Old Game Review- Fallout: New Vegas

Platform: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC

Release Date: November 2006

Bethesda has been a titan of the gaming world for a long time and with this spin off of their hit game Fallout 3 they have combined heads with another colossus of game development: Obsidian Entertainment. Fallout: New Vegas follows a post-apocalyptic Mojave desert after being nuked by communist China during the war. You are a courier who was shot by a mysterious man after the package you were to deliver. You awake in a small town with no memory and must piece together what happened and who you are as you wander the crushingly lonely desert.

The bleak, washed-out graphics notorious in many Bethesda games really shines through with this game as it seems like really natural for this style of art to be used in a desert environment. This really adds another layer to the immersion of the game, which is really good. Not many games make me feel like a memoryless wanderer in an empty, desolate world (Except maybe for my favorite game, drink alone every night.) 

Whilst there are many good things, like the open-ended story and large array of weapons no Bethesda game is without its flaws. Some funny, some less so. Right off the bat, it’s obvious that Bethesda is back to its old tricks. The characters were often bland and seemed fairly cookie-cutter personality-wise. The bugs were relentless and sometimes even prevented progression in the game. The Auto-save was inconvenient and the visuals effects can sometimes be slightly overbearing.

Whilst there is a lot left to be desired with Fallout: New Vegas there is still a slew of entertaining places to see and things to do. I managed to spend a lot of time in this world and don’t regret it one bit. If you have not yet played a Fallout game I suggest you give it a try!