Fallout: New Vegas Review

By Dan Whitehead Published 19 October, 2010

Roulette the dogs out?

Version tested: Xbox 360

It's lunchtime. I'm walking to the Post Office to post some packages. As I pass a small hardware shop, I remember that I've been meaning to get a shovel, and wonder if it's worth picking one up now.

Then I stop. Something about this unbidden thought sets off alarm bells. Why do I need a shovel again? It comes back to me: I need a shovel because I want to dig up the unmarked graves in the cemetery where I was shot in the head by a post-apocalyptic gangster to see if there's anything useful in them.

That's when I realise Fallout has dug its radioactive claws into me yet again.

New Vegas may jump across America for its setting, and forward several years in the timeline, but it's a seamless continuation of what Bethesda set in motion in 2008 with Fallout 3. And you can put aside any concerns regarding the decision to hand over to Obsidian for development duties on this spin-off; while the studio stumbled with its fun-but-flawed espionage RPG, Alpha Protocol, there are enough former Black Isle people still roaming its halls to make New Vegas feel authentic, right down to the last detail. In fact, those who felt Fallout 3 deviated too far from the series' role-playing roots may even find they nod appreciatively at some of the deeper elements New Vegas reintroduces.

Obsidian could have restricted its ambition to inheriting Bethesda's game engine and turning out more of the same, and most of Fallout 3's sizeable fanbase would have been quite happy. That it's gone to the trouble of developing both the series' narrative and it gameplay mechanics speaks highly of the studio's attention to detail.

'Fallout: New Vegas' Screenshot 1

You can have my earnings clipboards when you prise them from my cold, dead hand.

Déjŕ vu doesn't last long. Things are the same, yet different. There's no Vault-based opening this time, as the game takes place long after the remnants of humanity have begun rebuilding the world they left behind, their underground homes left to junkies, gangs and mutant plant life (or transformed into kitschy hotels).

This isn't the barren, blasted wasteland of Washington DC from the previous game. There's plant life, some of it edible. There's a semblance of order, thanks to the soldiers of the New California Republic. Even the quaint bottle-cap currency has become slightly more official, vying for economic dominance with the banknotes of the NCR. Just as Red Dead Redemption poised its tale in the dying days of the Old West, so New Vegas sets you down in a post-apocalyptic world on the verge of forging a new society.

That's not to say post-nuke Vegas is a stable environment. Raiders and gangs remain a problem, but not as much of a problem as the Legion, a vast army of slaves and psychos ruled by an imperial-minded despot called – what else? – Caesar. The Legion is cutting a bloody swathe through the New Vegas territory, threatening the fragile peace and workable economy that has developed.

'Fallout: New Vegas' Screenshot 2

Best new character? Fisto, the sex robot. Be sure to ask for a demonstration.

Your role in all this is a tangential one, at least to begin with. The game opens with you digging your own grave before a mysterious man puts a bullet in your head. You awake, somewhat miraculously, in the ramshackle home of a smalltown doctor, who patches you up and takes you through some basic orientation that doubles as your character creation.

From there you're free to roam and, like all Bethesda's RPGs, you can set off in any direction and pretty much guarantee that you'll stumble across something of interest.

There's still a lot of crap lying around the game world but, as with Fallout 3, the wheat-to-chaff ratio is brilliantly designed to tweak your obsessive-compulsive tendencies. As you dig around, opening desks and cabinets and crates, you might spot a stat-boosting book tucked under a table or a valuable health item lurking amongst the Pork N' Beans, and realise that some canny developer left it there with the express purpose of rewarding your Womble-esque rummaging.

Better still are the odd little vignettes and ambient stories written into the landscape. There's nothing more amusing than creeping into a derelict hotel room only to discover that some previous occupant has left a teddy bear and toy dinosaur arranged with some kitchen implements to create a Toytown knife fight.

Make no mistake, this is a massive game. The map feels more populated and varied than Fallout 3's, from the scrubland frontier villages, through aspirational small towns like Freeside, to the Strip itself, where a tatty semblance of normality has taken hold with neon signs, almost-clean casinos and untainted food and water.

You'll be meeting lots of different factions as you traverse this world and the game's new focus on reputation makes them more than a pointless palette-swap. You'll be doing missions for most of these groups at some point, often bringing you into conflict with others, and juggling your allegiance is trickier than it seems, especially where the main quest line is concerned. There are multiple forces vying for control of New Vegas and sooner or later you need to pin your flag to somebody's post.

