Fallout: New Vegas is the 4th game in the Fallout Franchise. It is created by Obsidian and brought to the PS3, XBOX 360, and PC by Bethesda Softworks. New Vegas transports the player to the dusty, broken plains of Mojave Wasteland, Nevada 2281
The story begins with a beautiful cinematic, unfolding to the old world tune of Blue Moon by Frank Sinatra. You see New Vegas in all its glory: abandoned slot machines, signs on fire, flashing lights, crumbling walls, streets littered with car remnants, figures stumbling, all shown as a camera continuously pans out to reveal a run down city scape.
The camera reveals a broken cement wall enclosing New Vegas, eventually revealing a guard on the outskirts. A sniper, face covered by a brown fusion of gas mask and WWII war helmet, fires a single blast. Flames gush into slow motion as the the bullet slowly creeps out of the gun, camera pan following the trajectory in bullet time, splattering through the head of an armed thug outside the city walls.
Welcome to Fabulous New Vegas.
You play as the Courier, a person chosen to deliver a package. A man in a checkered suit draws a coin from his pocket, tells you \"...the game was rigged from the start...\" and fires a bullet into your head.
You wake up in the town of Goodsprings where a doctor fixes you up. At this point, you are allowed to customize. You can choose between male or female, Asian, Hispanic, Caucasian, African American, several hair types and hair colors, and give the Courier a name.
Next, you customize your stats. Your choices will dramatically affect the way you play New Vegas. You walk up to the \"Vit-O-Matic Vigor Tester\", and it allows you to choose from a list of 7 stats: Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. Each stat has a rank of 1-10, and you have a set number of points to distribute to each.
So, you can max out Strength and Luck to 10, but only have the rest at maybe 5 or less.
They give you a brief description of what it does, for example, Strength determines: Melee, Unarmed, Inventory Weight, Damage, and Weapon Effectiveness.
Perks are stat choices that add buffs to your play-style. The Perks you can choose from are determined throughout the game by the choice you made while adding points to your Strength, Perception, Endurance, etc. The Black Widow Perk adds 10% more damage against females, Cannibal allows you to eat the dead to replenish health, while Nerd Rage gives your strength a boost when your health drops below 20%. There are over 88 perks in New Vegas.
Once you\'re finished with the doctor, you get to explore the Mojave Wasteland!
You initially start off in first person mode, where you see through the eyes of your character. With the tap of the L2 button, you can switch to third person mode, which has the camera directly behind your character.
This is an interesting addition, since changing from first to third allows you to see and explore the world better than if it were fixed to one or the other. There are certain details you can only see by moving into the eyes of the Courier, like picking up specific objects, firing your gun with more accuracy, or just observing the detail in the world. Exploring your surroundings is better suited to third person view, since you can see enemy attacks sooner, and it gives you a better realization of where you are.
The Menu is controlled by your \"Pip-Boy\", a device on your arm that serves as a hub for your adventure. It allows you to replenish health, change clothes, check your location on a map, equip weapons, maintain items before they break, and listen to radio stations.
Radio stations serve as a welcome break from the general ambiance of the Wasteland. Each radio station is unique. You have Radio New Vegas hosted by Mr. New Vegas, Mojave Music Radio which only plays an assortment of songs, and Black Mountain Radio hosted by a crazed Super Mutant named Tabitha.
Combat in New Vegas is very intuitive. You attack in real time, and have the option of fighting in third person or first. Third allows more freedom of movement, since you can see all of your surroundings, while first gives you an up front and personal view of the action. A single button tap swings the sword or fires the gun, another allows you to zoom in for better accuracy, you can block, and use V.A.T.S.
V.A.T.S freezes combat. Opponents stop moving, outlined in green. During this time, you\'re allowed to pick from attacking the head, the arms, the torso, or the legs. You\'re given a specific amount of V.A.T.S points, so you can\'t just V.A.T.S something to death.
There\'s a moral choice meter which takes in every action you do and gives you good or bad \"karma\". You begin neutrally, but as the game goes on, you make more choices. Kill this guy and take his money? Help this town? Sneak into the store and steal the inventory? Everything you do determines your fall to the light or dark side.
Your karma also determines how different groups react to you. There are three major factions in New Vegas: the Great Khans, the NCR, and Cesar\'s Legion. The Great Khans are a group of outcasts living in Red Rock Canyon, the NCR are keepers of peace and justice, and Cesar\'s Legion pride themselves on punishing the weak by nailing them to crosses.
It gives a lot of depth to the gameplay, and allows the player to question every action.
Now, I simply love new Vegas. The dialogue is well written, every character has their own over reaching story, and the gameplay is addictive and robust enough to keep me engaged for over 30 hours. I\'d recommend anyone who loves quest based RPGS to give it a try.
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