Fallout: New Vegas review

By BatRastered — November 23, 2010
Tags: fallout-new-vegas obsidian-entertainment pc ps3 review xbox-360

Fallout: New Vegas may as well have been called Fallout 3: New Vegas, plus it's glitchy and slow to load. How does it still manage to be fun?

As Ice-T said on twitter: http://twitter.com/FINALLEVEL/status/28896055927

'Fallout New Vegas' It's slow... The load screens take forever.. Too much talking... It froze once.. BUT I CAN"T STOP PLAYING IT!!!!

Fallout: New Vegas is basically the same as Fallout 3, there’s not too much different. It is full of bugs, has slow loading times, and occasionally freezes. But you can’t stop playing it. What is new is the hardcore mode, where you need to eat and drink every so often to stay alive and your ammo counts as weight.

Being too much like Fallout 3 isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as Fallout 3 was one of my favorite games, but it seems like Obsidian didn’t change enough to make this a true sequel (and I think they know that thus, it isn’t called Fallout 4). I liken this to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City following on Grand Theft Auto III.

The glitches aren’t too bad, some are even funny:

However, in the first hour or so of playing, I observed big horn’s stuck with fence posts inside them and radscorpions stuck under the train tracks (multiple times) and a gang that randomly attacked me then wanted my help.

Sometimes you will run into quests that can’t be completed or rewards that can’t be acquired which is really disappointing. For example, there are a bunch of robot guards at the entrance to New Vegas. In order to gain entrance you need to either pay 2000 caps or present a passport. I had neither of these at the time, so I decided to look around town for jobs to do for caps or maybe someone who had a passport (video game playing 101, if there is an object needed to gain entrance to an area, someone or something nearby probably has it or can help you get it). I meet a gang called the Kings (think Elvis, not royalty) who are led by “the King” who is an Elvis impersonator. Allegedly he runs the little town outside the gate and can get anything, but he wants me to do stuff for him first. That’s pretty typical, I thought, let’s get to it.

I should probably mention that I’ve been pretty evil up to this point, if someone wont give me what I want, I’ll either steal it or shoot them, then steal it. So most of the people I’ve met up until now hate me. I want that passport though, so I’m nice to the Kings and do all their bullshit side missions. Finally the King says he’ll do a favor for me and I’m given the choice of one of three possible awards for my loyalty; a passport to new Vegas (yes!), a bunch of caps, or membership in his gang. Obviously, I opt for the passport. He tells me to visit his friend at the shop down the street and they will give me my prize. When I get there, the shop owners won’t even talk to me because they hate me. WTF? So I kill them. They have nothing worth looting. Fuck. I get no reward for all the King’s bullshit I just did. Worse yet, I still have no way into New Vegas.

Should I fight my way in? I doubt that will work, the robot guards seem pretty tough, and I’m still pretty weak, plus there are at least five of them. I noticed that the guard up front (the one you talk to who asks for your passport) would come out a little bit when I approached to initiate the dialog. Hmm... Let’s see. I walk up casually until he starts approaching me for conversation, but before he can do that, I turn tail and haul ass out of there. I turn around, he’s still following me... alone. I turn down an alley, set some landmines and wait with my laser pistol. After blowing the lone guard to bits, I loot his body for the key to the gate, success! I run back to the gate and open it before the other guards know what’s going on. I guess I should’ve just done that from the get-go.

The short version; It seems like I was the victim of a bad quest reward, and I exploited a glitch to get around it... But it was still fun, and I’m not sure if the unavailable quest reward was intentional by the developers or not (to punish me for being evil?).

All in all, a good game that I really wish they spent another month or two polishing up.

Verdict: Rent it

Fallout: New Vegas

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16 Stories
Editor's Choice
Release Date: Oct 19, 2010

Buy it! 58% - Rent it! 25% - Flush it! 17%

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Fallout: New Vegas review

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