There are the dubious crime families of the Strip – Omerta, White Glove Society, The Chairmen – and the militaristic forces that aim to rein them in: the New California Republic Rangers, Caesar's Legion and even the Brotherhood of Steel, diminished by time but still a powerful presence. Further down the food chain are rough and ready gangs and cliques, charitable groups and traders. The ghouls have found religion. The Super Mutants have their own talk radio station. Progress is on the march.

'Fallout: New Vegas' Screenshot 3

New melee options allow you to pull off special attacks, knocking enemies over or blinding them with dust.

Lording over all of it is the mysterious and reclusive Mr House, New Vegas' default ruler, whose inscrutable plans dragged you into this power struggle in the first place. Post-BioShock, we've perhaps met one too many toffee-voiced videogame oligarchs ordering us about from afar. But New Vegas just about makes it work, if only because your freedom to ignore or defy the man at the top is unlimited by the linear narratives of first-person shooter design.

Indeed, Fallout remains a procrastinator's dream. My idealistic intention was to plough through the main quests and then explore the margins until my deadline loomed. 50 game-clock hours and 38 quests later, I'd barely scratched the surface of the story, having spent my time being wonderfully distracted by interesting structures and enjoyable side-quests and ooh, what's that over there, let's go and see. I'd visited just under half the locations on the map, was two-thirds of my way towards the Level 30 cap and, according to the Achievements list, there were still at least 16 major quests to be completed. So, yeah: big.

It's all incredibly intuitive if you played Fallout 3 since, on the surface, New Vegas looks, sounds and plays exactly the same. With only a few new creatures and a lot of familiar scenery items, it's initially easy to think of it as a really big expansion pack rather than a game in its own right.

There's more going than just reshuffled assets, though. Obsidian has reintroduced more RPG features, such as crafting. You could make a small selection of weapons in the last game, but that's changed now. You can still create some explosive devices at workbenches, but mostly you'll be putting together your own stimpacks and medical supplies. Camp fires allow you to take the raw ingredients found around the place and turn them into nutritious, stat-boosting meals, while you can even salvage, recycle and repack your ammo supply. Though the world may be crawling back towards civilisation, you'll be living off your wits a lot more.

The Bear Grylls approach proves essential in Hardcore Mode, perhaps the most striking and beneficial addition to the game. Activated at the start, it plays up the survival aspect by introducing numerous realistic variables to your game. You need to eat, drink and sleep: hunger, thirst and sleep deprivation will hinder, disorient and eventually kill you if you don't keep on top of them. Ammo has weight in Hardcore Mode, so you can't merrily stuff your pockets with every shell and bullet you find. Efficient inventory planning soon becomes a pressing requirement.

Most importantly, healing items no longer instantly top up your health, but fix you over time, forcing you to be much more tactical in your confrontations. Crippled limbs must be fixed using the rare Doctor's Bag item or patched up by an actual doctor. You can't simply dash in and spam the hotkey for stimpacks during a fight, but have to really think about how you can take down, say, a cellar full of hulking Nightkin without being squished into a fine paste.

It's a brilliant decision, and one that fits perfectly with the aesthetic of the game, forcing you to fully engage with its radiation-scorched landscape. Before, food and water were simply optional health pick-me-ups. Now they form a balancing act, as you weigh up the benefits of curing dehydration sickness with the radiation poisoning you'll get from slurping out of a manky old sink. It's also great to see an extra layer of difficulty that doesn't rely on simply making your enemies bulletproof (yes, Mass Effect, that means you) but instead forces you to play smarter, rather than harder.

The only addition that simply doesn't work is the enhanced use of companion characters. These were present in Fallout 3 (RIP, Dogmeat) but now come with a command wheel that supposedly gives you more control over them.

Trouble is, what they need is better AI, not a rudimentary selection of orders that are inadequate for the game's many obstacles. Companions bestow unique perks (more if you complete their side-quests) and are very handy for carrying additional items and supplying extra fire-power, but their tendency to dash off into battle against any enemy that passes within visual range, even when supposedly set to 'Passive' mode, makes them more trouble than they're worth.

'Fallout: New Vegas' Screenshot 4

Black Mountain, home to Super Mutants and Nightkin galore. Maybe wait a bit before tackling this one, eh?

I lost count of the number of times I turned around to discover they'd sprinted off to tackle a Deathclaw single-handed, standing two feet away from it and firing wildly. Eventually, I stopped reloading to keep them alive and let them commit suicide. Compared to the huge strides BioWare has made in RPG party design, this is an area Fallout 4 would do well to either improve on or avoid altogether.

Your companion's dim-witted nature is perhaps connected to the creaking Gamebryo engine, which still carries a lot of Oblivion's clunkier aspects in its digital genome. Interior maps remain frustratingly vague, character models are still bloated and odd, and both people and objects are prone to random jigging or getting lodged in doors and rocks.

