Fallout: New Vegas
Rating: M
Score: 8.0/10
Over two years ago, "Fallout 3" revolutionized how first person shooters are classed. Yes, it did have first person shooting, but the addition of heavy RPG elements, helped it join the rare genre of a First-Person RPG", with additional shooting. Jump back to today and its sequel, Fallout New Vegas, uses the major success of its predecessor well. Does it follow in Fallout 3's massive footstep properly? This game is available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC.
The story, again, is the main (and only) focus of the game. You start by getting killed by a man in a check-patterned shirt, and are doctored back to health to find who this guy was and get revenge. You run from person to person, and to village to village to find this guy, but usually too little avail (then again, it'd be a short game if he was in the first town this whole time). The biggest issue with this story (especially when compared to Fallout 3's solid storyline and amazing dialogue) is it is VERY lackluster, and never feels like anything is being accomplished and, on a larger scale, nothing is getting done. This is more so a problem when you realize two things. One, the story mode is the whole game - if it fails to hold the game then the game is doomed from the start. Two, in a game as HUGE as Fallout, having the empty feeling of getting nothing accomplished just gives the player a reason to get bored and leave.
What could help games stay addictive is the combat system, which remains quite unchanged from its predecessor. Gunning can be done real-time, but Fallout's unique V.A.T.S. system can help out in a serious fight. V.A.T.S. stands for Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, which stops time to aim carefully at any part of an enemy, giving percent chances of hitting the target, and then fires on that body part in slow motion. You still take damage in this slow motion state, but a lot less (1/8 damage, I believe the number is).
The other core elements of gameplay remain. This includes the underwhelming amount of ammo you can find, the even lower number of stimpacks for health, and the huge wasteland given to explore. The wasteland is just as empty as before, which I know is the point (it being post-nuclear war and everything's gone, but even that can't be argued this time around, since the area was never actually bombed and buildings/civilization still remain). Walking from place to place because you can't fast travel is tedious and boring, more so when you almost know for sure the guy you're looking to give you info will just say something like "I may know, but I want you to do this side quest and travel some more...", like the rest of the civilization that prove "important" story-wise.
Even with that, there is still a lot of features that made Fallout 3 amazing that New Vegas polishes to a sparkling shine. Dialogue sounds great, the RPG elements are immersive and makes things unique for each player, and it's still visually breathtaking.
Fallout 3 was a special game for multiple reasons. Its story was strong and well-told, its gameplay was new and original, and it held well on its own, without a sequel or even prequel. New Vegas's story is much poorer, its novelty is stripped (two years two late), and it's hanging off a far superior title in what almost seems like a cash-in attempt. Regardless, the combat is still very fun and it's a very immersive game, though it adds little to its predecessor, which is kind of the point.