Fallout: New Vegas - In progress

Fallout: New Vegas

After 5 years of not playing a Fallout game, will I discover life in this wasteland, or will I find nothing of interest? 


Part 1: That's not a gecko! 

So I made a simple mistake of forgetting what a Fallout gecko looks like, I'm sure many have. It has been 5 years since I last played Fallout 3 and to be honest, I didn't particularly enjoy it a great deal. However, I have played and enjoyed more games recently so I thought, why not give this one a go.

Last night I played on Fallout NV for several hours. I feel it is always important when playing a new game, especially when you are unsure if you will like it, to play it for a while, get used the the controls and gaming style. So, how was it?

One of the first things I have noticed is the sheer contrast between graphics and animation in this game. The graphics, although 4 years old, still hold their own against many new games even today. Yes, the odd thing needs a little sorting out, but everything is clear. The problem is with the animation. In the tutorial you follow a lady with a dog, but the dog doesn't ever run. The animation always has the dog making small jumps instead. These problems have occurred a few times with minor things. It doesn't cause a problem, it just looks slightly comedic.

The tutorial and character set up are done in a more interesting way than most games out there. Although getting the perfect look for your character takes time, it is possible because of the amount of detail you can play around with. Even when choosing the character's hair colour they give you red, blue and green slides to alter giving you an almost unlimited amount of colours and shades. The tutorial was fun, following people around, doing odd jobs and even being paid for doing it all. There was, unfortunately, a lot of walking involved and it wasn't until I had finished walking around town several times that the game told me there was a fast travel choice and how to access it. Yeah, that annoyed me to no end.

So far it seems a good game. I have just left the tutorial section and crippled a leg and arm on a mine, killed some people and been overpowered by a giant scorpion. This game got a lot better almost the moment I left the first town. Let's hope that when I get to Primm it can keep up with the bar it suddenly set.