Fallout: New Vegas Review | B

Fallout: New Vegas is an RPG with shooter elements that attempts to bring all the fun and intrigue of a nuclear holocaust to life. New Vegas is easily one of the most anticipated titles of the year; its predecessor, Fallout 3, was arguably the best game of 2008. New Vegas has high expectations but ultimately cannot quite deliver.

Fallout: New Vegas looks, feels and plays exactly as its predecessor did, which proves to be both a merit and an issue. New Vegas is not as much a sequel as much as it is a spinoff of Fallout 3. The graphics, engine and gameplay in both games are identical. New Vegas simply moves the franchise to a new locale. Because New Vegas uses the same engine and graphics as Fallout 3, the game feels aged. Character models are rigid, unrealistic and unable to visually match the emotion given by the excellent voice actors. They seem to lack the fluidity and detail that more recent games have.

Though the similarities between New Vegas and Fallout 3 make the game seem dated and repetitive, this is not entirely a problem. Fallout 3 was a very fun game, and the same enjoyable experience is present in New Vegas. Players customize their character, allocating points to certain attributes and skills. After a few tutorial missions, the game becomes entirely freeform. Should players feel like embarking on the main story quests, they can do so while others may instead opt explore the vast, Mojave Wasteland. Combat is frequent and intense in New Vegas. Players have a variety of weapons to choose from. The real-time FPS controls are awkward and clumsy. The VATS system is still an integral, and brutally fun, part of the game, allowing players to stop action and individually target an enemy's body parts.

The story itself is hardly as unique as it predecessor's. New Vegas follows a courier who is shot twice at point-blank range, buried alive, and somehow manages to survive with the help of a local doctor. As it turns out, the courier was tasked with delivering an important item sought by all the major factions in the New Vegas area. The player must side with one such faction in a fight to see who will control New Vegas. Not quite unique, but it works.

The environment is generally immersive, detailed and rich. The one unfortunate disappointment in this aspect involves the area of New Vegas itself. The Vegas Strip is small and uninteresting. One of the biggest strengths of Fallout 3 was the degree to which the development team perfectly emulated the city of Washington, D.C. The player could easily identify the bombed-out remains of various landmarks, adding to the sense of scale and shock. The city of New Vegas lacks this same feeling.

The major problems with Fallout: New Vegas are the various, frequent glitches that occur. Glitches are to be expected in a game as large as this, but the degree to which Fallout: New Vegas falls on its face is absolutely astounding. Glitches vary from graphical nuances, to mission breaking and even to catastrophic game crashes. All that can be done is to save often and hope for updates.

Fallout: New Vegas is a game that cannot live up to the standards set by its predecessor. It is, however, still an enjoyable experience that will take players on a 70+ hour adventure across a unique landscape. In the end, those who enjoyed Fallout 3 will probably enjoy New Vegas, though it is clear which is superior.