Good, but 3 was Better
Off the heels of one of my favorite games this console generation, Obsidian is holding court with Fallout New Vegas.
Obsidian is an interesting company. They are basically remnants of Black Isle and have traditionally been asked to make sequels of beloved RPG titles. Its worked out well once (Neverwinter Nights 2) and less good in others (KOTOR 2). They are now taking a stab at Fallout after a less-than-stellar debut of original IP in Alpha Protocol.
Fallout New Vegas is a sequel...actually, not really a sequel to Fallout 3. Its a follow up in the same universe but it has virtually nothing to do with Fallout 3. You are a courier who was left for dead while trying to make a delivery. You are nursed back to health and seek to find out who tried to kill you and extract revenge. The story ends up expanding nicely and you get washed along with the plot. You, of course, end up in Vegas which was far less impacted by the nuclear holocaust then DC was.
F: NV basically still handles and plays like F3. You still rely heavily on V.A.T.S to pull off attacks and you level up your skills and add. perks. The primary additions from Obsidian are you can now competently play it as a FPS (competently...not proficiently) and companions are a much bigger deal with some being incredibly helpful (Boone was a Godsend in fire fights). There are also nice small touches: for example, gambling in casinos isn't limitless. If you max out your luck and do extremely well gambling in a casino, you will eventually be banned from gambling further. And the warring factions to provide an interesting gameplay diversion. You must juggle loyalties constantly to complete goals. You will have to betray people occasionally and get betrayed yourself.
But, this game, as fun as it is, doesn't seem to hit the level of the original. Obsidian often has fun ideas, but their sequels often tend to be really iterative of the original. This game FEELS like an excellent expansion pack. Nothing really explains why one needs a seperate disc for something that doesn't seem to do appreciably more than the prior disc could do.
Also, bugs abound. It crashes a bit too often and freezes while loading too often. Graphical glitches abound as enemies get stuck in the environment. The third person view is nigh useless. Enemy difficulty ratchets up randomly as you will suddenly walk into enemies way above your level in places you wouldn't expect to find them.
The factions thing also has issues. For example, I sided with NCR for the entire game. Did all of their missions and killed their enemies. I then started working on the end game and dealt with a Vegas gang who was aligned with my supporters biggest rivals. Now, I had no notice of this. So, after dealing with this gang, NCR now hates me while their rivals adore me. You're not given any info to explain why this is the case.
This review, I recognize, sounds kinda negative for a game I legitimately liked a lot. That I like it as much as I did is a reason for the negativity. There are so many glitches and bugs that the game comes across as highly rushed and lacking polish...something that occurs with Obsidian (KOTOR 2 was really good...but it didn't hit the level of the original, either). They had a while to make the game and with the engine pretty well in place, the bugs aren't all that easily forgiven.
But it is also one of the 3 best RPGs this year. Easily. A true must have title.
