The first previews of New Vegas are hitting the web, with IGN kicking things off.<blockquote>New Vegas is still an open world role-playing game and the combination of real-time shooting and VATS (a targeting system that pauses the game and allows for a more classically RPG style of combat) has not changed. Newly added is the ability to find and equip weapon mods and specialty ammo, further tweaking and improving an arsenal that already contains twice as many weapons as Fallout 3. If that Grenade Machine Gun isn't good enough, you can always add an extra mod on it to make its rate of fire even faster. Scopes, extra clips, special ammo and more can be found for most weapons, and every change you make to the gun is reflected in its look in the game.
Some additions have been made to the flow of combat as well, making New Vegas a much more flexible and fluid looking experience. During real-time combat, new camera options have been added and the mechanics have been tweaked. You can now aim down the sights like most standard first-person shooters, and the game options can be tweaked to add in the cinematic, slow-mo kill cam previously only available through VATS. If you do bring up VATS, you'll find new options for melee targeting including special moves. No matter your battle preferences, prepare for a similar gore fest to Fallout 3. During the demo I watched as the player took an uppercut swing with a 9 Iron golf club to the face of an enemy. His head flew off in a stream of blood.</blockquote>Kotaku.<blockquote>Specifically, for the serious Fallout fan, New Vegas introduces a Hardcore option from the get-go, allowing them to bypass early tutorials and live a more difficult post-nuclear life. Players opting to go hardcore will have to stave off hunger and dehydration, and will be required to visit doctors for more serious injuries. Hardcore also more harshly limits the amount of ammo one can carry, applying weight to bullets. Stimpacks won't heal instantly, but will heal over time.</blockquote>Escapist Magazine.<blockquote>What sets New Vegas apart from Fallout 3, aside from numerous gameplay tweaks we'll get to shortly, is its tone and setting. Fallout 3 was set in the Washington D.C. area, a part of the United States with a decidedly iconic and perhaps overly dreary tone. As a result, Fallout 3's tone was iconic and kind of dreary - a tone that fit the setting and the look of a devastated U.S. capital quite well.
New Vegas, however, is a different animal. After all, how can the destruction (and rebirth) of Las Vegas be anything but absurd? Las Vegas is the city of sin, where money is made and lost in staggering volume and where people from all over the world come to let loose. It's also located in probably the strangest part of the country, at once part of the stoic desert culture of the Southwest and the kitschy, campy culture of the Great American Interstate society, which is home to monuments like Carhenge and The World's Tallest Thermometer.</blockquote>
Some additions have been made to the flow of combat as well, making New Vegas a much more flexible and fluid looking experience. During real-time combat, new camera options have been added and the mechanics have been tweaked. You can now aim down the sights like most standard first-person shooters, and the game options can be tweaked to add in the cinematic, slow-mo kill cam previously only available through VATS. If you do bring up VATS, you'll find new options for melee targeting including special moves. No matter your battle preferences, prepare for a similar gore fest to Fallout 3. During the demo I watched as the player took an uppercut swing with a 9 Iron golf club to the face of an enemy. His head flew off in a stream of blood.</blockquote>Kotaku.<blockquote>Specifically, for the serious Fallout fan, New Vegas introduces a Hardcore option from the get-go, allowing them to bypass early tutorials and live a more difficult post-nuclear life. Players opting to go hardcore will have to stave off hunger and dehydration, and will be required to visit doctors for more serious injuries. Hardcore also more harshly limits the amount of ammo one can carry, applying weight to bullets. Stimpacks won't heal instantly, but will heal over time.</blockquote>Escapist Magazine.<blockquote>What sets New Vegas apart from Fallout 3, aside from numerous gameplay tweaks we'll get to shortly, is its tone and setting. Fallout 3 was set in the Washington D.C. area, a part of the United States with a decidedly iconic and perhaps overly dreary tone. As a result, Fallout 3's tone was iconic and kind of dreary - a tone that fit the setting and the look of a devastated U.S. capital quite well.
New Vegas, however, is a different animal. After all, how can the destruction (and rebirth) of Las Vegas be anything but absurd? Las Vegas is the city of sin, where money is made and lost in staggering volume and where people from all over the world come to let loose. It's also located in probably the strangest part of the country, at once part of the stoic desert culture of the Southwest and the kitschy, campy culture of the Great American Interstate society, which is home to monuments like Carhenge and The World's Tallest Thermometer.</blockquote>
On one hand I think it's stupid (FO3 already had enough weapons), on the other if they manage to differentiate them enough and give the best weapons only to a minority of enemies it could give a bit of extra depth since you can't bring them all around like in FO3. Especially in hardcore mode where weight will be even more of an issue.