It's been a long weekend, time for some more Fallout: New Vegas previews. Game Revolution.<blockquote>If sci-fi movies, alternate-history tales, post-Apocalyptic stories and other forms of speculative fiction have taught us nothing else about the dystopian future, they've clued us in to this much: Never be the courier-guy. Being the courier-guy sucks donkey balls. Oh sure, it seems like a free-wheeling, make-your-own schedule sort of gig as long as you make the delivery more or less on time... but there's always some kinda shit-deluxe catch—stored data going bad and dangerous in your head, or big, Illuminatoid meta-conspiracies that you're the last to find out about... or, much more often, mundane packs of garden-variety goons out to cap you, take your package and leave you for dead. The much-awaited Fallout: New Vegas stays on point with this cautionary message and simply promises more of what makes the Fallout series such gamer-crack, while offering players a thorough tour of a splinter-universe, Las-Vegas-and-environs that went straight from Rat-Pack to Tac-Nuke.
click to enlargeIt's gratifying enough that the Fallout series has, in terms of setting, circled back to its fictionalized West Coast(-ish) roots; now add the fact that Obsidian was founded by some of the same folks who made the original Fallout games of yore... and the post-Apocalypse never looked so promising. So it came to pass that I spent a few days with Obsidian and Bethesda (in the real-world, pre-Apocalyptic Las Vegas we have come to know in this timeline) for an in-depth look at how Sin City has fared after The Big One.</blockquote>PlayStation Future.<blockquote>Weapons – With double the number of weapons found in Fallout 3, you’ll have more than enough new and exciting ways to deal with the threats of the wasteland and the locals. In addition, you’ll get to mess around with the new weapons configuration system that lets you tinker with your toys and see the modifications you make in real time.
In a huge, open world with unlimited options you can see the sights, choose sides, or go it alone. Peacemaker or Hard Case, House Rules, or the Wild Card – it’s all in how you play the game. Although Fallout: New Vegas is, strictly speaking, a spin-off rather than a full sequel, fans of the series should find plenty to get excited about here - Fallout: New Vegas is looking like it could be one of the very best Fallout games yet. Although a precise release date has yet to be set, it’s currently scheduled for an Autumn 2010 release in Europe and North America.</blockquote>IncGamers.<blockquote>Next on the agenda is to speak to the Prospector's Saloon owner Trudy and, entering the bar, we interrupt a dispute between her and gang member Joe Cobb. It seems he is looking for a man named Ringo who Trudy has been harbouring and, unless she tells him where Ringo is, Cobb will bring his Powder Gang and wreak havoc on the town. Trudy stands firm and after Cobb leaves we find Ringo hiding - a little creepily if we're being honest - in the ladies bathroom and he implores us to help him sort out the bullying Cobb gang. As always in Fallout, you have a choice. Do you ignore Ringo and move along, help him out or, if you fancy being a complete bastard, find Cobb and help him lay waste to the town? For the purposes of the demonstration, Avellone chooses to help Ringo and we set about trying to round up some troops to help us. It's here that the aforementioned skill tags come into play for the first time. For example, we need some explosives for the task at hand but local expert Easy Pete will not help you out unless you have the explosives tag which, luckily, we do. It's a similar affair at the local store and, because of our bartering tag, we persuade the store keeper to kit out our town defenders with weapons and armour. </blockquote>
click to enlargeIt's gratifying enough that the Fallout series has, in terms of setting, circled back to its fictionalized West Coast(-ish) roots; now add the fact that Obsidian was founded by some of the same folks who made the original Fallout games of yore... and the post-Apocalypse never looked so promising. So it came to pass that I spent a few days with Obsidian and Bethesda (in the real-world, pre-Apocalyptic Las Vegas we have come to know in this timeline) for an in-depth look at how Sin City has fared after The Big One.</blockquote>PlayStation Future.<blockquote>Weapons – With double the number of weapons found in Fallout 3, you’ll have more than enough new and exciting ways to deal with the threats of the wasteland and the locals. In addition, you’ll get to mess around with the new weapons configuration system that lets you tinker with your toys and see the modifications you make in real time.
In a huge, open world with unlimited options you can see the sights, choose sides, or go it alone. Peacemaker or Hard Case, House Rules, or the Wild Card – it’s all in how you play the game. Although Fallout: New Vegas is, strictly speaking, a spin-off rather than a full sequel, fans of the series should find plenty to get excited about here - Fallout: New Vegas is looking like it could be one of the very best Fallout games yet. Although a precise release date has yet to be set, it’s currently scheduled for an Autumn 2010 release in Europe and North America.</blockquote>IncGamers.<blockquote>Next on the agenda is to speak to the Prospector's Saloon owner Trudy and, entering the bar, we interrupt a dispute between her and gang member Joe Cobb. It seems he is looking for a man named Ringo who Trudy has been harbouring and, unless she tells him where Ringo is, Cobb will bring his Powder Gang and wreak havoc on the town. Trudy stands firm and after Cobb leaves we find Ringo hiding - a little creepily if we're being honest - in the ladies bathroom and he implores us to help him sort out the bullying Cobb gang. As always in Fallout, you have a choice. Do you ignore Ringo and move along, help him out or, if you fancy being a complete bastard, find Cobb and help him lay waste to the town? For the purposes of the demonstration, Avellone chooses to help Ringo and we set about trying to round up some troops to help us. It's here that the aforementioned skill tags come into play for the first time. For example, we need some explosives for the task at hand but local expert Easy Pete will not help you out unless you have the explosives tag which, luckily, we do. It's a similar affair at the local store and, because of our bartering tag, we persuade the store keeper to kit out our town defenders with weapons and armour. </blockquote>
