Fallout: New Vegas Dead Money review

[Brother None]

Our friends at GameBanshee took a look at New Vegas and come back impressed.<blockquote>Also, Obsidian did a nice job in the DLC of telling a story and of connecting the events in the casino with the rest of the Mojave Wasteland (among other things, you learn why there's a headless corpse in Veronica's quest). During your time at the casino, you meet three new companions, and they're acted and motivated pretty well. They don't just join you because you're there; they have their own motivations and agendas, and they want to use you as much as you want to use them. By the end of the DLC, you might even care what happens to them (since they can't return with you to the Mojave Wasteland, it's not guaranteed that they'll even survive). Plus, the DLC previews some things to come, so it's good to see that Obsidian isn't just plopping down new locations for players to visit. It looks like they have an actual plan for their content, and a larger story to tell.</blockquote>

 

[Gaddes]

Spot on I have to say. I really enjoyed Dead Money. The story was pretty good and all the character's are enjoyable. Easily better than the Fo3 DLC's since they provided more than just new weapons and gear.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

Dead Money is fucking amazing you plebs.

P.S. So when is Ausir gonna pop in and tell us when the next DLC is coming out?

 

[TheWesDude]

As usual, GameBanshee delivers an opinion that makes sense from an RPG player's perspective.

the review could be written by BN

he works for game banshee i believe

 

[Dead Guy]

But it's not.

It's by Steven Carter.

 

[Brother None]

Yeah, I never really do DLC reviews, and Steven's been working on the New Vegas subsite for ages. Did I say working? I meant slaving. So naturally, like he did all F3 DLC, he's doing all New Vegas DLC.

Not that it matters, GB was an excellent RPG site before I joined and will be after I leave. Steven and Buck both write excellent reviews. Usually less wordy than me. Which is good.

 

[Serge 13]

I would love to play this if F:NV wouldn't crash every damn 20 minutes!
I have the ps3 version btw.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

I would love to play this if F:NV wouldn't crash every damn 20 minutes!
I have the ps3 version btw.

Serious? Wow.
You would think the console version would run better than the PC version, standardized hardware and all.

Working on the NMA review people, school is slow so I have some time now.

 

[WorstUsernameEver]

I think that review hit on the core aspect of the Dead Money experience for me (wow, I feel like a pretentious Gamespot reviewer now): the slower pace.
It's really not harder than the core game at all (and I played it at an abysmal framerate because I didn't notice that the mod manager had fucked up some of my ini settings) but it's slower and it's more based on interactions with the environment rather than the straightforward character-character interactions that abound in the main game (they are still present, just.. not as many).
Writing-wise, it's simply excellent. It's grim, bleak, consistent, the characters have all interesting premises without seeming forced and are developed very well, and the themes and atmosphere are constantly reinforced throughout the experience, both through the writing AND the gameplay.
It's not perfect by any means, both writing-wise (I dislike the insistence on keywords from Avellone, sometimes it sounds a little excessive and redundant, almost as if he doesn't trust the player to get what the DLC is about.. then again, seeing some of the LPs on Youtube, he may have a point) and gameplay-wise (the idea of putting jumping/platformer sections, albeit sparse and forgiving, was stupid, for once) but it's very good. It's also relatively long (and I didn't even explore it all THAT well) so you definitely get value for your money.. though again, your mileage on this may vary.

 

[Gaddes]

I would love to play this if F:NV wouldn't crash every damn 20 minutes!
I have the ps3 version btw.

I also have the PS3 version. Although, I personally haven't experienced Dead Money crashing. It actually ran smoother than the main game when I played it. I think the worst I got was some frame rate lag.