Fallout: New Vegas Review
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On top of adding new factions, New Vegas heavily recycles old factions. The nice thing about New Vegas is that it is much closer geographically to Fallout 1 and 2 and set a few decades after Fallout 2, which means that the appearance of various factions makes much more sense than their nonsensical inclusion in Fallout 3. Major factions like the NCR and Brotherhood of Steel show up and their presence is perfectly explained, as is that of merchant houses like the Gun Runners and Crimson Caravan, and even the Great Khans having been pushed into the Mojave, though of course Obsidian could not resist dressing them up in Mongolian gear. The Followers of the Apocalypse are a presence that's harder to explain, as they're still do-gooders whose survivability in the wasteland is close to zero, and their history is never really explained throughout the game. Obsidian didn't really know where to stop including nods to Fallout 1 and 2. The game features Marcus in a pointless cameo, the pilot of the crashed vertibird in Klamath, the rotator blade of the crashed vertibird in Klamath, the daughter of Cassidy, the son of the Mysterious Stranger, Enclave remnants, and so on and so forth. It is a bit much, but unlike Fallout 3's weird tendency to pull classic factions out of its hat, here it kind of makes sense as story-wise this game is more of a sequel to Fallout 2 than it is a spin-off to Fallout 3.
Speaking of references and Fallout 2, pop culture easter eggs are also back but the worst ones (like the Rodents of Unusual Size or aliens) are hidden behind the Wild Wasteland trait and fully optional. Thankfully, even with Wild Wasteland, it never gets as silly as Fallout 2 was, and there's no blatant references outside of Wild Wasteland.
With all that said, the strongest trait of the factions in New Vegas is that there are quite a few of them, and on each of them you can find enough information to decide how you feel about them. The game offers you the choice of picking your own friends and enemies, and more than that makes the factions interesting enough to make the player care about said choices.
...and in conclusion, Fallout 3
While I have made a lot of comparisons to the Fallout franchise throughout this review, I haven't really addressed how it compares to Fallout 3. Well, to begin with, it really isn't "just a large expansion pack" for Fallout 3. One might get that impression after a short period of gaming, but if you sit down for a few extended sessions or have even a half-professional gaming eye, you'll soon note that Obsidian's intent in design is much different from Bethesda's in many key ways. These have been described above, and what they come down to is that where Fallout 3 was focused on offering an experience without any barriers for exploration and enjoyment, New Vegas tries to grab back further to Fallout 1 and 2's roots. Not only is it more different from Fallout 3 than a casual glance would admit, it's also an enormous game, easily the size of Fallout 3 in world exploration, and a whole lot bigger when it comes to depth and breadth of quests and factions.
When I start comparing the two, the first notable point of reference is the writing, simply because New Vegas' writing is very superior to Fallout 3's. Fallout 3 is a low standard to begin with, but as long as you don't expect too much from the main story, New Vegas offers some of the best writing of any recent RPG. The fact that it also does so much to improve the RPG mechanics and their effect on the world means it is much closer to being a game where your character build matters, and therefore more of a joy for role-playing enthusiasts than Fallout 3 was. To put it simply: Fallout: New Vegas isn't just a superior Fallout title, it's also a superior RPG.
Whether or not it is a "better game" is something I feel is more open to debate. Its major flaws lie in map and fetch quest design and while that is tedious, it doesn't detract enormously from the title. If you're not looking for more roleplaying in your RPGs and felt Fallout 3 struck a great balance of open world exploration, shooting, and sandbox entertainment, then be aware that New Vegas has less sandbox and less shooting to offer you - though the shooting elements do come with improved mechanics.
Ultimately, if the FPS genre mixing doesn't put you off, both Fallout and RPG fans should be all over this game. And if nothing else, Vault 11 is really, really awesome.
