fallout: new Vegas
Matthew Cash
We all know and love Bethesda Softworks' 2008 masterpiece, Fallout 3. Game of the Year to most, it was quite unsurprising to learn that there was a sequel in the works. The big shocker was the developer, Obsidian Entertainment, a company which has gotten a bad rap for "bad games". [REDACTED]. With this company, gamers knew two things. (1. It would play exactly the same as Fallout 3 and (2. It would be ugly and buggy. Face it, gamers LOVE Fallout 3, so it's only natural as to wonder whether or not your money would be suited for a half-baked DLC pack.
In fact, take the "DLC" idea and spin it around. This game is easily as big as Fallout 3, if not BIGGER! Take that, Jessica Chobot! In fact, this game brings substantial upgrades to the formula Fallout 3 provided, created a game that may as well say that Fallout 3 is the expansion. You have all kinds of new crap, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
You're a courier. You get shot during a delivery. Some weird robot freak digs you out immediately following your burial and takes you to the doctor where you get those misplaced pieces of lead out of your noggin. You take a similar thing to the "G.O.A.T." from Fallout 3 to determine your skills before venturing out into the Mojave Desert for revenge. As expected, it quickly turns a bit more complicated than that, but I'm not one to give spoilers.
Anyway, you quickly notice a load of upgrades from Fallout 3 to here. There's a weapon modification system, similar to what was found in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky, different ammo types, a more thorough creation system that a LOT of people will love (myself excluded for not caring), a bunch of new weapons and armor, a new setting, a Hardcore mode for a more immersive experience, and more traditional Fallout pieces, mostly including the humor. However, the one thing I found out within the first two hours is that this game is hard as BALLS. Fallout 3 is for pussies, this is the real deal. I died 2 times and barely escaped within the first two and a half hours. I temporarily turned down the difficulty until I got better gear before turning it back up. To me, this made me feel more like a struggler than Fallout 3 did, something that the previous game should've done in the first place. Needless to say, I was quite more immersed in the experience when I learned that this game will kick my ass if I don't scavenge and grab the right gear.
Aside from those gameplay differences, there's a faction system which turns the game into something completely different than that found in F3. If you've forgotten, let me remind you how the Karma system worked in Fallout 3. Do good stuff, get good karma. Do bad stuff, do bad karma. The choices were almost always black-and-white, which didn't feel incredibly realistic. Here, you get a Karma rating for every faction and most towns that you find. A good example is early in the game. I met a guy who was causing trouble at the Saloon in the town I was revived in. When he left, I confronted him and asked his problem. He told me he wanted a man and the town wouldn't tell him where this man was. He asked me to take this man out. Being the gentleman that I was, I went found this guy's house and brutally murdered him, slicing up his body parts and laughing like some stupid dumbass. I returned to the man, a squad leader of a faction known as the Powder Gangers (known for using explosives such as dynamite) and told him of my finished deed. After eventually grabbing some supplies, we raided the town, killing everyone but a few citizens and the town merchant. I was immediately known as vilified within the town that had so graciously kept me alive. On the plus side, I started getting a good rep in the Powder Gangers, despite the squad leader sadly dying in battle.
This proves that the choices now are much less bland as the major choice here was either taking the town for free supplies or killing this leader and his comrades and gaining favor in the town. Each choice has it's own pros and cons, making these situations less bland in comparison.
Speaking of bland, the graphics are just that. It uses the same engine used back in 2006 for Oblivion. While Oblivion still looks pretty in terms of environments, animation and character models look hideous. That makes me sad, especially since Obsidian got more than 5 voice actors for each gender. They have a much greater amount of voice actors now and all of them are excellent in their roles. The scripts are a little bit more realistic and humorous, making the audio side of the presentation much more enjoyable than the lackluster character models and environments. Don't get me wrong, seeing New Vegas on the horizon at midnight is a moment that absolutely NO gamer should miss, but hearing the new stuff still beats it. The only problem is in the music. While it has brought me even more classics such as those from Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, The infamous Ink Spots, and even my current favorite of Marty Robbins, there are only 13 songs in total, some of which are shared between radio stations. Fallout 3 had a much more solid soundtrack with 33 songs in total. However, these tracks are beautiful to listen to and the new DJ, Mr. New Vegas (voice by real-life DJ Wayne Newton) makes these songs even nicer with his sweet and gentle personality.
People have REALLY complained about bugs, glitches, and game-breaking problems. TO tell you the truth, I found ONE bug and the game froze up n me once after I hit the 60 hour mark. But after keeping the 360 on all night, I can't say I blame it. The bug was just one where the enemies half sink into the floor or their bodies disappear under them to be lost forever. This was often a very humorous glitch, so why should I take points off for that? That is one glitch that should never be fixed. Please note that I was playing the un-patched version of the game and that the levels of game screw-ups is probably based no your real-life luck. What, your died died and your house got destroyed and your car got salvaged all in one day? I'd recommend staying away until some more patches come in. For those of you that find yourself getting lucky at the slot machines (of which there are some in-game along with Blackjack, Roulette, and a complicated new game called Caravan), then grab this baby and never let go.
In short, I found New Vegas to be everything Fallout 3 wasn't. Character choices tie in a bit better with the plot, and the script, voice acting, graphics (they had very MINOR upgrades), and gameplay are all much more refined than that found in its predecessor. I know this score may seem quite generous and I need to stop handing out high scores, I've played a lot of GOOD games this year and I've been careful to avoid the shovelware. For the GotY, we actually have a third contestant to enter in for the title. Splinter Cell Conviction and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow have a new person to attempt to top. Again, this score is genuine to MY gameplay experience.
