Fallout: New Vegas Previews

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Written by Brother None on June 20th, 2010

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As the name suggests, the game takes place in Vegas. You can visit casinos, shows, and other Vegasy things. I started the game and almost immediately ran into a hooker. She asked me if I was looking for a good time, so i responded by punching her in the face.

I guess the robot security guard didn't like that and he responded by shooting at me with his bullet arms. This caused everyone to run screaming away and me to ultimately get killed.

I was dropped out into the Nevada desert with a companion named Boone at my side, and we made our way to a small campsite with some paramilitary types sending me on an errand to retrieve supplies. I got the chance to use some of New Vegas' many new weapons, including an impressively powerful grenade launcher and a new type of plasma rifle, on some entirely new mutated enemies. Boone had warned me that he'd kill members of a group called the Legion on sight, and when they showed up in their Roman-style regalia, he made good on his promise. Because I helped him kill them, I took a hit against their faction, but also gained karma. I suppose that means that the Legion are inherently evil, but apparently not all encounters with factions are so aligned with good or bad, so you won't always be pushing karma in one direction or another when choosing who to shoot.

The Bethsoft rep began explaining how they were striving for a greater sense of immersion in this one by having just about any person you meet along they way have something to say to you. He did mention that some of this dialogue may be copied from another random citizen, but they would never be silent. Maybe it is my curious nature, but I immediately darted for the first civilian I could find and, sure enough, she did speak to me. She also happened to be a merchant so I opened up her inventory to see what kind of new tech I would be able to buy in New Vegas. I was very pleased to see not only plasma-based weaponry but also light machine guns a la the United States M60 machine gun were all available for purchase.

Here I learned more about the objective. Every faction in the Mojave desert is vowing for resources. Although the landscape looks like a nuclear bomb went off in the big war, the banter of the NCR troops made clear that the desert was a wasteland before and after the war, without any bombs going off whatsoever. This was an interesting parallel to what Fallout 3 featured, in that the radiation hadn't been such a problem for these desert-dwellers as it was in the whole of Washington D.C. and the surrounding cities. I was freely able to take a rad-free drink from a creek running through the camp, which made me appreciate the subtlety that Obsidian was putting in to make the game seem that much different.

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