Fallout New Vegas: Preview

You tread softly through the desolate road. Your eyes shift from one direction to the other — you’re paranoid and no one can blame you – these are dangerous grounds.  You grip your 50 caliber rifle as you watch something large move fast in the distance.  It’s moving and fortunately not towards you, but towards another unlucky traveler.  Distant screams and gunshots ensue; you smile. You’re not sure if you’re happy because it’s not you dying, or the fact that you now have a new corpse to loot. All you know is you’ve got hunting to do and treasure to uncover. This is Vegas, baby!

Obsidian Entertainment once again takes the rein of the Fallout series after Bethesda’s 2008 hit Fallout 3. This time around you’re not in a vault and you don’t start off as a child but you’re a courier who has been revived by the generous Doc Mitchell down at Goodsprings. You’ve been shot and left for dead, but now you find yourself in Goodsprings and you’re off to a new beginning.  You go through a rehabilitation of sorts with Doc Mitchell, and this helps justify your character settings and creation. With Doc’s Vit-o-matic Vigor Tester and Reflectron machines you’re fixed up and given a chance to adjust your character’s look and S.P.E.C.I.A.L. abilities, (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, Luck) and then you’re handed your trusty used Pip Boy that you should be familiar with after playing Fallout 3. The return of the Pip Boy does indeed mean the return of the VATS system itself.  VATS is pretty much the same as it was in Fallout 3 only this time you can also use melee weapons. With Nevada not being struck directly by a nuclear attack most of the buildings around remain intact and there is minimal mutation among the residents. After you’re given the choice to opt into “Hardcore Mode” you start your journey to venture through Vegas and the Mojave Desert.

In Hardcore Mode you’ll experience hardship through New Vegas as everything in the game is heightened to intense realism. Your ammunition now adds weight, and you’re forced to actually consume water regularly to avoid dehydration or death. Your healing after usage of the stimpak (health units) is now delayed, and to heal crippled limbs you need a high level in your medicine skill.

Almost immediately after you start your journey — after Doc Mitchell sets you off– you meet your new best friend, Sunny Smiles. After meeting up with Sunny over at the Prospector Saloon she begins to show you around town giving you the chance to interact with the many residents and local wildlife in Goodsprings.  Obsidian has confirmed that there will be gambling related mini-games implemented in New Vegas.  So don’t be surprised to find gamblers and loan sharks congregating in the local saloon. Upon your exploration of the town you notice that the people range from friendly to just down right mean, and you find the mean ones pretty fast. The combat system in the game is very similar to that of Fallout 3, but now players have the choice to attach add-ons to their weapons and customize all of your guns to your heart’s content. You can also implement specialized bullets into your weapons; such as the pierce rounds that are effective against armor, and heavy slugs for your shotguns.

As you go about your business in New Vegas you come across a variety of factions that claim ownership to a specific territory. You will quickly come to know factions like the New California Republic, The Brotherhood of Steel, and Caesar’s Legion. Reputation returns in this title after its absence in Fallout 3.  Your availability of dialogue options are based on your reputation, karma and skill.  So, this time around your skill has a substantial effect on your conversation choices. Your success in conversation depends on it, and isn’t based on sheer chance like you saw in Fallout 3. Depending on whom you kill or befriend and what side you take the notoriety system will take note and some people will want you dead while others will seek to aid and pay tribute to you.

Fallout: New Vegas has that familiar post-apocalyptic look in an unfamiliar location. Obsidian looks to bring its zest and flavor back into the series with the ingenious gameplay mechanic that Bethesda created with Fallout 3. If you’ve spent hours upon hours venturing through Washington D.C., Alaska, and Pittsburg in Fallout 3 (and its DLC packs); then be sure to check out Sin City in Fallout: New Vegas later this year