Score: 10
We all know and love Bethesda Softworks' 2008 masterpiece, Fallout 3. Game of the Year to most, it was quite unsurprising to learn that there was a sequel in the works. The big shocker was the developer, Obsidian Entertainment, a company which has gotten a bad rap for "bad games". [REDACTED]. With this company, gamers knew two things. (1. It would play exactly the same as Fallout 3 and (2. It would be ugly and buggy. Face it, gamers LOVE Fallout 3, so it's only natural as to wonder whether or not your money would be suited for a half-baked DLC pack.
In fact, take the "DLC" idea and spin it around. This game is easily as big as Fallout 3, if not BIGGER! Take that, Jessica Chobot! In fact, this game brings substantial upgrades to the formula Fallout 3 provided, created a game that may as well say that Fallout 3 is the expansion. You have all kinds of new crap, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
You're a courier. You get shot during a delivery. Some weird robot freak digs you out immediately following your burial and takes you to the doctor where you get those misplaced pieces of lead out of your noggin. You take a similar thing to the "G.O.A.T." from Fallout 3 to determine your skills before venturing out into the Mojave Desert for revenge. As expected, it quickly turns a bit more complicated than that, but I'm not one to give spoilers.
Anyway, you quickly notice a load of upgrades from Fallout 3 to here. There's a weapon modification system, similar to what was found in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky, different ammo types, a more thorough creation system that a LOT of people will love (myself excluded for not caring), a bunch of new weapons and armor, a new setting, a Hardcore mode for a more immersive experience, and more traditional Fallout pieces, mostly including the humor. However, the one thing I found out within the first two hours is that this game is hard as BALLS. Fallout 3 is for pussies, this is the real deal. I died 2 times and barely escaped within the first two and a half hours. I temporarily turned down the difficulty until I got better gear before turning it back up. To me, this made me feel more like a struggler than Fallout 3 did, something that the previous game should've done in the first place. Needless to say, I was quite more immersed in the experience when I learned that this game will kick my ass if I don't scavenge and grab the right gear.
Aside from those gameplay differences, there's a faction system which turns the game into something completely different than that found in F3. If you've forgotten, let me remind you how the Karma system worked in Fallout 3. Do good stuff, get good karma. Do bad stuff, do bad karma. The choices were almost always black-and-white, which didn't feel incredibly realistic. Here, you get a Karma rating for every faction and most towns that you find. A good example is early in the game. I met a guy who was causing trouble at the Saloon in the town I was revived in. When he left, I confronted him and asked his problem. He told me he wanted a man and the town wouldn't tell him where this man was. He asked me to take this man out. Being the gentleman that I was, I went found this guy's house and brutally murdered him, slicing up his body parts and laughing like some stupid dumbass. I returned to the man, a squad leader of a faction known as the Powder Gangers (known for using explosives such as dynamite) and told him of my finished deed. After eventually grabbing some supplies, we raided the town, killing everyone but a few citizens and the town merchant. I was immediately known as vilified within the town that had so graciously kept me alive. On the plus side, I started getting a good rep in the Powder Gangers, despite the squad leader sadly dying in battle.
This proves that the choices now are much less bland as the major choice here was either taking the town for free supplies or killing this leader and his comrades and gaining favor in the town. Each choice has it's own pros and cons, making these situations less bland in comparison.
Speaking of bland, the graphics are just that. It uses the same engine used back in 2006 for Oblivion. While Oblivion still looks pretty in terms of environments, animation and character models look hideous. That makes me sad, especially since Obsidian got more than 5 voice actors for each gender. They have a much greater amount of voice actors now and all of them are excellent in their roles. The scripts are a little bit more realistic and humorous, making the audio side of the presentation much more enjoyable than the lackluster character models and environments. Don't get me wrong, seeing New Vegas on the horizon at midnight is a moment that absolutely NO gamer should miss, but hearing the new stuff still beats it. The only problem is in the music. While it has brought me even more classics such as those from Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, The infamous Ink Spots, and even my current favorite of Marty Robbins, there are only 13 songs in total, some of which are shared between radio stations. Fallout 3 had a much more solid soundtrack with 33 songs in total. However, these tracks are beautiful to listen to and the new DJ, Mr. New Vegas (voice by real-life DJ Wayne Newton) makes these songs even nicer with his sweet and gentle personality.
People have REALLY complained about bugs, glitches, and game-breaking problems. TO tell you the truth, I found ONE bug and the game froze up n me once after I hit the 60 hour mark. But after keeping the 360 on all night, I can't say I blame it. The bug was just one where the enemies half sink into the floor or their bodies disappear under them to be lost forever. This was often a very humorous glitch, so why should I take points off for that? That is one glitch that should never be fixed. Please note that I was playing the un-patched version of the game and that the levels of game screw-ups is probably based no your real-life luck. What, your died died and your house got destroyed and your car got salvaged all in one day? I'd recommend staying away until some more patches come in. For those of you that find yourself getting lucky at the slot machines (of which there are some in-game along with Blackjack, Roulette, and a complicated new game called Caravan), then grab this baby and never let go.
In short, I found New Vegas to be everything Fallout 3 wasn't. Character choices tie in a bit better with the plot, and the script, voice acting, graphics (they had very MINOR upgrades), and gameplay are all much more refined than that found in its predecessor. I know this score may seem quite generous and I need to stop handing out high scores, I've played a lot of GOOD games this year and I've been careful to avoid the shovelware. For the GotY, we actually have a third contestant to enter in for the title. Splinter Cell Conviction and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow have a new person to attempt to top. Again, this score is genuine to MY gameplay experience.
Score: 10