Preview :: Fallout: New Vegas
Obsidian are the ultimate outsource team when it comes to RPG’s but, even after all these years producing high-profile sequels, they’ve still never really managed to better the games that came before theirs. That could be about to change with Fallout: New Vegas.
The biggest problem I had with Fallout 3 (and Oblivion, for that matter) was the fact it looked horrible in 3rd person. Now I don’t know about you, but I like to keep my RPG’s third person. The problem was, Fallout 3 looked pretty horrible in 3rd person. The animations alone forced me to play the little I did in first person. That’s probably why I’m using “the little I did” in this preview right now.
I’m happy to report that the third person camera has been fixed by New Vegas – a massive win in my book. It might not be that significant for the majority of players, but the new over the shoulder, third-person friendly camera is great. It allowed me to experience the game the way I wanted, without having to deal with horrendous animations. Aside from that, I didn’t notice too much of a change between this and it’s predecessor. The game does use the same engine as Fallout 3, so they look pretty identical and animations are vastly the same. The obvious difference between the two is the environment.
As the title suggests, Fallout: New Vegas is set in the city of Las Vegas. This is a big change from the Wasteland environment of Fallout 3. Sure everything’s a little messed up, but the city is not as majorly effected as Washington was. The famous strip is all lit up (yes, they have electricity), there’s clubs and casinos to venture into and everyone seems to be having a good time of it. It can’t be ideal, but the place doesn’t have that depressing feel of it’s predecessor – a game I felt was a lot like a certain Cormac McCarthy novel.
I didn’t really get to experience much of the story stuff but, from what I gathered from the few conversations I had, your character is wandering the wastelands and happens to wander into what’s left of Las Vegas. That’s about all I’ve got. It looks like you’ll be able to choose your alligences with various people and factions in town (I think I had a run in with the mafia at one point, but I can’t be sure) and, because of this, the line separating good and bad could be further blurred.
If you enjoyed Fallout 3 and want more, I think New Vegas will be the perfect game for you. There’ll definitely be a few people who wanted more from a new game but, please bear in mind, this isn’t a full sequel. I think we’ll have to wait a little longer to discover all of what New Vegas for now, but it’s certainly shaping up to be yet another cool Bethesda-published RPG.
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