After the mega-hit that was Fallout 3 a follow up was inevitable. Fallout: New Vegas attempts to recapture the shock and awe of Fallout 3, while adding a little spice in the form of new locations, gameplay, and the karma system.
As the name suggests Fallout: New Vegas takes place in a post apocalyptic Mojave desert. Your character is a courier who is shot in the head and left for dead. Luckily a friendly robot digs you up and takes you to a town for medical support. Once you're back on your feet you need to find out who shot you and why and retrieve the package they stole from you. But it's not that simple when you've got two major armies battling for control of the area, raiders, gangs, and countless wasteland critters in your way.
One of the things that sets New Vegas apart from Fallout 3 is... well Vegas. Unlike the rest of the Mojave, Vegas was never hit by the nukes. It still has the lights, casinos and sin of the old world attached to it. This attracts more than just tourists. Several military forces are pulling for control of Vegas and Hover Dam, and your choices will decide the winner.
Gameplay is similar to Fallout 3. You have guns, explosives, melee weapons, energy weapons, and even your own two fists to take care of the bad guys. The combat can be played in real time or in V.A.T.S. When using V.A.T.S. the game is paused and you select body parts to attack. Their chance of hitting and the enemies health are displayed. V.A.T.S. requires action points which are replenished in real-time combat, so you'll be using both evenly. The game can be played in first and third person, although first is highly recommended. When it comes to exploration there are no vehicles, which mean you'll be walking everywhere. Luckily once you've discovered an area you can fast travel there. Each time you level up you get to increase your skills. Skills determine how deadly you are with certain weapons, how tough you are, the locks you can pick, and the people you can trick. Every other time you level up you pick perks. Perks give special abilities to your character. Perks are unlocked depending on your current skill level with different skills so it's recommended you play through a second time to experience everything.
The other big gameplay feature is your karma and reputation. Karma is your personal choices on how to handle situations. Stealing and killing civilians will lower your karma while helping others will raise it. Different groups treat you differently depending on your karma but it's not as important as reputation. Your reputation is how much different groups like or dislike you. The more a group likes you the higher the discounts you get at their shops and the more support they'll lend you against foes. The more a group dislikes you the higher the prices the at their shops and the more likely they'll be to put bounties on your head. In makes you think twice about who you double cross. You won't be able to be friends with everyone so certain quests will be locked, so it's again highly recommended you play through a second time.
The graphics are (for the most part) amazing. Character models look great and it's breathtaking to climb a steep hill and see the Vegas strip shining for miles over a bleak and destroyed wasteland. The occasional texture fade-ins and unblinking eyes of NPCs break the realism.
Fallout: New Vegas sounds perfect, but it's not. The game is riddled with glitches. Some small like invisible walls and clipping, some big like hostile NPCs and and game crashes. If you save often it won't be a problem but it's still annoying.
All in all Fallout: New Vegas is an impressive game that any fan of shooters, role players, or gambling would be a fool to miss.
