13pm
Water Chip? Been There, Done That
So this is issue #4 of our 1158 review roundups on Fallout: New Vegas. The cover story is bugs.
Gamereactor gives the game 9/10. <blockquote>Fallout: New Vegas is at its core more of the same basic experience we got from Fallout 3. However, there is enough here that is different for it not to be a problem and why fix things that ain't broke? The plot, story, quests and design or on par with Fallout 3, and the writing is better in my opinion. The bugs can be a bit annoying, but you get so much out of the New Vegas experience that they don't really bother me. If you enjoyed Fallout 3 you will no doubt enjoy Fallout: New Vegas.</blockquote>
Gametrailers also gives a huge attention to bugs and giltches, giving the game 9.4 for the story, 9.3 for design, 8.7 for the gameplay and 7.1 for presentation (which is about the tech issues).
Games on Net awards Fallout: New Vegas with 4.5 stars of 5.<blockquote>Although I’m not yet finished with Fallout: New Vegas, the 35 hours I’ve spent with it have been sufficient to thoroughly convince me of its excellence. The endgame, for all I know, could be utterly terrible, but even if it were, this would still be a better game than Fallout 3.</blockquote> Well, I can't imagine how terrible the ending should be to be worse than that of Fallout 3.<blockquote>For everyone who isn’t insane, New Vegas is an utter triumph. This is the game that I always knew Obsidian could make, and to see them finally do it is immensely satisfying. Well done, guys. You’re in the A-Leagues now.</blockquote>
Gaming Heaven does a good review giving the game an overall score of 93/100. <blockquote>With a game that has an environment as large as this there are of course some bugs which have yet to be ironed out, though none that we experienced were critical. For example there were a couple of occasions when we travelled off the main path to find one of the larger scorpions half trapped in the ground, essentially rendered at the wrong height. Those sorts of scenarios are beneficial as we can dispose of that enemy without any danger. On the other hand there was one occasion where we hid in a building only for the NPC who was chasing us to be able to damage us through a wall they should not have known we were behind.
No doubt these will be picked up and patched as more players play through the game and in truth the problems are few and far between, given the scope of the game. </blockquote>
Lan Raiders have played the XBox version and say the game deserves 94 out of 100<blockquote>Again, might cause some disappointment to a few people but there is no multiplayer, no co-op, no dog and no magic. That is Fable III, not Fallout: New Vegas. Obsidian have kept the game to single player, which is probably for the best to deliver the richest and deepest experience possible for their fans. Speaking of fans, anyone who played Fallout 2 will recognize one of the characters who appear in the game, as a tribute to those who were part of the Black Isle Studios team back in the day.<...>
I would say this is definitely an improvement upon Fallout 3 and then some. Although they may look the same on the outside, Fallout: New Vegas offers a much deeper experience with extra options, choices and plenty of replay value. Combine that with some impressive visuals and audio and you might just have one of the best, well rounded role playing games on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.</blockquote>
XBox Addict gives Fallout: New Vegas 8.9/10. While the score for the gameplay is 9.5, overall score is lowered by those for visuals and sound.
