Fallout: New Vegas Reviews

Reviews for Fallout: New Vegas are still coming in, with the old Fallout fans of No Mutants Allowed chipping in with their take, penned by Iron Tower Studio's Vince D. Weller. No score is given, but it's a positive critique overall. 
You wake up in Goodsprings, a small Wild West-looking and -talking settlement. A local doc patches you up and sets you on your way. Fortunately (once again), you are not concerned with missing relatives past their prime. You want to know why you got shot and who did it. That's a pretty good and very promising beginning. Such things are subjective, of course, but I prefer stories that revolve around you and your problems, not the world's. The main quest will lead you to the aforementioned Strip and into the impending scrap between the three main factions.

As mentioned before, it's a huge game that dwarfs Fallout 3. Naturally, when it comes to 160+ quests, your mileage will vary and IF you insist on doing all of them, you'll spend a lot of time delivering all kinda shit, from radio codes to love letters. However, the majority of quests are very well designed (probably reflecting the amount of time Avellone and Sawyer spent on Black Isle's VATS-free Fallout 3 which, sadly, didn't get to see the light of day) and will offer you a truckload of different options at every step. It's a superb implementation of the (do whatever the hell you want) approach. In Bethesda games it means you can travel east or you can travel west. In New Vegas it means that you're always given a choice and can shape both your own story and the future of the Mojave any way you want.
OnPause's review is very negative, bashing the game for bugs and giving it a 6/10 on Xbox 360 and 3/10 on PC.
OK, and now my first official opinion comes into play. However much time you plan on playing New Vegas, be sure to get an Egg Time or Alarm clock to stop playing after 1-1.5 hours. I say this because after this time, your chances to glitch out, freeze, hang-up, fail, or otherwise screw your game up rise exponentially. I also say this because reading comments from other online forums told me to do the exact same thing. For which I ignored them. I thought, it is a video game created and produced by a reputable company. There is no reason I should be limited to enjoyment. I was wrong. I spent a good amount of time in Doc. Mitchell's home looting and taking everything I could carry, only to find out my game froze after I opened Doc's door. Fail Number 1.

Pressing onward. For those of your that have never played a Bethesda game, you should not start with this one. That is not a burn, or bash, or anything abusive. There is just so many extras added to New Vegas, that you will miss out on what it should feel like to actually play and enjoy an expansive RPG. Lol. Burn.
Finally Games Eyeview balances it out with a 7/10 review, again citing bugs as the biggest detriment.
One of the things we really liked about the different factions presented in the game was that it essentially forced us to play the game a certain way and (more to the point) gave us no option but to go back for more on second playthroughs if we wanted to play missions we had closed off by siding with one particular side or another. To experience all of the missions that F:NV has to offer, players will realistically have to play through the game at least 3 1/2 times. This kind of replay value simply can't be matched in a day and age where a 6 hour single player campaign can garner a $60 price tag. Each play through will go through a lot of the same basic plot lines, but the variety is certainly enough to merit second and third plays.