Fallout: New Vegas Review

Intro
Oh boy, where to begin... Unlike most things having to do with Vegas, you won't need to worry about betting on Fallout:NV. That's because you'll know what you're getting, after all, it's been a year since it was released in October of 2010 and it will now only cost you $20. However, if you do happen to have an extra $40 on you, I'd recommend sticking with the new stuff. Like I mentioned one of my previous posts, Coming Up..., this review was mostly written with the purpose of getting another game of a different genre under my belt.

Game Overview
You, my friend, are none other than 'the courier'. After crossing paths with the wrong mobsters your character was shot, buried, dug up by a robot and then patched up good as new by the local town doctor.

After you pick your character's looks, attributes and special skills you are free to do whatever your heart desires. No really, I mean it, if you want to try to take over the town that just saved your life the only thing to lose is, well, your life that they just saved. While your primary objective is to track down the friendly folks that tried to murder you, New Vegas offers a vast wasteland crawling with bandits, giant scoripions and the undead, all of whom are begging for both discovery and some rain.

And here's where I spent most of my time as a child

As is often the case with huge and open action RPGs, there are so many possible paths to take that no one will have the exact same experience on their way from point A to point B.

There's nothing like some good old fashioned art to
brighten up the workplace

Something to keep in mind: The game's level cap is 30 and with all the downloadable content that cap can be raised to 50.

Tips
- Get into the habit of saving the game frequently, if something goes wrong (which it will) it becomes a very handy time-saver

No worries, we're just both on fire

- You might have a valid point if you're thinking this should be considered common sense but hey... you don't know until you give it a try. Turns out it's in your best interest to refrain from using a flamethrower in a small enclosed space
- Pick up all the quests you can, even if you don't think you'll do them. They're the quickest and easiest ways to level up and increase your rep with the locals

Pros
- Attaining attribute points and special perks (of which there are a ton, 82, to be exact) after each level allows you to mold your character into some as specialized or as well-rounded as you desire

Using V.A.T.S.

- The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.) allows you to simply pause the game, pick the parts on your target you want to aim for and watch as it carries out your combat instructions from a 3rd person camera view in slow motion

Cons
- Your only mode of transportation in this enormous desert hundreds of years in the future, are your legs (now I can see where it would take away from the experience if I were able to ride around in my hover car at 100 mph, but my point is, the walking definitely gets old)
- Bugs, the Mojave is unfortunately not a glitch/bug-free environment
- Neither is it a diverse environment, it's pretty much just the same overly expansive desert

Other Thoughts/Suggestions

- Would've loved to have been able to drive one of the many vehicles that I saw during my travels (on foot)
- I love having the freedom to be the bad guy or the good guy or the 'whoever-my-choices-make-me' guy, although I almost always end up being the good guy; the fact that I can save the game and then kill the shopkeeper that just ripped me off and go back to my save point like nothing happened just gives me that little bit of satisfaction and almost makes up for the fact that he took all my money
- The game itself is over a year old, and I have yet to play the additional content that has been released since then

Bugs
- The Mojave Wasteland is full of them, in fact the very first things I killed in the game were giant praying mantises that had 'taken over' the town's schoolhouse...
- On a serious note though, New Vegas does contain a few bugs that may require reloading your game from previous save to fix... For instance, these gang members that I needed to kill for a quest bugged out to where they weren't able to be killed, but they also didn't attack me either, they just stood there absorbing Ringo's bullets:

My buddy Ringo on the left still thinks they're fair game,
after assessing the situation for a few minutes it
was clear that he'll run out of ammo

- Some less serious, but equally entertaining issues

Beware: Angry Floating Dog (AFD?)

Something tells me she needs to get her eyes checked

Score - 70
I can't help but appreciate all of the content that this game has to offer, including that which I wasn't able to experience firsthand. That being said though, it's mostly non-issue glitches and dry gameplay make it a relatively easy call as a second to most of the latest releases.

*Note: I have yet to play this game even close to 'all the way'* through, but my priority now has to turn to the latest releases
*I honestly don't even know what all the way through means with Fallout:NV