While new vegas manages to import new and enjoyable things, overall it was a stepback from the revolutionary Fallout 3.
After three years the Fallout series is back with a new world to explore, while yet AGAIN the developer has been changed, the game is overly similar to Fallout 3. Setting 20 years after the events of Fallout 3, it seems like the post-apocalyptic wasteland has developed it's initial stages of civilization.
The game sets off simple. You're a courier with an important device, and you got shot, then like any fictional hero/ heroine, you're plunged into the crossfire of factional warfares between each side. Perhaps the best improvement in this one is that the factional warfare, for you can gain fame and infamy for each facton throughout the entire game, from independent settlements GoodSpring, Novac to huge factions like the NCR, Caesar's Legion and the Brotherhood of Steel. The game does encourage a lot of replay value as quests often follow a different side, unlike Fallout 3's linear main story. You can choose to bomb the monorail while following the Legion's footsteps or you can defuse it if you're a loyal soldier of the NCR. The variables are welcoming and great, and with ultimately four different sides to pick early on, the game does seem to be indulging and attractive enough to encourage you making a new character with different steps.
Having said that, the story seems to be slightly improved, though the ending would yet again, sound absolutely lacking in impact, the overall gameplay has been improved. Old rusty weapons are now replaced by brand new ones, sticking to the wild west including cowboy repeaters, revolvers and dynamite. The old ones are still existent though, and you'll warmly welcome big guns like the minigun and fatman. The guns around this time are much, much more resilient for some reason this time, as aided by the fact that there are high quality stores such as the Gun Runners and Micky & Ralph's who provide you with fully conditioned weapons. Weapons do rust much, much more slower, as I stuck to my Marksmine Carbine for over 8 hours before it rusted and I replaced it with another weapon. While some people will welcome that the fact that you don't need to find a repairman or buy a new weapon after each quest, some will notice the difficulty slandering in economical terms.
Speaking of difficulty, the gameplay seems to have lowered it's difficulty drastically. Perhaps you can blame the disappearing BoS and Enclave who wear heavy armor who have hidden underground to escape from the NCR's silly pathetic recruits wearing rags and holding weak weapons. Once into the game around level 15 (My initial character reached 32), I could easily engage in a massacre in almost any settlement and by level 23, I ran into the Legion's main base and slaughtered everyone with ease. Another thing is the AI, seemingly never takes cover in this game. In Fallout 3 most enemies will take advantage of the wreckage across the wasteland to fight against you, but New Vegas enemies seem redundant and their behavior has been downgraded so much. Raiders seem to run away to often or die too quickly. The game does introduce the hardcore mode, which adds weight to bullets, changes the behavior of stimpacks as well as introducing starvation and sleep meters, but the gameplay overall is so easy that the game seems like a complete joke. Personally, I blame the high quality merchandise that doesnt burden players throughout the game, and enemy loots usually contain weapons over 50% condition, which makes killing such an ease in most cases. However the game isn't as far fetched easy as I've said, as deathclaws and super mutants (whose presence has almost disappeared in this game) are noticeably harder, but from my experience I believe it's a mere coding modification that made them tougher.
Companions are better this time around, as you can have one non-humanoid and one humanoid, as well as the companion command menu which enhances so much to the experience. Aside from that most companions will have their own side quest which will let you understand them more. They also speak more, have more history and much more emotional compared to Fallout 3.
