine. My biggest glitch was maybe freezing, but most of this occured towards the end of the game. So thankfully, I was able to experience New Vegas in what can be considered a sublime manner when it comes to these glitchy messes. I played the game pretty much non-stop to the end with only a few online portions of Transformers online creeping in. And I can accurately say, Fallout New Vegas is another Fallout masterpiece.
Fallout New Vegas story doesn't trumph Fallout 3, but it is more complex than Fallout 3 due to the fact that the developers gave you the choice of which story arc to follow. Your choices really affect the outcome of this game and that may be the biggest accomplishment here. Everyone will start the game of with the same intentions (being bad or good), but you will reach a point in the game where you will play as a mindless slave to "Bad People" or a government type agency or a "Demi God" (all exaggeration, but I not trying to spoil anthing). Those are three arcs you can follow, or you can play for yourself and the people with the aid of outside forces. This is the path I chose and I don't regret it. Everything in this game has some type of relationship and because of that I can officially say Fallout New Vegas is 'cooler than Fallout 3...yep I said it.
One of the biggest hits on this game by bias critics and perfectionist gamers is the 'expansion' feel of New Vegas. New Vegas, outside of the mechanical expect, feels nothing like its big brother. Fallout 3 captured a city in post apacolytic ruin where people were fighting for clean water and trying to get away from radiation and the abominations it created. New Vegas feels like a game where people have got past the war and are ready to move on start industrial society over again. Therefore, New Vegas feels like a game where human/political conflicts take place in world that ironically has went through nuclear destruction. People then points towards the graphics and the overall look of the game. Have people travelled around the country? Most cities look the same as well as plant life, roads, etc. It's no wonder New Vegas looks so similiar when it actually doesn't. If you go back and play FO3, anyone can see how Brown and ugly the world is in Fallout 3. It is also filled with decaying crumbling buildings and mutated monsters. Fallout New Vegas appears to be a open world Nevada that wasn't hit so hard with radiation, thus we have less mutated animal encounters and more human conflict that takes place between differents faction, groups, and people. Fallout New Vegas hardly feels like Fallout 3 as the similarities only become apparant in mainly character models and apparel in the beginning of the game. Face it, Fallout 3 did everything and more and it hard to escape an achievement like that, but this is no reason to downplay the brillance of this game. If this is the case, GOW and Halo shouldn't even get the praise they recieve. But then again, so much is reused from the last game. The system here is identical to Fallout 3 with the inclusion of mods, etc. Nothing wrong with improving an already 'ahead of its time' system. Look at God of War III.
Critcs are attacking the graphics as well. Has anyone played a game by Rockstar, everything outside of Midnight Club and RDR look horrible compared to Fallout. GTAIV was washed out and the episodes weren't any better. I loved GTAIV, but that game doesn't look good by todays standards. On the PS3, it's pretty washed out too. Comparing New Vegas to games like Uncharted and God of War are unfair. If Rockstars graphics are given a pass due to the humongous world, then Fallout should get a pass even though it has so many loading times. I thought Fallout 3 was a great looking game and it does look better than New Vegas weird enough, but New Vegas is harldy a bad looking game. Now GTAIV can be considered a bad looking game and to me the graphics don't even look bad. Critics are the worse and that is why gamers need to give a game a chance. Fallout New Vegas looks good to me and I never had to set my TV display to a certain pattern so it could look good like I had to do with GTAIV (lol).
Now some things I positiively loved about this game include the branching quest system and companion relationships. Quest seem to lead to others and I got to the point where I was overwhelmed with uncompleted side quest. Like gamespot said, alot of the quest are enjoyable, but you will end up with some fetch quests that are utterly boring and unrewarding. Now the companion system is nice. In Hardcore Mode, these guys are essential when it comes to bearing loads and loads of ammo and equipment. You can have two at a time and that is o-so helpful. Some give you perks, and most give to side missions. I met one companion during a quest where I was suppose to kill them...very creative Bethsheda. Some companionis are met in some of the most random situations and some are even met through companion quest. The developers produced some creative quest and I thoroughly enjoyed most if not all side quest with the aid of my companions. Sadly, some companions sucom to need for close combat and convincingly get themselves killed by tougher opponents like Deathclaws. Freaking idiots, but outside of that it feels good to have someone along for the unpredictable ride in Fallout universe. Everything is interlocked in this game and through the whole game, I had to make smart decisions because like real life, our choices have consequences and this game suceeds in giving character to our smart/reckless choices. Dialogue choices transcend the functionality of Fallout 3 system which gives way to an unpredicable (yet sometime predictable) outcome to future interactions/actions. This is what you call deep role playing and Obsidian didn't lie.
