I hardly have time to play video games these days, but the few times between Freyja running me round, the dog licking me to death, and the odd bit of open source contributions, I like to play good games that I can engage in, but not have to pour my whole life into playing. Unfortunately due to my lifestyle, this rules out a multitude of games I’d like to play (or at least check out), such as MMORPGs that generally require a subscription – of which £5 a month normally I can’t even justify. Recently the only times the 360 has been powered up is when friends have come over and we’ve had a bit of a Call of Duty shoot-up. This review does come over a year after the original release, but I’m still only part way through playing it.
Nevertheless, when I do have some spare time I love sitting down and playing Fallout: New Vegas. I loved Fallout 3 and played it for hours. In fact I was still playing it when Hannah went into labour with Freyja and still loved it. I still haven’t played it as much as I’d like to and there’s still so much to explore and discover in the game, even though I’ve already completed it.
Fallout: New Vegas does not disappoint me. From the word go it was already better – the character creation sequence is 5 minutes or so rather than the lengthy drawn-out character creation process in Fallout 3. Much improved – thank you Bethesda for letting us just get on with playing the game.
You start the game dead (as good a place as any I guess?) and if you’re used to Fallout 3 everything will be pretty familiar. There are new additions such as temporary skill magazines (which confused me at first – why are my skills disappearing after a while? Don’t fret though, the permanent skill books are still there, but even harder to find!), and the ability to play in Hardcore mode. I’m not hardcore, so I didn’t do this, but from what I hear it makes you have to eat and drink and sleep just like a real person would have to do amongst other things. I can see that getting annoying after a while, but I suppose for those with plenty of time on their hands can become all part of the challenge. Good to see it’s optional though!
There are some monsters which make a comeback (such as the practically invincible-to-a-new-player Radscorpions – why are they so hard to kill?!) and some new breeds and varieties that will shake things up a bit. The whole storyline is obviously based around New Vegas and I spent quite some time not being anywhere near New Vegas, but trying to get there without being slain instantly by an angry swarm of Deathclaws at Quarry junction. Nevertheless the story takes a real engaging turn when you get to New Vegas and has been really gripping, typical of Bethesda games.
Overall I think the game is slightly more difficult (and I’m playing it in “casual” mode, where food/water/sleep etc. are not a strict requirement!) than Fallout 3. The storyline is just as strong strong, but disappointingly there are very few graphical improvements on Fallout 3. As soon as I complete this, I’ll be onto Skyrim to take in the delights of the new engine and the next TES game. However judging from my progress in New Vegas so far, I don’t think that’ll be for another year or two yet!
My overall rating for F:NV? I’d give Fallout 3 a 9 our of 10 and this is probably a 8 out of 10 due to only minor improvements, and much of the same stuff.
