Fallout: New VegasObsidian Entertainment
2010
Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC
Aimed at a more mature audience, its a bit too in depth for the younger age to play.
Action/RolePlaying Game
Fallout new vegas is an indirect sequal to Fallout 3. Vegas places you as a courier in the mojave desert, just after a gun shot to the head. The main story is that you have to find out who your attacker was, and get back a package you were delivering. In doing so you come across an extremely wide variety of quests for variable factions and NPCs across the wasteland.
Since the game is set 204 years after a nuclear war, the after effects of radiation are still around. Food is no longer healthy, But instead can cause radiation. Certain poeple were affected more then other, resulting in different mutations and conditions, all of which get fully explored.
Aesthetically, Fallout has never been up to scratch with graphics. Using an outdated engine (Gamebryo) Which isnt even supported by the creators anymore, You cant expect it to compete with todays standards. However it has a gritty charm to it, which fallout 3 players can easily move onto. The soundtrack is very well made, whith different atmospheric tracks which really give feeling to certain places/areas. The general sound effects can appear tinny at times, and some sounds play at odd times, (Super mutants talking after theyve had their head blown up) but they do their job.
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| A Knightkin being slain, whilst sporting a nice wig. One of the many odd encounters of the Mojave wastes. |
This game is based ENTIRELY around decision making, the choices you make almost directly affects the route you take through the story. One option with on character, can majorly affect how others see you/treat you. The game has a Weight System, where everything weighs something, with exceptions to Ammo (Specific mode) and various junk. The player is lmited to a 200 Limit, depending on how he/she distributes their skill points. You are also able to increase your holding capacity as you level up. There is also places for you to deposit your items for a later time.
The balancing of this game can be off at points, where coming across a quest a bit too early can lead you to getting destroyed without a chance. This ends up with the player needing to grind/farm experience from creatures/NPCs so that they can level up and overcome the obstacle.
The long lasting appeal lies in the multiple directions you can change along the stories path, and eventually who you can side with to run the wasteland. The Ai starts to get a bit repetitive, since everyone seems to follow the same cycle of 8 different animations, But since youre either just passing by, or shooting the place up, you dont realy notice. The wasteland can also start to eat away at you, as you come to realise the entire world is pieced together like lego from a general set of assets and props.
The interface is all handled in game, with the exception of loading/saving. which can be tricky to navigate at first, but each menu has a helpful description on what it displays and how to use it. The game itself has a seperate quest at the start of the game, which teaches the user the basics of surviving in the wastes. But after that its up to them to learn the rest, which is why it isnt for the younger audience.
The game could do with a facelift to really bring it up to date with the games around it, But it does what it set out to do well.