Bethesda's games (They still are the publisher to this game) has always been about exploration and discovery, however this game seems to backtrack it's footsteps drastically. Caves and dungeons are so short that you will finish exploring them in less than five minutes. Shacks usually at most contain a few raiders (depending on the gang) that stand up to you for less than a minute before your weapon liquidates them. It's hideous and dumb, and it hinders the overall experience. Another thing noticeable is that the devoid of atmosphere throughout the game. Fallout 3 provided a great wreckage with huge monuments that would make you say "woah" every time you walked around, or abandoned metro stations and buildings still had a creepy sense as you explore in search of loot. Caves now are so bright you might as well rush in with a shotgun and spray everyone (aided by the fact that enemies are so easy to kill). On default brightness often I found the wasteland at night even more brighter. There were a few caves that actually had a sense of atmosphere (One that was completely blue in color and as you reached some glowing mushrooms your surroundings turn into a colorful green). The colors are so bland that it's absolutely a joke. I felt no sense of danger throughout any caves except for the one I mentioned just now. You can call me a sour puss since vegas is filled with sand, but really I personally found shacks and caves to be to bland and lack in personality. While you can say that it's the fact that civilization seems to be rebuilding (Outposts and army camps are everywhere in this game), the areas really are so linear that it won't be long before you confuse yourself when you travel to a location.
The graphics are noticeably aging certainly, but they are still great, provided you're not a graphics freak. The colorful, artful palettes are gone here, as you're surrounded by constant sand. 1/3 of the map contributes to sand, 1/3 contributes to mountain ranges and 1/3 contributes to an empty map. Yes that's right, 1/3 of the map is gone, disappeared behind a long mountain ridge in the west. I spent an hour trying every possible route to walk pass these ridges but apparently there's nothing there. The constant amount of mountain ranges only pisses you off most times, as they isolate only one path for you to explore (Which arguably you can still read it off the map to find a main road), but the surroundings constantly give you red herrings that trick you into thinking there's a shortcut. But doing that around five times you'll realize the game tries to expand more game hours by forcing you into hideous big roads. Speaking of roads, roads are noticeably non-existent. Of course again, you can argue the fact that it's a desert, but it really seems just like a lazy excuse. The only part that had personality I personally felt was the road to the Northwest leading to Jacobstown, where the road had some trees and vegetation that offered an alternative from the bland desert and highway. There are other atmospheric locations though, as the vault exploration seems to have been improved such as Vault 11 and Vault 22 both offer a great unique exploring sequence, along with a great side story.
The sound this around is alright, retaining the same level of standard. However the music is horrendously disappointing (seeing as the fact that oblivion and fallout 3 relied heavily on the excellent soundtrack that provided the atmosphere). There are some radio channels, but Radio New Vegas is so repetitive (It mostly reports what you've been doing, usually the main questline) that you'll be invited to shut it off. Black Mountain Radio consists of a blabbing DJ and it would seem the music radio the most logical choice. However as much as it has great music, it never contributes much to the atmosphere and surrounding. Dialogues are alright, the characters throughout the game have their own personality which is creditable, but the ending sequence of narrating the effects of the choices you made throughout the game (Main quest and side quest) are incredibly stupid. So stupid that I banged myself against the wall (They sound like some bland, hollywood movie narrator with this devoid of emotion voice explaining the aftermath of your actions)
Regardless, game hours seemed way shorter this time around, probably from the small exploration locations. The map I'm pretty sure is only 2/3 of Fallout 3 (including the non-existent 1/3 part). Locations feel lesser this time around and there really isn't much to explore (Honestly, I personally cannot help emphasizing again and again). After discovering 80% of the locations and finishing all the quests (excluding the final battle, I couldn't bother to play it again) accumulated to 83 hours. Personally I would hold myself to limitations since I had not played all the quests (I did not try the Legion questline nor the Mr House questline). But from what I hear, Mr House's quests are similar and there isn't much point.
Overall, New Vegas is still a great game. Don't let my bashing comments affect you as it is still way superior to other RPG games out there with it's "epic" (Not so epic) scale it has released. With other DLCs hopefully the game will spice up the varieties. The bugs are more noticeable as I had four quests bugged (I consider myself lucky already). Many times enemies suddenly lower into the mountain ridges make them unshootable, and dialogue options sometimes disappear. Concluding from above, I would say New Vegas is a great game overall, but if you're one of the people who had spent 200 hours on Morrowind, Oblivion and Fallout 3, you'll be severely disappointed.