Fallout: New Vegas Review

So we live: Quake is now a browser game, a second-rate MMO was made under the license of Heroes of Might and Magic, and Bethesda is milking the Fallout series. These are not the happiest times for old-school gamers. But on the horizon, there is another game from the beloved series, and even the most orthodox runners from the fire gecko packs (no more, no more) can’t help but try the new product. Well, and then play for a couple of hours: just wander around and explore. And, in the end, level up the main character to at least level 10. And kill at least one deathclaw. And for that, you need to level up better and find some better equipment…

We are greeted by the game with a traditionally cheerful video about how the main character of the game is almost shot in the head and buried in a pre-dug grave. After such a cheerful introduction and the usual run-through of S.P.E.C.I.A.L. (surprise: small guns and big guns are now the same skill), the main character, along with the player, find themselves in the strong embrace of the first “training” town, Goodsprings. The Mojave Desert, by the way, turns out to be densely populated and built up – to walk from one relatively large settlement to another without encountering several attractions, two or three groups of monsters, and at least one reference to the first Fallout games, you have to try very, very hard. Somewhere halfway to our hero’s first coveted goal (to find the mafia boss who shot him and have a heart-to-heart conversation with him), the player will encounter representatives of the new faction in the Fallout world – the Legion. The Legionnaires are rough, cruel, numerous, strong, and want to beat up the New California Republic and, at the same time, wipe out half of the Mojave population. You feel like shooting all these guys, but not because you have taken the side of the NCR in the ideological dispute between the Legion and the NCR, no: you happily take down all these wannabe ancient Rome players because WHAT THE HELL ARE LEGIONNAIRES IN SKIRTS DOING IN FALLOUT? You also occasionally feel like sending members of other factions to the ancestors, because both the local NCR and the Brotherhood of Steel have degenerated. The former can’t defeat maniacs in skirts with feathers on their heads, and the latter have completely descended into paranoia and become ineffective. Where have the former NCR members and the Brotherhood gone, sigh…

Remember: the security guard is watching you.

But don’t get me wrong: even though the perks have become almost useless compared to the original duology, the console interface is still annoying, and the shooter aspect of Fallout is still just as mediocre, it is still very interesting to play Fallout. The situation with shootouts continues to be saved by the good old turn-based mode, and besides the main storyline questline in the Mojave, there is so much interesting stuff that you forget about the wretched Legion, and the NCR, and the various types of bandits, and your family and friends – about everyone, and you wander through abandoned shelters for hours and days, storm mountain settlements of super mutants, talk to the pilot of a downed helicopter in Klamath, and launch rockets into space with ghouls. Unfortunately, in some places, the journey has to be interrupted due to game bugs (the patches released so far do not save from all of them), but overall, you want to explore the desert thoroughly, leaving no white spots on the map of your Pip-Boy 3000.

Plus, the quests themselves have regained the non-linearity in the spirit of the original duology. The player is now given more options for actions to choose from, rather than just a “good/evil deed”.

Welcome to New Vegas!

The main character eventually becomes a real terminator. No matter what build you choose, in the end, your protagonist will be able to do everything – hack any door, blow everyone to smithereens with any weapon, repair any robot, and persuade even the newly emerged Caesar. Not that min-maxers haven’t previously rolled themselves a Wasteland Dominator, but now it grows naturally from our unfortunate courier (that was our hero’s profession right up until the moment of his burial), without any special effort or hours spent adjusting skill points and perks to fit the build.

In short, any fan of role-playing games will be able to find something for themselves. Fans of large and open worlds will spend hours wandering through wastelands in search of another artifact (holy hand grenades included, just don’t forget to take the Wacky Wasteland trait), players who take their role-playing seriously will spend those same hours defending the ideas (including on fan site forums) of one of the warring factions and repeatedly replaying the game, experiencing a new story each time. And power gamers will happily level up their character to extreme levels, collect the ultimate equipment, and blow up the entire Mojave into pieces. Even old fans of Fallout will have something to do, as references to the original duology appear here and there in the game, which cannot fail to warm the hearts of thousands of Vault Dwellers and Chosen Ones around the world.

Overall: the game is excellent, everyone should give it a try.