Fallout: New Vegas

Review from Cormac - Tuesday, 26 October 2010 @ 1:16am

This has been said, but allow me to reiterate: I fucking loved Fallout 3. No I didn't play 1, 2 or Tactics, so don't expect a purist's review. I did play Morrowind and Oblivion however, so I'm a big fan of Bethesda's style of open world RPG. While Oblivion went a bit generic fantasy on us, it maintained a great formula and engine. One which was then appropriated for Fallout 3 to create a desolate world full of dark humour. Now we have Fallout: New Vegas, bringing some new toys to the table without getting in the way of what has made these games so engaging.

The story is what you make of it, and you're given plenty of room to do so. This time around you play a simple courier who is attacked while delivering a peculiar package. That's about all the back-story we're given, which offers a lot more space to develop your own character. Outside that, take your goddamn time, this is a game about stopping to pick the flowers, building your character and exploring the wastes. Trying to power through the main storyline for the sake of a timely review resulted in a very frustrating experience and completely missing the point of these games. Believe it or not, AustralianGamer.com has deadlines. Sometimes anyway. I've been looking forward to this game all year, I'm now looking forward to being able to sit down and chew through it properly.

I'll bet everyone in this shelter was anti-war before it was cool.

My favourite memories of Fallout 3 were the times when I was miles away from any town, getting radiation sickness and running out of bullets. This offers a unique sense of isolation and desperation as well as a whole lot of atmosphere. As such I refused to use the fast travel system. This time we have Hardcore Mode. Eat or starve, drink or dehydrate, sleep won't heal you but wards off sleep deprivation. Stimpacks heal over time and can't be used to repair crippled limbs. This really builds the feeling of being lost in a wasteland that wants you dead. It also changed the way I played the game. As with 2008, I was saving my evil deeds for the unfortunate citizens of Albion, but trying to do what I can for the wastes. In this mode however, I stole, murdered and cheated to survive. Unfortunately fast travel is alive and well. Within my first few hours of gameplay, I wound up broken, dehydrated and with enemies between me and safety in all directions. I clung to my old habits, because as I said, these are the moments that make me love this game, but being able to magically teleport out of this situation completely defeats the purpose of playing hardcore.

Visually the game feels a little lazy. It's just as pretty as it's always been, but could have been better fleshed out. Many enemies return, although someone painted the super mutants, dressed them up all pretty and hoped I wouldn't notice. While watching an enemy explode into glistening array of giblets is as rewarding as ever, other visuals don't really compliment the mood. Remember leaving vault 101 in Fallout 3? Your character steps out and into the sunlight for the first time in their life, at first they're blinded, but as their eyes adjust the glare slowly fades and it begins to dawn just how big the world really is. This is always my first example when discussing effective visuals. Stepping into New Vegas for the first time should feel like this. Imagine you've just fought through the wastelands struggling for every single resource you can, then found yourself in a world with resources so abundant that the locals will not only spend them on nonessentials but willingly risk them in casinos. Instead it just feels like the game has loaded a new area and this one is a lot shinier than the last.

Audio has improved, song choices in particular seem much more aware of the game's 50s style and Californian setting. Voice acting is great, but you probably just have to look at the IMDB to know that. Call me clumsy, but I'd often find myself with my head crippled, resulting in the screen blurring and phantom noises playing periodically until I could heal myself. The impressive part was that the sounds were rarely the same twice. Sometimes I would almost swear I heard an enemy behind me, sometimes random clutter and occasionally a dark and distant laughing sound. All of which were creepy, disorienting and worked to build that mood I keep raving about.

I can't make fun of this picture. I just can't.

Combat has been tweaked for the better. Being able to aim down the sight is actually a surprisingly helpful addition. One of my main complaints with Fallout 3 was that even at the maximum skill level, my character could barely shoot straight outside of VATS (the pause and play aiming system that also returns). Watching enemies have their heads blown off in slow motion is satisfying in a way that gives gamers a bad reputation but what the hell. This will now occur outside of VATS as well, if you make a nice enough shot while aiming iron sight.

The crafting system has seen a few upgrades. In addition to weapons, you can now make different ammunition types, cook food and even make medicines. It dances that line between cluttering up your inventory and making scavenging more rewarding. The biggest improvement here is that it makes a lot of the junk items actually useful. Medical braces and empty syringes always seemed like something I should be able to make use of in the previous title, even if it sounds like it should lead to interesting in game diseases.

The game is full of Bethesda's unfortunately well known wacky bugs. Things like the ground plane deciding not to be solid, or enemies dying but remaining upright. My copy's favourite was having my gun swap position to about halfway up the side of the screen, or just disappear altogether. None of these are game breakers, in fact most either sort themselves out or are fixed with a simple reload. Bethesda have pledged to release patches as soon as they are able, but in the meantime they're not so bad that you should wait before picking up this game.

This I can only assume is a head-nod in Randall Munroe's direction.

Pros

This game follows Fallout 3 in all the right areas to remain one of the most atmospheric RPGs in the business. Combat and crafting has improved. Loved the shit out of Hardcore mode.

Cons

Not a lot has changed, which could well go in the Pros section but it can feel very rinse and repeat. Buggier than an entomologist's evening entertainment.