Hello everyone, GazetteGamer back again but this time for a review. Who doesn't like Fallout?
The franchise telling a story of humanities bloodiest chapter in history is a series that has left it's mark in the gaming industry for being one of great story telling and gameplay. In 2008 Fallout saw a return with Fallout 3, 2008's Game of The Year. It was fantastic.
The graphics, the voice acting, the story, the gameplay and the ability to give players the opportunity to make their own story in The Capital Wasteland, fast forward 2 years we have Fallout New Vegas.
Taking place in The Mojave Wasteland and taking 4 years after Fallout 3. Sounds good right? It's more Fallout how could it be bad? Let's find out.
Story
The Mojave Wasteland is home to New Vegas, the still standing remains of Las Vegas, The Nuclear Holocaust bombs never directly hit Vegas which is why most of the buildings are still standing, citizens of New Vegas enjoy clean water and energy due to The Hoover Dam still being able to run and function properly, the NCR(New California Republic) claim The Hoover Dam in order to ensure New Vegas has a source of clean energy.
The Mojave is also home to several factions, some that want the Dam for themselves, Caesar's Legion a group of slavers led under the dictator ship of a man renamed Caesar, The NCR who own the Dam at the moment, and a man named Mr.House who wants both factions out of the picture for an independent Vegas.
You are a Courier employed by The Mojave Express to deliver a package to the New Vegas strip, however you get tangled into a situation, you are captured and shot in the head and left for dead. However you are found by robot that brings you into the town of Goodsprings where the local doctor fixes you up and you walk out of the town heading into the wasteland to write your own story and find the man who shot you and why he wanted the package you were delivering.
Overall the story is good but it's nothing that exciting to be fully interested into what happens in the story, honestly you will become more interested in the side quest stories and land marks of the Mojave Wasteland.
Presentation
Fallout New Vegas looks EXACTLY like Fallout 3, this probably is due to a rushed game, couldn't take time to build New Vegas on a new engine, everything from weapons to enemies and buildings look like something you have seen all ready in Fallout 3. There are still new locations and The New Vegas Strip does look astounding when you see all the lights and casinos you can go to.
There is very little change in graphics in New Vegas, many players will see this as a good thing but I see it as pure laziness. Which makes Fallout New Vegas more of a huge expansion rather then a full fledged game.
Also the radio music selection is terrible, the songs are either too quiet or are terrible songs that sometimes want to make you listen to the default music rather then the actual songs.
Gameplay
Similar to the presentation Fallout New Vegas plays exactly like Fallout 3, with a few twists and tweaks.
The most recognizable change is the inclusion of factions and towns with Fame and Infamy, in major towns and major factions your actions in the town or towards the factions can be seen as good or bad. If you're idolized or liked by many towns or factions it makes your experience easier and you will only have to worry about one faction or more, based on your actions, if anything if you choose the good side you'll only have to worry about Caesar's Legion, if you choose the bad side then the NCR is the faction you'll have to worry about.
However this leads to a confusion, you'll have quests and have dialog choices which you will be unsure of what you're doing is going to get you more fame with the faction you want to be with, if you make one wrong choice without knowing then the game is changed and you will be forced to do things you do not want to do to certain factions in the future.
Example(SPOILER) If you choose to help Paladin Hardin get Elder MacNamara off of the Elder position and choose to be with the NCR, you thought what you did was helping The Brotherhood of Steel, later when choosing the NCR side because of that choice, you will be forced to get rid of The Brotherhood of Steel, you can't talk to Hardin to ally with the NCR because of that one choice which you thought would benefit the faction you wanted to be friends with.
On top of factions you can pick up faction armor, however when you choose to wear faction armor you will be recognized as a member of that faction, this is a bad thing, as you could end up being shot at out of nowhere by wearing that faction armor.
Example: You pick up NCR troop armor and you walk into the Great Khan hideout, you could be shot at instantly and you may loose the ability to get the good ending you wanted. That simple mistake could ruin the rest of the game.
Aside from the factions the core gameplay is exactly like Fallout 3, repairing items with the same item will increase an items condition, doing good things gives you karma, you level up and can increase certain skills to help you out in the world.
You still roam around the wasteland and find new locations, caves, buildings abandoned shacks and Vaults filled with ghouls, raiders or mutated animals.
Overall, exactly like Fallout 3 but with some new features.
