Let me open this review by stating that I pretty much despised Fallout 3, It was to me a passionate fan of the original fallout games an abomination. First person, dumbed down and less transparent than a window in a glass of crystal clear water being suspended by a fishing line against a back drop of invisible things.
Until the community at large (thank you Nexus!) was capable of correcting pretty much everything about the game, it was a shocking game that presented no challenge or any hope of playability, let alone re-playability.
Now.. onto the main attraction.
Fallout: New Vegas
Essentially the same game engine but thankfully my VERY first impression... "this is more of a challenge" which is a good thing. The game content (even though I'd purchased the DLC all at the off) was much better, more varied and seemingly more intricate. Another good thing.
Having played the game extensively and for a considerable amount of man-hours I can conclude that there isn't a thing in this game that was 'wrong' ... I have modded the game to my personal tastes, adding extra items and tweaking things (the native level of 'darkness' at night was far from what could be perceived as 'dark') but the things that I've modded in are simply adding to an already enjoyable experience.
My one BIG critique of this game, and probably games in which this feature is used is the enemy level scaling. I oppose the fact that as my character progresses so should the toughness of the enemies which I face, this leads to game breaking occurrences, shooting an unarmored tribal in the Honest Hearts with a high caliber weapon several times and having to reload to then shoot him again... seems utterly ridiculous. In my humble opinion, as I progress my character and I acquire more powerful weapons the enemies which were once a threat to me should become by comparison less of a threat over time.
The rate at which the character progressed was well matched, but with the DLC I've found that I've reached max level and now feel stifled as there is still game to explore but now I feel i'm not getting reward for action.
I have had many hours of game-play from Fallout: New Vegas and once I've finally completed my 1st and very thorough play through I can even see myself enjoying the game a 2nd time.
Graphically the game is far from what could be considered eye-candy, but it has moments where I find myself enjoying the vistas that are presented, the character animation etc again is a high quality, but often there are little graphical fuck-ups that break the immersion.
Same goes for the sound really, guns go bang.. bad guys go grrrr etc etc hardly an audio treat but perfectly fitting of the function.
Gaming Review summary:
Graphics 4/5
Audio 3/5
Gameplay 5/5
Features 4/5
Weighted Score: 90%
Excellent rejuvenation of what I considered a franchise destroyed by modernization, well worth the investment.
