"Taking a winner and making it better."

Fallout New Vegas predecessor Fallout 3 had an extremely well built engine in which a lot of human factors were taking into consideration. Juggling such a complicate network of combat, diplomacy, exploration, "immersiveness" and most importantly of all creating a huge world where events are interconnected was something we had never seen done so well before.

Obsidian basically re-used the tools that made Fallout 3 a work of art and polished them and created an incredible world where the gamer will be completely consumed by the multiple branches the game can take. The sheer way you can approach missions, individuals and character development seem almost endless at times. The player familiar with Fallout will appreciate the true quality of this product and the newcomer ready to take the time to master the concepts of this game will discover a game much deeper than what the mainstream adventure/shooter/rpg that populate the market.

Graphics: A game like this is ahead of its time, and even though the graphics are somewhat recycled from Fallout 3 they are more than high enough quality if you consider how big this world is and how advanced the physics are. Most games that try to be of this magnitude dont even come close to it anyways so its hard to hold it against them that the graphics are similar in quality to what we had in 2008. This game is not groundbreaking graphically, but still the best in the western RPG genre.

Gameplay: This is where the game shines. The fighting is still very strong, the weapons easy to use. the skills are fun and useful and strongly affect how youll have to play the game. You can build a wide variety of character types ranging from the silent sneak assassin type to the Practical diplomat if you want a less combat oriented game. You can become a specialist of many different types of combat such as guns, explosives, Melee, hand to hand etc.... The balance of character development is one of the strong improvements as it affects gameplay tremendously. In Fallout 3 you had so many ways of increasing your players stats with plenty of perks and consumables that everyone would end up with the same type of build, practically perfect everywhere. In New Vegas, you must really choose which skills your character will develop because of the tighter restrictions and new/modified perks. Often enough a perk you may have wanted will require too high a skill in an area that does not interest you to develop, causing you to make heartbreaking choices when leveling up that affect how your character will solve the problems facing him in this world.

10/10

Sound: There are many different areas in the wastes, from Casino strips, to underground metallic bunkers, to a desert storm in the middle of nowhere every area you are has its own feel and thats because of the support the sound lends to the overall experience of the character being immersed into this desolate world where most have lost their humanity and where degradation lurks everywhere you look. It would almost be depressive if it wasnt for the characters being brought to life with good voice acting which is supported by strong writing. The fast paced chaotic combat action is music to the ears and the top notch over the edge ambient noise play a crucial part of the whole engrossing process. 10/10

Replay Value: One campaign where you do the majority of the quests could take you easily over 80 hours and there are so many ways to solve quests, so many sides to takes, so many important landscape changing and moral decisions to take that I think anyone who enjoys this game will have a hard time resisting replaying it at least another time if not only to do certain things differently and experience with the after effects and different plot it unlocks. The main story I would say might be a tad colder than the family driven one of Fallout 3, but the sidequests are more numerous and in general more interesting than what weve seen before. All sidequests generally have an effect on how things go on even in the main quest because of the whole reputation and faction system. You can go at it alone, or use your silver tongue and sharp set of skills to impress allies and make different people hold roles they would not of otherwise. The world is a project in New Vegas, and you are the mad scientist who can stick his nose in everything.

10/10

Overall: It does not get any better than this at this age of gaming. I think to go beyond this would require next gen consoles because it covers so many elements so well and its so durable that the few shortcomings it might have are nothing but a detail in the end. Details hidden amongst others in a big picture that is absolutely incredible.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10 | Originally Posted: 10/21/10

Game Release: Fallout: New Vegas (US, 10/19/10)

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