The Verdict
At the end of the day Fallout New Vegas is simply an expansion of Fallout 3, it isn't new or innovative into the Fallout franchise and has been declared Fallout 3.5 by many fans and players of the series. The Story is ok but the presentation and gameplay is exactly like Fallout 3, the music selection is terrible, the faction system can result in forced on choices and quest tasks and will result in players getting an ending they never wanted and were not aiming for.
New Vegas tries very hard to be as good as Fallout 3 but without it's clear choices of right and wrong, good or bad players will be confused and second guess themselves about their choices they made and will wish they could go back to a previous save to change what happened but will discover he or she will loose hours of progress and XP.
I give Fallout New Vegas a terrible 4/10
I hope you enjoyed the review, next I will review The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
The franchise telling a story of humanities bloodiest chapter in history is a series that has left it's mark in the gaming industry for being one of great story telling and gameplay. In 2008 Fallout saw a return with Fallout 3, 2008's Game of The Year. It was fantastic.
The graphics, the voice acting, the story, the gameplay and the ability to give players the opportunity to make their own story in The Capital Wasteland, fast forward 2 years we have Fallout New Vegas.
Story
The Mojave is also home to several factions, some that want the Dam for themselves, Caesar's Legion a group of slavers led under the dictator ship of a man renamed Caesar, The NCR who own the Dam at the moment, and a man named Mr.House who wants both factions out of the picture for an independent Vegas.
You are a Courier employed by The Mojave Express to deliver a package to the New Vegas strip, however you get tangled into a situation, you are captured and shot in the head and left for dead. However you are found by robot that brings you into the town of Goodsprings where the local doctor fixes you up and you walk out of the town heading into the wasteland to write your own story and find the man who shot you and why he wanted the package you were delivering.
Overall the story is good but it's nothing that exciting to be fully interested into what happens in the story, honestly you will become more interested in the side quest stories and land marks of the Mojave Wasteland.
Presentation
There is very little change in graphics in New Vegas, many players will see this as a good thing but I see it as pure laziness. Which makes Fallout New Vegas more of a huge expansion rather then a full fledged game.
Also the radio music selection is terrible, the songs are either too quiet or are terrible songs that sometimes want to make you listen to the default music rather then the actual songs.
Gameplay
The most recognizable change is the inclusion of factions and towns with Fame and Infamy, in major towns and major factions your actions in the town or towards the factions can be seen as good or bad. If you're idolized or liked by many towns or factions it makes your experience easier and you will only have to worry about one faction or more, based on your actions, if anything if you choose the good side you'll only have to worry about Caesar's Legion, if you choose the bad side then the NCR is the faction you'll have to worry about.
However this leads to a confusion, you'll have quests and have dialog choices which you will be unsure of what you're doing is going to get you more fame with the faction you want to be with, if you make one wrong choice without knowing then the game is changed and you will be forced to do things you do not want to do to certain factions in the future.
Example(SPOILER) If you choose to help Paladin Hardin get Elder MacNamara off of the Elder position and choose to be with the NCR, you thought what you did was helping The Brotherhood of Steel, later when choosing the NCR side because of that choice, you will be forced to get rid of The Brotherhood of Steel, you can't talk to Hardin to ally with the NCR because of that one choice which you thought would benefit the faction you wanted to be friends with.
On top of factions you can pick up faction armor, however when you choose to wear faction armor you will be recognized as a member of that faction, this is a bad thing, as you could end up being shot at out of nowhere by wearing that faction armor.
Example: You pick up NCR troop armor and you walk into the Great Khan hideout, you could be shot at instantly and you may loose the ability to get the good ending you wanted. That simple mistake could ruin the rest of the game.
Aside from the factions the core gameplay is exactly like Fallout 3, repairing items with the same item will increase an items condition, doing good things gives you karma, you level up and can increase certain skills to help you out in the world.
You still roam around the wasteland and find new locations, caves, buildings abandoned shacks and Vaults filled with ghouls, raiders or mutated animals.
Overall, exactly like Fallout 3 but with some new features.
The Verdict
New Vegas tries very hard to be as good as Fallout 3 but without it's clear choices of right and wrong, good or bad players will be confused and second guess themselves about their choices they made and will wish they could go back to a previous save to change what happened but will discover he or she will loose hours of progress and XP.
I give Fallout New Vegas a terrible 4/10
I hope you enjoyed the review, next I will review The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
Comments
Post a Comment