Fallout: New Vegas

I first picked up Fallout: New Vegas like many of you might have back in October. About a week later, I took it back. Somehow when I fired a weapon, I would receive a message that my controller was disconnected. When I hot-keyed apparel, the game would freeze. Even worse was key quests would not be completed even though the requirements were met. 

I really wanted to play this game at launch, but it just would not let me. 

Skip to 2011, I decide to pick the game back up again after hearing of multiple patches being implemented, and a discounted price.

50 hours later, I'm still playing this game.

 Fallout New Vegas is everything you loved about Fallout 3, and pretty much just more of that with a few tweaks to give it an Obsidian feel. The action this time takes places in the Mojave Wasteland, home to factions of people who seek to control the Hoover Dam and the Neon heaven that is New Vegas. Why can't they? The man who saved New Vegas with his knowledge of society and technology, Mr. House, and he isn't ready to give up just yet. Plus, he's got control of the securitrons, so no one wants to make a move against him, and that's when you come into play. 

It's no spoiler that you play as a Courier who finds him/her self with a bullet in the head after being ambushed while delivering a package. From the moment you awake thanks to people of Goodsprings, your goal is to find out why and who shot you.

Your adventure will take anywhere from 20-50+ hours all depending on how much you want to put into the game. You could strictly focus on the main quest and still find yourself losing hours of sleep while you explore the Mojave. 
 

 Combat is still very familiar as well, but if you play in 1st person, you now have an option to aim down the sight of your weapon which make headshots a bit easier when not using V.A.T.S to help. Speaking of V.A.T.S, it's still as helpful as ever, and special attacks can be seen when using VATS depending on what you choose to level up.

The main differences from this game compared to Fallout 3 are more about interactions with your new companions and the many factions you can interact with. When choosing to interact with companions, a new radial menu will appear and allow you to choose commands you wish for them to use. Besides talking to them and trading equipment, you can command how they attack, whether it be with melee weapons or at a distance with firearms. 

Most of the companions will have a few quests you can complete in order to learn more about them and help to gain their trust. A nice little bonus can be given as well, since each new companion will offer you a unique perk every time they accompany. The limit for companion has been cut back, so you can have one human or nonhuman companion, and a animal in your party. It sucks at first, but you should be able to get by with no problems.  
 

The main factions that wish to take over New Vegas are the NCR, Caesar's Legion, the Great Khans. These factions are in a battle of control, and you can either aid or sabatoge their attempts. Be careful when looting their bodies though; wearing their apparel in view of an enemy will cause them to attack, so be careful where you wear their gear. There's more to these guys, but it's attached to the main quest, so I'll stop here.  

If you're up for a challenge, you can try out Hardcore mode. In this mode you're tasked with maintaining your characters health by frequently eating and drinking to prevent dehydration. Stimpaks will not heal instantly anymore and sleeping will no longer heal you. Worse is that upon being crippled, the only way to fix this is to locate a doctor or use a doctor's bag.  It's tough, put will offer up great rewards...ok you only get a achievement for doing this, but it's still a fun mode to play in.

Despite the initial problems I had with this game, Fallout New Vegas is a worthy iteration in the series. I wish the problems were fixed earlier, but with so much available to you in this game, it outweighs the problems.