So you know I hate game reviews, right?

I don’t claim to be the most knowledgeable when it comes to games, in fact I consider myself quite the opposite. However I know what I like, and what I dislike and I can say pretty legitimate reasons as to why. And after thoroughly enjoying the adventure role-playing game Fallout 3 to the point of exhaustion, and to the extent that mods could not salvage the game, it’s safe to say that Fallout: New Vegas was a must have in my gaming library. The introduction of Obsidian Entertainment in the developing team piqued curiosity – collaboration between two companies could go either way, especially when involving a series which I believe to be beautifully put together. In my hopes and dreams, it could only live up to the previous visuals and open-world game play that Bethesda seem to flourish in designing, with mutants and a story that was immersive and involving. It’s safe to say that, in my opinion of which may be valued or otherwise, I was thoroughly disappointed in this game.

The initial story is interesting - with the initial panning cinematic scene displaying multiple aspects of the games various quests and introducing the all new fractions or tribes within the game, as well as where they stand in their alliances – definitely worthwhile to watch as each scene revealed is relevant to the environment and story, showing threats, iconic areas and somewhat safe-zones. Cutting to a scene where your in-game self is revealed. The back story varies away from the usual vault dweller start. You play a courier traveling the Mojave wastes of Nevada, where things have taken a turn for the worst as your delivery is robbed from you in cold blood. How exciting, right? A quest for revenge, how fun – a different taste to the lone saviour route approached in previous games in the series- referring to the water chip retrieval in Fallout, the GECK retrieval in Fallout 2, and the water purification/Dad retrieval in Fallout 3. Although it seems rather farfetched someone surviving a head shot in the given environment, you are retrieved by a robot and taken to the doctor of a close by town – this initialising the character creation.
The story itself is immersive until you track down your “killer” - Benny, the leader of ‘The Chairmen’, of whom you find to have a large scheme under way involving the delivery you were making. From here on I found my own experience with the game being somewhat pointless – the playable character had very little to no reasoning for carrying on or fulfilling Benny’s plans, with the lack of background to the characters’ name furthering yourself from any form of decision making the game attempts to portray – it lacked the empathy or links the previous games had, the feeling of community from the vault environment or family ties, as well as the dependency on you as the player to fulfil the quest.

Moving onto the gameplay. I mentioned the character creation, something I enjoy greatly because… well, pretty people and stuff. I was disappointed with the lack of advancement from Fallout 3, it was essentially the same. Although the games aren’t incredibly distanced from one another I would have hoped for a more extensive decision when choosing the right hair for my kick-ass female beast. The visuals were decent, nothing new however they did add a certain aesthetic to the game that I personally liked – no intensely baby faced characters within the preset faces, yet the choice being there to have a young enough character for the job of a courier to be believable. The levelling system was done quite well, with the achievements of perks coming every 2 levels – a more balanced way to enhance the game, and I found myself spurred on to advance that additional level in order to gain this little aid, or fun add on. The level cap, however, is still an issue – a somewhat lazy level 30 for the base game is a frustrating level for someone who will play the game extensively and enjoy the reward of a stronger character.

The research that has gone into the aesthetics of the game is astounding, with the multiple themes introduced and NPC backgrounds being truly worthwhile. I usually judge these things in the way as “would I kill that person to steal their clothes?”.. moving on. The contrast between the two extremes of a civilised society and the ravenous raiders is clearly seen and performed effectively – mainly focusing on the white glove society, and their more dark background.

Along-side this the clash of 1950’s appearance to clothing and environmental aspects such as billboards and the more modern power armour, and scrap armour. In addition to this, the fact that the majority of the armours or clothes are not overly changed for the different sexes is a brilliant aspect, with revealing outfits appearing in the same context for both genders and the link to eras keeping everything else tasteful and appropriate to the environment. However, these aren’t necessarily new aspects to the game - never the less this fact does not take away from their initial effectiveness.
The way the influence of tribes/fractions is an additional aspect of which has been done in an interesting way, and thought out well – the influence in one tribe that will have been built up through decision-making quests destroying or cancelling out your reputation with another. On more than one occasion I found myself debating with the pros and cons of aiding one fraction over another, debating the possible effects and reputation it’d give my character. The irreparable damage that can be caused to one save is an awesome feature.

Something this game really didn’t perform on was the quality of the voice acting, as multiple times I found a mismatched emotion to a situation when interacting with certain NPC’s. For example, on one occasion on approaching a small town you will gain the opportunity to interact with a running man – he will speak about how he won the right to live through a lottery, his dialogue being super excited and relieved. Upon saying goodbye to him, his response will be an emotionless, bored-sounding “bye”. The mismatch is overly noticeable, and lazy. An additional example will be an otherwise non-interactional NPC, whom will ask you what you want, upon bidding them farewell they will say “Later” with what can only be described as a hiss of malice. In addition to this, the overly repeated same-voiced reactions from non-interactional NPCs gets incredibly boring, I personally found myself avoiding civilised areas from the constant tough-sounding “you eyeballin’ me” from every guy in the area.

An enormous breaking point on the voice acting comes from the super mutants. These mutated humanoid creatures are the result of the FEV – the forced evolutionary virus - and brutish in every way, including their gristly vocals which feature throughout the entirety of Fallout 3 and the beginning of Fallout: New Vegas. However, for some peculiar reason which completely escapes me, there are those with the ability to speak fluent, clear English with no distortion to their voice. It’s unfitting and completely breaks the immersion and design of the creatures – of whom are supposed to be monstrous and relentless.
The final area of gameplay I wish to touch upon is the miscellaneous aspects of the game. The non-story based quests are extensive in amount and I believe they are what make the game what it is – varying from the more serious town-aiding ones to the amusing “help ghouls get into space because why the hell not”. Furthermore, in more than one occasion the main quest has led to one of these, of which I found thankful as it played as a silver lining to an otherwise dull adventure. The random events that occur whilst wondering the wasteland are an additional plus, giving the open world environment a reason to be explored and for quick-travel to only be used in severe bouts of laziness or repetitive travel-to-and-from quests. In addition to this, the introduction of a survival mode was an incredible addition to the game – an additional immersive aspect which increases the reason for exploration and inventory housekeeping for survival reasons.

The environment itself is reason to ignore this quick-travel option, as it’s drab appearance carries its own beauty as well as the overabundance of dangerous areas are immensely fun to challenge yourself with passing through – for example the Deathclaw infested gully linking the first town you start in to The Strip, a more direct route for the brave who are willing to encounter the reintroduced ranking system for one of the more deadly creatures in the wasteland – varying from babies, to the Legendary Deathclaw.

Overall, this game was a disappointment, yes. For multiple reasons, all being noticeable and bad enough for create a reason for me to not play this game on multiple occasions. However, for those who don’t care for a decent main story quest or the full immersive, emotional-based state I personally enjoy to get into whilst playing games such as this then it’s definitely worth playing and enjoying... and I might have just contradicted myself a lot. Oh dear.