I'm just going to come out and say it: playing New Vegas is a chore for me. Whether it's the massive amount of running around on the same roads from Fallout 3 or one of the fetch quests I've already done (right now I'm on a fetch quest within a fetch quest), it's just monotonous and repetitive. I'm just 6 or so hours in and I already want to quit playing. Maybe I have A.D.D., or maybe the game is just bad.
There are a ton of things that could qualify Fallout: New Vegas as a bad game. Let's start with the engine, which hasn’t even changed since they introduced it with Oblivion. It just wasn't good then, and it still isn’t good now. Gamebryo is a terrible engine to use for a game. I’m sorry, Bethesda, but you have goofed. It’s prone to glitching and just annoying in general. Sure, some things can be attributed to the game’s release, but you’d think someone would pick up on this stuff during playtesting.
If it’s not the engine, it’s the animations. Some things have improved, but mostly not. I’d like to commend an improvement: the jumping. When you jumped in Fallout 3, it looked awkward and ridiculous. When you jump in Fallout: New Vegas, it still looks strained, but you can see that they attempted to make it look somewhat natural with the character putting his or her leg out in a leaping fashion. Everything else about the animations looks odd. The walking animation is still a stuttering slow gait and the running animation isn’t too much better. It just looks odd to me, and I can’t get around why they don’t hire better animators.
Fallout 3’s gameplay has an encore again, for good or for ill. Personally, I found it bad. Even with the inclusion of iron sights, it seems they still want you to rely on V.A.T.S. which kills what I know they were going for, and that’s a first person shooter with RPG elements tacked on. It could really be just me, but every time I fire my weapon without iron sights (and I refuse to use V.A.T.S.) I seem to miss. This happens even when my enemy is literally feet away from me. I will fire, and I will miss. I have the skill for the weapon I’m using (small guns) at about halfway, but I still think this is ridiculous.
On a side-note, I’d like to mention that I have never been in favor of the idea of it taking three shots with a rifle to kill your enemy. I just never understood why. The ballistics are stupid. But that’s not just in Fallout 3 or New Vegas.
Factions are a different thing in this game. Whereas in Fallout 3, you had the good guys and the bad guys, it’s a little hazy in New Vegas. They all seem to be technically neutral, but out for their own means. Of course, the neutrality ends when two factions meet each other and the bullets start flying. It just seems that while not good or evil, the factions seem to be pushing ideology instead of stereotypical bad guy/good guy stuff. You’ll really have to put some thought into the faction you’re going to align with, pretty interesting in my opinion.
The few new things aside, Fallout: New Vegas feels like much of the same. Not always bad, but in this case I find it boring. S.P.E.C.I.A.L. makes a return, but instead of choosing your traits as an infant, you choose them when you regain consciousness in a doctor’s hub. The environment also returns. Having already explored the Capital Wasteland, I already feel like I know the Mojave Wasteland. It’s just dirt, sparse vegetation with boulders and rubble everywhere. Some locations are new, such as the Helios One Tower and the Hoover Dam, but I haven’t gotten to them yet. I’m looking forward to it though, as some have said that it makes the game worth it.
I will say though, if you want a slightly more immersive role playing experience, play it on the hardcore setting. It makes the game more realistic (although enemies seem to soak up damage like normal), where you actually have to eat, drink, sleep and attempt to survive. Hardcore mode is the role playing side of New Vegas, and if you wanted that instead of an action shooter, I’d recommend trying it out.
All and all, New Vegas seems like an expansion, really. It feels like less of a full game and something along the lines of the Shivering Isles expansion for Oblivion. It’s the same thing, just with a new story (which isn’t too good to me so far). Games shouldn’t be discarded for their stories (or lack of them), though. Even with the gameplay and the way it handles, it’s not high up on the list of things I’d like to continuously play. Obsidian seems to have gone the way of Bethesda though, giving us a broken game and relying on the modding community to fix it or releasing patches.
Another side-note: I’d like to give props to whoever came up with Mr. New Vegas. He’s a suave guy, and I actually enjoy listening to him more than Three Dog, who actually made me want to keep playing Fallout 3 just so I could hear what he would say next.
With that, New Vegas is Fallout 3. Of course, some people want that. Me? I wanted a new experience, but I guess that’s just a wish until the mods start appearing. If my adventure somehow changes, I’ll be sure to update this. For now though, I’m bored of New Vegas and it feels a chore to continue playing having played Fallout 3 and its expansions. Let me finish this by saying if you liked Fallout 3 and wanted more, you’ll like New Vegas.
Maybe I'm a masochist at the moment, because I feel like I should torture myself with more New Vegas. Take what you will from this, but I just think Obsidian needs to stop making games. Black Isle used to be a very, very good developer. What happened? How much new blood did you take in? How did you go from making Fallout to making this? I don't understand...