After playing 20 hours of Fallout New Vegas, I figured it was time for an impressions blog!
I know for many people, Fallout New Vegas is a kind of questionable title. Will Obsidian deliver us yet another bug-riddled game? Will the game feel new enough to warrant a purchase? New enough or not, is the game just an expansion pack? The short answers to these questions are: yes, yes and no. The long answers? Read on and find out.
Bugs, Glitches and Crashes
Firstly, there are a whole heap of bugs. If you want a game with no bugs in it then look elsewhere. The bugs that I've encountered however are not really that big of a deal. Some reviews I've read out there on the Interweb say that the game is so buggy that despite all the good points, you'll give up because of them. This is not true. I am playing the unpatched 360 version, and I've yet to come across any bug that has made me want to quit... except the Cazador (har har har). The bugs I have encountered aren't anything new anyway. These bugs were already in Fallout 3. If you played Fallout 3 and the bugs didn't bother you, then chances are the bugs in this won't bother you either. I've encountered a few system lockups, and while annoying, they aren't really game breaking. As long as your autosave is working and you save manually after big fights, level ups, quests, etc, then the lockups probably won't bother you either.
To those of you that can't look past the bugs - Bethesda and Obsidian are fixing it! They've already released a PC patch that fixes over 200 bugs and glitches (none of which have been named) and a 360+PS3 patch is on the way. No doubt we'll be seeing many more patches in the coming months.
New Content
I came into Fallout New Vegas thinking that it would be pretty much the same as Fallout 3, just with a new setting, new characters, a few new weapons and items, and a few new game mechanics that wouldn't really make much of a difference. Boy was I wrong. I'm not going to say that everything is different, because it's clearly not, but I'd say the different things outweigh the recycled things.There are new sound effects - not just music and stuff for new enemies, but stuff like the jumping sounds and sounds for kicking a bucket or empty bottle on the floor. Most, if not all existing weapons have been given new sound effects for firing and reloading, and they are great! There are new ambient sounds too, which make the world feel more alive.
There are also new particle effects, stuff like dust storms and smoke. They are a small part of the game, but they are a pretty noticeable addition, especially if you manage to find Hidden Valley. Fire has also been given a makeover to make it seem more realistic. I could go on and on about the changes, but I can't be bothered... not to mention it would be boring to read. The easiest way to discover them is to play the game yourself.
An Expansion? Hell No!
Even with the amount of DLC, I would have been happy with an expansion to Fallout 3. This is so much more than that. It's almost overwhelming, even to a veteran Fallout 3 player like myself. I played the absolute crap out of Fallout 3, and I was a bit worried that I'd get New Vegas, play it through once and then move on. After an hour of playing the game, I knew this wouldn't be the case. Almost everything felt new to me, and that which wasn't new felt like the return of an old friend I hadn't seen in a while. Lame metaphor, but that's how it was.
So, should you buy it? You only have to answer one question. Did you like Fallout 3? If yes, then you'll like this. If no, then you probably won't.