Something else I really loved was Hardcore Mode. This may be the most realistic system I have every seen in gaming. From start to finish, I was hardcore all the way baby and it does create a different atmosphere. Weight the ammo changes everything and the need to replinish your body with H20 and Nutrients creates a system where you feel like your trying to survive rather than trying to keep your health bar full. And this is why companions are so helpful because they are literally your suticases. I know they were for me. The way ammo effects your weight is something that make Grand Theft Auto and most games that let you carry around infinite guns look stupid. But the thing that really intrigued me about Hardcore mode was its potentcy to prevent run n' gun type gameplay. Thus, every encounter is strategic because stimpaks heal over time and broken limbs stay broken if you don't have a doctor's bag. I never rushed into a crowd of 'crazies' and definitely never ran head in on a Deathclaw. This caused me to play the game in a fashion I normally wouldn't have with it. I completed Fallout 3 with mostly close up or mid range artillery by myself. This mode however prevented me from being effective in close up encounters with stronger large groups therefore with the help of a companion I became I sniper at one point, then an assassin and then a full on boxer with one companion who seems to knock anyone out with one blow with something called a Pushy which I gave to her. I pretty much played the game with alot of variety and it was all satisfying mostly due to the V.A.T.S. sytem because the gunplay mechanics still suck. I don't like playing games with run n' gun gameplay as I tend to hate playing that way, thus I play most games on hard which I don't like because most games give enemies too much health. On the otherhand, this system allows me to play on normal while rewarding me with the challenge of survival rather than the reward of killing an opponent with a god like health bar. Hardcore Mode was/is brillant and it isn't as hard as most believe it is, but by the end of the game...you will feel like turning it off. I never did and got a "Trophy"....what?...Well, I guess the real reward was the experience...BULL j/k
What I truly hated about this game the unpredictable game lock ups. One seconds everything is fine on screen then I set my foot in an area of the game where it freezes for two seconds then enemies appear which cause the frame rate to drop, then the game is moving in slow motion for 30 seconds, then it will either go back to its normal functioning or it will freeze. These are predictable and not as annoying, but when I am just walking to my next area and the game freezes with no notice , these are annoying beyond belief. Unpredictable crashes occured a total of 6 times, not so bad, and once this happend, my urge to save everytime became stronger than it ever. I always save games because I always think the game is going to crash or I going to die, but with this one...I saved all the time to prevent lost game data and to make sure I made the right decision earlier during player/NPC action. Fallout New Vegas is a thinking game when is come to the core gameplay/leveling up and the inevitable crashes and that's a shame. This game is truly a masterpiece, but techinical hiccups such as randoms crashes and excessive load screens destroy some of the fun and pacing at best. And even though I experienced this crashes, I still found Fallout NV more enjoyable than mostly everygame I played this year which include Heavy Rain, GTA episodes, Red Dead Redemption, God of War III, etc.
Without glitches though, Fallout New Vegas can't touch the brillance of Fallout 3. After completing the game and viewing 3 out of the 4 possible four outcomes, driven by main story arcs, I can't find one moment that truly tops anything done in Fallout 3. There's no Oasis here (though a Vault comes close in perception, but not the overall shock), Wanna-be vampires, City controled by Fire Ants, a shockingly thriving Rivet City, etc. This feeling comes from my nature that always believes a sequel can never be better than the one before it. This is why I feel Jurassic Park is better than part 2. I can even compared to terrible films like Transformers. TF2 is clearly better than the first movie, but the first is better because this was my first exposure to the universe. Of course Uncharted 2 is better than the first and Assassin Creed 2 trumps the first, but to me...Fallout New Vegas doesn't hold a candle to Fallout 3. Nothing here is better than the first time you esape the Vault, see the Brotherhood, kill your first ant queen, meet a english speaking super mutant, or take down the enclave with a big a** robot. But to tell you the truth, New Vegas is better than Fallout 3 in so many ways. There is more the see and more to do, and the companions things is a thing of beauty, but nothing in this game is shocking because you seen it all before or it was done better in the last game. I really missed the random animal encounters, but this is a different game with a different objective and they nailed it. Factions fight factions and you are the lone soulful warrior/scientist/assassins who can either make things better or worse. It's all up to you.
The reason why Fallout 3 holds a special place in my heart is because I felt like a lost soul in a big a** world of nothing only clinching to the hope that I would find my father. This led to the 'epic' (sorry only word I could think of) battle between the Brotherhood and Enclase and so on and so on. Fallout 3 had a set path and therefore, the experience was more structured and catered to bringning the charcter into that universe. New Vegas lets you play around with the idea that you can side with anyone you feel like through the whole game until the absolute end which creates a world where you know your enemy too well and have conflicting interest that don't give you freedom at the end to choose the ending you desire. Obsidian choice to give the gamer complete freedom was a great choice, but it also created an unstructured experience that may not hit to mark with everyone. I loved it, but I would be lying if I didn't say it hurt the impact of story (not really the story itself). Every ending seems to end off on a good/and bad note and that is as real as any ending can be nowadays. The ending is stil done in that uninspiring slide show, but this time it is longer and actually shows how far reaching the gamers decisions ae. And just like War, Fallout never changes...FIN.
Conclusion: I loved Fallout New Vegas. It's too bad so many people have/had to deal with techinical problems. It is also sad that people tend to compare NV to FO3 and come away with the impression that nothing is impressive due to the fact that FO3 was 'so impressive'. Fudge that...New Vegas is a great game and it isn't a sequel to FO3. Just like Vice City and San Andreas for GTA. The game is selling extremely well and that because people enjoy the core. Big bugs are defiinitely a problem, but to tell you the truth...it seems the only people who seem to get big time butt hurt by these bugs are people who are either perfectionist, fanboys, or extreme nerds. For anyone who is a fan of Fallout 3 or Fallout in general, just know if you haven't played this game already...you are missing out on one of 2010's best, glitches and all. People who only love shooters should of course stay away amd if shooter fans do choose to pick this up, don't play on hardcore mode if 'run n' gun' is your style.
Hope you enjoyed my review. Now it's time for me to play this game as a heartless killer and view those endings. Oh yeah I forgot to say this, but this game has great replay value if you're into replaying games for both positive and negative outcomes.
Acutal Score: 9.1