Gaming Trend 86/100.<blockquote>While there is an incredible wealth of things to discover and enjoy in Fallout: New Vegas, so much of it will depend on the game being stable enough to see it. The gameplay mechanics (factions, crafting, etc.) that Obsidian has brought to the table are welcome additions, but the framerate issues, lockups, and texture oddities are not. The musical atmosphere is near perfect, but the repetition makes it tough to stay immersed. Excellent voice acting saves the day, but broken or lackluster quests find those voice actors underutilized. Companions in pairs and their control mechanics are a welcome improvement, breathing new life into an otherwise very quiet game - it’d be nice if they interrupted more often or chatted amongst themselves. The faction system in New Vegas creates a balancing act as none of them are particularly ‘good’, and even the ‘bad’ guys have a code of ethics – they just might not be compatible with yours. This faction reputation system ensures that you have more of a choice in how things unfold on subsequent runs through the game. All in all, if you enjoyed Fallout 3 and can handle the frustration of crashing and texture tearing, Fallout: New Vegas should be in your purchase queue. </blockquote>
Digital Spy 4/5. <blockquote>Fallout: New Vegas is a game with its target audience clearly in mind. If you didn't enjoy Fallout 3, the latest entry has little chance of winning you over. On the filpside, fans of the series will welcome this new addition with open arms. In many ways, it's a superior offering to its predecessor as the lighter tone makes it easier to take in. It may essentially be the same game deep down, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Whether you're a Fallout fanatic or newcomer to the franchise, New Vegas is a gamble you won't regret.</blockquote>
IGN tries to convince us that Fallout 3 was the first game in the story of franchise and says Fallout: New Vegas is worth 85/100.<blockquote>In New Vegas, the fun Fallout 3 formula is intact, with more polished combat, high-quality side missions, and the exciting setting of the Vegas strip. Unfortunately, the bugs also tagged along for the ride. If Obsidian and Bethesda had polished up the game by fixing the AI, improving the animations or even gotten it to run smoothly, perhaps it would feel less like a giant expansion of Fallout 3 and more like its own game. Be that as it may, Fallout 3 was a great game, so as similar as it is, Fallout: New Vegas is still a fun ride that offers more for fans of the series to enjoy. If you can look past its shortcomings, this is definitely a wasteland worth exploring.</blockquote>
Ausgamers 9.0/10. <blockquote>If people complained that Fallout 3 lost some of the original series’ more hardcore RPG roots, they can rest easier with New Vegas. This definitely looks and feels like Bethesda’s true 3D reimagining of the post-apocalyptic franchise, but at its core there are more nods and injections from Fallout’s past than anything from 2008’s masterpiece. What it carries over from that title is more akin to the mutated bugs that make up so much of your impediments in the wasteland - a ferociously flawed technical experience that definitely needed more time in production. The game isn’t broken, but it sure does limp along. <...> It doesn’t look as good as Fallout 3 did, and perhaps that’s down to internal support at Bethesda knowing the engine better than their outsourced pals, but it shows, and doesn’t help when Obsidian are known for lacking in the polish department. I was lucky enough to avoid any full crashes (though my house-mates have suffered these), but dodgy texture load-ins, massive frame-rate drops, out of sync voice work and alarmingly close pop-up have actually marred the experience for me. It is a detriment when you invest so much into the world, lore and characters and I’m hoping some serious patch work is released as soon as possible.</blockquote>
Gamereactor gives the game 9/10. <blockquote>Fallout: New Vegas is at its core more of the same basic experience we got from Fallout 3. However, there is enough here that is different for it not to be a problem and why fix things that ain't broke? The plot, story, quests and design or on par with Fallout 3, and the writing is better in my opinion. The bugs can be a bit annoying, but you get so much out of the New Vegas experience that they don't really bother me. If you enjoyed Fallout 3 you will no doubt enjoy Fallout: New Vegas.</blockquote>
Gametrailers also gives a huge attention to bugs and giltches, giving the game 9.4 for the story, 9.3 for design, 8.7 for the gameplay and 7.1 for presentation (which is about the tech issues).
Games on Net awards Fallout: New Vegas with 4.5 stars of 5.<blockquote>Although I’m not yet finished with Fallout: New Vegas, the 35 hours I’ve spent with it have been sufficient to thoroughly convince me of its excellence. The endgame, for all I know, could be utterly terrible, but even if it were, this would still be a better game than Fallout 3.</blockquote> Well, I can't imagine how terrible the ending should be to be worse than that of Fallout 3.<blockquote>For everyone who isn’t insane, New Vegas is an utter triumph. This is the game that I always knew Obsidian could make, and to see them finally do it is immensely satisfying. Well done, guys. You’re in the A-Leagues now.</blockquote>
Gaming Heaven does a good review giving the game an overall score of 93/100. <blockquote>With a game that has an environment as large as this there are of course some bugs which have yet to be ironed out, though none that we experienced were critical. For example there were a couple of occasions when we travelled off the main path to find one of the larger scorpions half trapped in the ground, essentially rendered at the wrong height. Those sorts of scenarios are beneficial as we can dispose of that enemy without any danger. On the other hand there was one occasion where we hid in a building only for the NPC who was chasing us to be able to damage us through a wall they should not have known we were behind.
