We haven't done one of these in ages. A selection. RPGCodex slobber all over it in a 5-heart interview.<blockquote>The game should be commended for its moral pitch - it's happy to show Caesar's Legion doing some very bad things, and also have some genuine humanitarians (Followers of the Apocalypse). There really is a fractious ethos in New Vegas (should you really help the Khans, or the Boomers, or the Legion? Are the NCR really much better? Is New Vegas worth keeping?) without everything being smeared together into some pseudo-grimdark trope about everyone being bastards wanking over their stash of child porn. It also retains the slightly over-the-top but not completely ridiculous style of the first two games: solar powered super weapons and 1950s rockets blasting off are there, but such elements are reined in appropriately for verisimilitude.
Another plank to New Vegas's charm is the quest design. You have a sandbox game that isn't contrived, that really does offer emergent solutions to problems. Organizing and arming a militia (depending on your skills) to protect a trader from a group of gangers, to cracking a robotics facility, to talking your way into performing an operation on a major antagonist to deliberately botch it yet talk your way out of trouble… the list goes on. New Vegas is vast, and most of it is well worth seeing, occasional fast travel fetch quest excepted. Never did I think 'why isn't the game letting me solve it this way', and often New Vegas took the lead in taking me down solutions which were just plain cool. </blockquote>ActionTrip, 7.5/10.<blockquote>Speaking of quests, apart from the main "who tried to kill me and why" quest, there a ton of interesting side quests to be had. The side quests are a good thing because, to be blunt, the main quest line is uninspiring. Sure I understand that being robbed and left for dead is a bad bit of luck, but it did not really rev my engine to pursue the matter until late in the game. What can I say? It takes more than a bullet to the skull to get my attention. Instead, I spent my time exploring my surroundings in the starting area of Sweetwater. I assumed I needed to get a few levels under my belt to improve my skills if I was I going to tackle the main quest. To my surprise, there is so much to explore, so many side quests, that I was a 100 plus hours into the game pursuing stories that lead from one area to another until suddenly at level 23, I stumbled onto the second step of the main quest line. Frankly I had no interest in pursuing the main line any further at that point either.
A domino effect had occurred with my side quests as I encountered different factions. I had enough to keep me occupied trying to determine which group to help and which groups to work against, that I could not have cared less who tried to kill me at the start of the game. I was more interested in how I could further thwart the goals of the Legion than worry about dealing with my would-be killers. I don't view this lack of interest in the main quest line as a bad thing. Rather, I am grateful that Obsidian spent so much time populating the wasteland with so much to do and the many opportunities to decide who to help and who to hinder (and that is not always a black and white evaluation). That combination makes for an RPG that is ripe for many more play-throughs.</blockquote>
ComputerGames.ro 93/100.<blockquote>Still, what were the chances that something so exquisite - bordering both the brilliant and the insane – could come out from the worst donut a game could ever cook into?
Really slim. And as slim as they were, Obsidian studios deserves the praise they get, and Bethesda for trusting them with our dreams. It’s really something else – well fleshed out and with enough content to make Fallout 3 look like the fluked exam that it really is. What’s disappointing is that the technical base betrays it, so there are quite a few number of bugs to be had, ranging from amusing collision detections to the more severe kind (condolences go out to all the fellow post-apocalyptic adventurers who have lost their saved games due to the intense radiation). From what I experienced in the dozens of hours spent in the desert, I could say the impact of bugs on the game is negligible, but ultimately it also depends on luck and your PC configuration.
After Fallout 3, veterans of the series had lost any kind of hope they would ever set foot in a new post-apocalyptic world that they could appreciate without the help of mods. That’s why New Vegas is all the more impressive, because despite its problematic foundation, it turned into a game that even the most elitist and conservative of fans will play until exhaustion.</blockquote>SPonG 82%.<blockquote>The main quest is a lot more fun too. No longer are you following the trail of your runaway Dad, being sent from city to city only to be told, “Well he's been through here, but the princess is in another castle”. In fact you feel a little more like a detective, tracking down your failed killer. Sure, you're still being sent from city to city but as you move towards New Vegas in your hunt, you have to take it upon yourself to find out as much as you can about your target before moving on.
