Note To Self

Self:

Make sure you check out this neat looking adventure game.  There's a free demo, and you watched the trailer at work and were kind of excited about it.  Also, stop drinking so much coffee, or you're never going to go to sleep. 

Love,
Self

Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout 3 had eluded me when it was first released, but now that I was on the fanboy wagon, I sure as hell wasn't getting off.  So when I heard about the next episode in the Fallout universe, I was eager to sink my teeth into its nummy, possibly irradiated flesh.  Not only would it be borrowing stealing completely reusing the engine of Fallout 3 (Fallout fans weren't really big on this, but I liked Fallout 3, and I was more than happy to be getting what some called a really big expansion pack), but it was set in Las Vegas.

Vegas and video games have a nice history about them.  Vegas Stakes, a Super Nintendo game, was my first introduction into gambling.  The game was nearly purposeless (goal: make money), but I still sank a great deal of my childhood into it.

Now I would be able to experience Vegas, set in a post-apocalyptic world!  And as the main character, I'd surely have a goal of some significance to the region (if not the world), so there would be plenty of story to accompany this game's foray into Sin City, even if my inaugural game was somewhat lacking.

The gameplay in Fallout: New Vegas was a big Ctrl-V from Fallout 3 (similar weapons, V.A.T.S., menu screens, etc.), but it did implement a few substantial changes: speech challenges increased in complexity, the small guns and big guns skills that were delineated before were merged into "Guns," and a "Survival" skill was added.  The ssurvival skill was particularly important for those playing the game on "Hardcore Mode," which would require the player to eat, drink, sleep, and recover from injuries in a more realistic way. 

During my first playthrough, I was incredibly nervous.  I still considered myself lucky to point my guns in the correct direction, and decided to play without "Hardcore Mode" engaged.  On the second (and subsequent) playthrough(s), I decided a spice of adventure was just what the game called for. 

I have had trips to the mailbox which I would classify as more hardcore than F:NV's "Hardcore Mode."

Don't get me wrong, the mode created some new complexity to the game, which may or may not have been challenging, but food, water, and places to nap are relatively frequent in the Mojave Wasteland.  But hardcore it was not.  The only substantially upsetting difference was that recruited characters could actually die when you had "Hardcore Mode" engaged, which was somewhat sad, but also somewhat of a relief as they were responsible for violating my stealth protocols to summon Cazadors to come and disembowel me.

The game gets a huge nod from me for being very, very, gay friendly - and not just in a shallow way!  A perk you can take early on, Confirmed Bachelor, gives you unique dialogue options with the same sex.  And while this could have been a token nod to LGBT fans of the series, there is actually some discourse on how gay and lesbian relationships are perceived, which heartily deepens the story.  I initially was predisposed to help the New California Republic (or NCR), which were who I perceived as the "good guys," but when I discovered that they frown on same-sex relationships, which are openly embraced by the slavers of Cesar's Legion, I thought maybe that was the way to go (the Legion transpired to be awfully patriarchal, so I went with the killing everyone strategy; let god sort 'em out).

The game also gets further nodding for its depth of story.  Fallout 3 featured a broad world, but what Fallout: New Vegas lacks in explorable square footage, it more than makes up in depth of its characters, story, and side quests.  There are four ways to beat the game, depending on to whom to pledge your allegiance, and gameplay is unique enough for each playthrough to keep me coming back.  Each faction in the Mojave has their own story to tell (or learn about from picking through the belongings on their bullet-ridden corpses).

The voice acting is pretty excellent, too.  Felicia Day voices a companion with whom I loved having close to me, mostly because it was like the real Felicia Day was sitting next to me, assuring me that everything was going to be okay, before punching the crap out of a Wasteland Raider.

The big problem with this game was glitches.  If I moved while reloading a weapon, or talked to an ally while enemies were approaching us in preparation to hack us to pieces, or I looked at my controller the wrong way, the game would freeze.  A freeze every blue moon is one thing, but it happened all the time.  And for an immersive game like Fallout: New Vegas, a sudden reminder that you are - in fact - alone on the couch and not heading towards the glitzy remnants of Las Vegas, is even more crushing.

All in all, I'd say Fallout: New Vegas is one of my favorite games, in spite of its glaringly frustrating freezes.  If you haven't picked it up and you like this sort of thing, I'd really recommend you do so.