No doubt these will be picked up and patched as more players play through the game and in truth the problems are few and far between, given the scope of the game. </blockquote>
Lan Raiders have played the XBox version and say the game deserves 94 out of 100<blockquote>Again, might cause some disappointment to a few people but there is no multiplayer, no co-op, no dog and no magic. That is Fable III, not Fallout: New Vegas. Obsidian have kept the game to single player, which is probably for the best to deliver the richest and deepest experience possible for their fans. Speaking of fans, anyone who played Fallout 2 will recognize one of the characters who appear in the game, as a tribute to those who were part of the Black Isle Studios team back in the day.<...>
I would say this is definitely an improvement upon Fallout 3 and then some. Although they may look the same on the outside, Fallout: New Vegas offers a much deeper experience with extra options, choices and plenty of replay value. Combine that with some impressive visuals and audio and you might just have one of the best, well rounded role playing games on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.</blockquote>
XBox Addict gives Fallout: New Vegas 8.9/10. While the score for the gameplay is 9.5, overall score is lowered by those for visuals and sound.
Gaming Trend 86/100.<blockquote>While there is an incredible wealth of things to discover and enjoy in Fallout: New Vegas, so much of it will depend on the game being stable enough to see it. The gameplay mechanics (factions, crafting, etc.) that Obsidian has brought to the table are welcome additions, but the framerate issues, lockups, and texture oddities are not. The musical atmosphere is near perfect, but the repetition makes it tough to stay immersed. Excellent voice acting saves the day, but broken or lackluster quests find those voice actors underutilized. Companions in pairs and their control mechanics are a welcome improvement, breathing new life into an otherwise very quiet game - it’d be nice if they interrupted more often or chatted amongst themselves. The faction system in New Vegas creates a balancing act as none of them are particularly ‘good’, and even the ‘bad’ guys have a code of ethics – they just might not be compatible with yours. This faction reputation system ensures that you have more of a choice in how things unfold on subsequent runs through the game. All in all, if you enjoyed Fallout 3 and can handle the frustration of crashing and texture tearing, Fallout: New Vegas should be in your purchase queue. </blockquote>
Digital Spy 4/5. <blockquote>Fallout: New Vegas is a game with its target audience clearly in mind. If you didn't enjoy Fallout 3, the latest entry has little chance of winning you over. On the filpside, fans of the series will welcome this new addition with open arms. In many ways, it's a superior offering to its predecessor as the lighter tone makes it easier to take in. It may essentially be the same game deep down, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Whether you're a Fallout fanatic or newcomer to the franchise, New Vegas is a gamble you won't regret.</blockquote>
IGN tries to convince us that Fallout 3 was the first game in the story of franchise and says Fallout: New Vegas is worth 85/100.<blockquote>In New Vegas, the fun Fallout 3 formula is intact, with more polished combat, high-quality side missions, and the exciting setting of the Vegas strip. Unfortunately, the bugs also tagged along for the ride. If Obsidian and Bethesda had polished up the game by fixing the AI, improving the animations or even gotten it to run smoothly, perhaps it would feel less like a giant expansion of Fallout 3 and more like its own game. Be that as it may, Fallout 3 was a great game, so as similar as it is, Fallout: New Vegas is still a fun ride that offers more for fans of the series to enjoy. If you can look past its shortcomings, this is definitely a wasteland worth exploring.</blockquote>
Ausgamers 9.0/10. <blockquote>If people complained that Fallout 3 lost some of the original series’ more hardcore RPG roots, they can rest easier with New Vegas. This definitely looks and feels like Bethesda’s true 3D reimagining of the post-apocalyptic franchise, but at its core there are more nods and injections from Fallout’s past than anything from 2008’s masterpiece. What it carries over from that title is more akin to the mutated bugs that make up so much of your impediments in the wasteland - a ferociously flawed technical experience that definitely needed more time in production. The game isn’t broken, but it sure does limp along. <...> It doesn’t look as good as Fallout 3 did, and perhaps that’s down to internal support at Bethesda knowing the engine better than their outsourced pals, but it shows, and doesn’t help when Obsidian are known for lacking in the polish department. I was lucky enough to avoid any full crashes (though my house-mates have suffered these), but dodgy texture load-ins, massive frame-rate drops, out of sync voice work and alarmingly close pop-up have actually marred the experience for me. It is a detriment when you invest so much into the world, lore and characters and I’m hoping some serious patch work is released as soon as possible.</blockquote>