At times it feels like a book that you can't put down. There always seems to be the next big reveal around the corner. Once you grow into a stronger, levelled-up character and your fear of enemies disappears, you'll soon find your one hour sessions growing, and your time in the real world melting away around you. You'll also find dark rings around your eyes and an energy drink in your hand as you sit down at work the next day.</blockquote>D+PAD 4/5.<blockquote>A number of additions to improve upon the formula that Fallout 3 had laid out really do give us the impression that Obsidian had enough of their own ideas to make this a game that expands upon 2008’s entry, without a complaint that it should be a DLC expansion piece. The way in which factions are directly entwined into the game is a welcome spin on the morality meter. With positive and negative karma still incurred for stealing/helping folks, New Vegas’s many factions and towns each have their own impression of you, from being vilified by Caesar’s Legion (a large Slaver operation) to being jovially respected by the town of Goodsprings, that RPG promise that choices and actions will directly impact the latter stages of the game are none more appropriate than here. It’ll be the key differentiator between walking straight through a slave camp with the intentions of receiving the Platinum Chip and having to level up to insane heights to fight off the Legion in the same instance. Your relationships are also likely to affect item prices, encroach on NPC conversations, and step onto the opportunity to employ companions that will help you through the game (you can have one human and one non-humanoid companion characters in your party at any one time).</blockquote>411mania, 8.3/10.<blockquote>Also, some speech options give you new things besides caps or influence. I talked to Ranger Andy, and ended up getting taught the Ranger Takedown melee move by passing a speech check. Magazines which raise your skills by 10 temporarily can help you pass speech checks or help with other skills needed as well. There are still books in the game to permanently increase skills as well, but they are a lot fewer because of the leveling system, which I’ll explain later.</blockquote>Crispy Gamer spills its nerd-juices over Felicia Day, which seems to be the only reason she was cast (for nerd-juices).<blockquote>In fact, the whole game engine feels as though it’s been tinkered with, much to our benefit. Unarmed combat is now more interesting with the addition of special moves that let you counter an enemy’s punch or knock him to the ground. Weapon sights and scopes are new quite accurate and with some weapons you’re actually better off using them across long distances than switching into VATS. Item crafting has also been upgraded with the addition of 90 or so recipes for food, drugs, ammo, and other assorted bits. Food can be crafted at campfires (but not ovens for some reason), ammo is broken down and manufactured at a reloading bench, and everything else can be built at workbenches.</blockquote>Game Vortex, 90%.<blockquote>As if to say previous games were child's play, Fallout: New Vegas adds systems and feature to the gameplay that actually makes it DEEPER than Fallout 3. A more improved companion system allows for greater flexibility of your small adventure seeking party (that may or may not contain a cyborg-dog.) Weapons can be outfitted with custom mods that improve their accuracy outside of V.A.T.S. and true iron sights while aiming make all of the weapons much more useful to your play style. The biggest change is the subtle karma replacement, your reputation. "Reputation" is earned by assisting small towns or groups in their endeavors. Help one group too much and you lose reputation with their rival faction, making you a high profile target. While karma stills plays a role to some extent with particular individuals, it is nicer to see a big-picture scenario of your actions. Just because you might have told a little girl her stuffed animals didn't love her and died a horrible death doesn't make you a bad person when you saved the entire town from the brink of starvation moments before. Right?</blockquote>Actually deeper than Fallout 3! Wow, can you imagine a game deeper than Fallout 3?! I mean...wow!
For a quick general overview, saunter over to the gaming media's favorite MetaCritic (favored despite using opaque and arbitrary methods), which scores New Vegas at 86, 84 and 82 on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3. These aren't particularly good scores but they're not bad. Fallout 3, for comparison, scored 91, 93 and 90 on those platforms.
Another plank to New Vegas's charm is the quest design. You have a sandbox game that isn't contrived, that really does offer emergent solutions to problems. Organizing and arming a militia (depending on your skills) to protect a trader from a group of gangers, to cracking a robotics facility, to talking your way into performing an operation on a major antagonist to deliberately botch it yet talk your way out of trouble… the list goes on. New Vegas is vast, and most of it is well worth seeing, occasional fast travel fetch quest excepted. Never did I think 'why isn't the game letting me solve it this way', and often New Vegas took the lead in taking me down solutions which were just plain cool. </blockquote>ActionTrip, 7.5/10.<blockquote>Speaking of quests, apart from the main "who tried to kill me and why" quest, there a ton of interesting side quests to be had. The side quests are a good thing because, to be blunt, the main quest line is uninspiring. Sure I understand that being robbed and left for dead is a bad bit of luck, but it did not really rev my engine to pursue the matter until late in the game. What can I say? It takes more than a bullet to the skull to get my attention. Instead, I spent my time exploring my surroundings in the starting area of Sweetwater. I assumed I needed to get a few levels under my belt to improve my skills if I was I going to tackle the main quest. To my surprise, there is so much to explore, so many side quests, that I was a 100 plus hours into the game pursuing stories that lead from one area to another until suddenly at level 23, I stumbled onto the second step of the main quest line. Frankly I had no interest in pursuing the main line any further at that point either.
A domino effect had occurred with my side quests as I encountered different factions. I had enough to keep me occupied trying to determine which group to help and which groups to work against, that I could not have cared less who tried to kill me at the start of the game. I was more interested in how I could further thwart the goals of the Legion than worry about dealing with my would-be killers. I don't view this lack of interest in the main quest line as a bad thing. Rather, I am grateful that Obsidian spent so much time populating the wasteland with so much to do and the many opportunities to decide who to help and who to hinder (and that is not always a black and white evaluation). That combination makes for an RPG that is ripe for many more play-throughs.</blockquote>
ComputerGames.ro 93/100.<blockquote>Still, what were the chances that something so exquisite - bordering both the brilliant and the insane – could come out from the worst donut a game could ever cook into?
Really slim. And as slim as they were, Obsidian studios deserves the praise they get, and Bethesda for trusting them with our dreams. It’s really something else – well fleshed out and with enough content to make Fallout 3 look like the fluked exam that it really is. What’s disappointing is that the technical base betrays it, so there are quite a few number of bugs to be had, ranging from amusing collision detections to the more severe kind (condolences go out to all the fellow post-apocalyptic adventurers who have lost their saved games due to the intense radiation). From what I experienced in the dozens of hours spent in the desert, I could say the impact of bugs on the game is negligible, but ultimately it also depends on luck and your PC configuration.
After Fallout 3, veterans of the series had lost any kind of hope they would ever set foot in a new post-apocalyptic world that they could appreciate without the help of mods. That’s why New Vegas is all the more impressive, because despite its problematic foundation, it turned into a game that even the most elitist and conservative of fans will play until exhaustion.</blockquote>SPonG 82%.<blockquote>The main quest is a lot more fun too. No longer are you following the trail of your runaway Dad, being sent from city to city only to be told, “Well he's been through here, but the princess is in another castle”. In fact you feel a little more like a detective, tracking down your failed killer. Sure, you're still being sent from city to city but as you move towards New Vegas in your hunt, you have to take it upon yourself to find out as much as you can about your target before moving on.
At times it feels like a book that you can't put down. There always seems to be the next big reveal around the corner. Once you grow into a stronger, levelled-up character and your fear of enemies disappears, you'll soon find your one hour sessions growing, and your time in the real world melting away around you. You'll also find dark rings around your eyes and an energy drink in your hand as you sit down at work the next day.</blockquote>D+PAD 4/5.<blockquote>A number of additions to improve upon the formula that Fallout 3 had laid out really do give us the impression that Obsidian had enough of their own ideas to make this a game that expands upon 2008’s entry, without a complaint that it should be a DLC expansion piece. The way in which factions are directly entwined into the game is a welcome spin on the morality meter. With positive and negative karma still incurred for stealing/helping folks, New Vegas’s many factions and towns each have their own impression of you, from being vilified by Caesar’s Legion (a large Slaver operation) to being jovially respected by the town of Goodsprings, that RPG promise that choices and actions will directly impact the latter stages of the game are none more appropriate than here. It’ll be the key differentiator between walking straight through a slave camp with the intentions of receiving the Platinum Chip and having to level up to insane heights to fight off the Legion in the same instance. Your relationships are also likely to affect item prices, encroach on NPC conversations, and step onto the opportunity to employ companions that will help you through the game (you can have one human and one non-humanoid companion characters in your party at any one time).</blockquote>411mania, 8.3/10.<blockquote>Also, some speech options give you new things besides caps or influence. I talked to Ranger Andy, and ended up getting taught the Ranger Takedown melee move by passing a speech check. Magazines which raise your skills by 10 temporarily can help you pass speech checks or help with other skills needed as well. There are still books in the game to permanently increase skills as well, but they are a lot fewer because of the leveling system, which I’ll explain later.</blockquote>Crispy Gamer spills its nerd-juices over Felicia Day, which seems to be the only reason she was cast (for nerd-juices).<blockquote>In fact, the whole game engine feels as though it’s been tinkered with, much to our benefit. Unarmed combat is now more interesting with the addition of special moves that let you counter an enemy’s punch or knock him to the ground. Weapon sights and scopes are new quite accurate and with some weapons you’re actually better off using them across long distances than switching into VATS. Item crafting has also been upgraded with the addition of 90 or so recipes for food, drugs, ammo, and other assorted bits. Food can be crafted at campfires (but not ovens for some reason), ammo is broken down and manufactured at a reloading bench, and everything else can be built at workbenches.</blockquote>Game Vortex, 90%.<blockquote>As if to say previous games were child's play, Fallout: New Vegas adds systems and feature to the gameplay that actually makes it DEEPER than Fallout 3. A more improved companion system allows for greater flexibility of your small adventure seeking party (that may or may not contain a cyborg-dog.) Weapons can be outfitted with custom mods that improve their accuracy outside of V.A.T.S. and true iron sights while aiming make all of the weapons much more useful to your play style. The biggest change is the subtle karma replacement, your reputation. "Reputation" is earned by assisting small towns or groups in their endeavors. Help one group too much and you lose reputation with their rival faction, making you a high profile target. While karma stills plays a role to some extent with particular individuals, it is nicer to see a big-picture scenario of your actions. Just because you might have told a little girl her stuffed animals didn't love her and died a horrible death doesn't make you a bad person when you saved the entire town from the brink of starvation moments before. Right?</blockquote>Actually deeper than Fallout 3! Wow, can you imagine a game deeper than Fallout 3?! I mean...wow!
For a quick general overview, saunter over to the gaming media's favorite MetaCritic (favored despite using opaque and arbitrary methods), which scores New Vegas at 86, 84 and 82 on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3. These aren't particularly good scores but they're not bad. Fallout 3, for comparison, scored 91, 93 and 90 on those platforms.