The game can still throw out some glorious vistas – the distant lights of the Strip twinkling in the wilderness – but mid-range details pop in awkwardly and the frame rate chugs too often for comfort. There are even complete game freezes, usually after prolonged play sessions, though Bethesda assures us that this is a known issue and a day-one patch will fix it.

Fallout: New Vegas is still a fantastic game, only slightly held back by its increasingly outdated tech. Obsidian has created a totally compelling world and its frustrations pale into insignificance compared to the immersive, obsessive experience on offer. Just like the scorched scenery that provides its epic backdrop, New Vegas is huge and sprawling, sometimes gaudy, even downright ugly at times – but always effortlessly, shamelessly entertaining.

9 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Dan.

About Dan Whitehead

Dan has been writing for Eurogamer since 2006 and specialises in RPGs, shooters and games for children. His bestest game ever is Julian Gollop's Chaos.

Read more articles from Dan by visiting the Dan Whitehead archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (204) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • CharlieStCloud #1 1 year ago

    Hooray!

  • NewbieZilla #2 1 year ago

    Woo!

    *Reads*

  • lucky_jim #3 1 year ago

    Phew, I was worried Obsidian might screw this up. Yay!

  • Tyronne #4 1 year ago

    Sounds like another time sink...what kinda excuses can I use on the girlfriend this time!

  • Fab4 #5 1 year ago

    Woohooo!!!

  • Dave52 #6 1 year ago

    9/10... was there ever any doubt...?

  • MrTulip #7 1 year ago

    *sigh of relief*

    if the voice acting and dialogue are as good (in comparison to FO3) as the first preview videos promised then this is the fallout i've been waiting for. yay!

  • ruslan74 #8 1 year ago

    Wow... impressive score! Obsidian has made amends for its previous "different" game. Yay!

  • stephenb #9 1 year ago

    Excellent review.

    /digs out land mines and comedy hat

  • Tomo #10 1 year ago

    Sigh. I didn't really like FO3 all that much - thought it was just copy-paste environments and repetitive gun action - but I keep reading more and more about this and thinking maybe it'll be different... damn apocalyptia, I am too hooked.

  • tossetaz #11 1 year ago

    If I never got around to playing fallout 3 is there any reason i should do it before playing fallout new vegas? (according to wikipedia it's not really connected very much to fallout 3)
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/10 @ 08:58

  • ryandsimmons #12 1 year ago

    Aaargh... Day one purchase or should I wait for the face off to see whether to get the Ps3 or 360 version?

  • lucky_jim #13 1 year ago

    @tossetaz

    No reason to play Fallout 3 before this. It's worth playing at some point if you've got the time though, simply because it's brilliant.

  • Lotos8ter #14 1 year ago

    What a fantastic read to start the day.

    /Now hurry the fuck up Play.com and get me my copy!

  • GAmbrose #15 1 year ago

    Yay! Goodbye life, cya in a month.

  • ZizouFC #16 1 year ago

    Yay! I actually had a nightmare that this would get horrible reviews... haha =/

  • HisDudness #17 1 year ago

    Hardcore mode sounds like it remedies my biggest problem with the first game: the setting was neat but the game felt shallow as an experience. Also there were a lot of really lame quests. I kept hearing about gamers' amazing experiences with this or that side quest, but never found one that made me sit back and say, "shit that was a really cool quest".

    More interesting factions - coupled with the higher stakes and deeper gameplay of hardcore mode - are tempting me to revisit the series.

  • Bursiene #18 1 year ago

    Excellent can't wait preordered yesterday and typically my tv starts playing up, taking in for repair tomorrow so I am gonna be screwed no tv to play it on :(

  • Vanmunt #19 1 year ago

    or from another review..

    How could I hope to evaluate the worth of Fallout: New Vegas, a full-price game that's practically identical, both graphically and mechanically, to another game that was released two years ago? How could I tell you whether or not it's an insult that you're being asked to pay $60 for a game that's so technically deficient that it scarcely feels past the beta stage?



  • Ged42 #20 1 year ago

    I'm glowing with anticipation... or is that just radiation.

  • Al_Swearengen #21 1 year ago

    And there goes my plans for an outdoorsy weekend. Damn you Mr. New Vegas, damn you!!!

  • Fab4 #22 1 year ago

    @vanmunt,

    What review was that?

  • Flying_Pig #23 1 year ago

    Nice score, but then for me the score's irrelevant. I'd buy this game almost regardless.

  • TonyB #24 1 year ago

    The game contains a character called Fisto, the sex robot? Sold!

  • CaptainQuint #25 1 year ago

    Skipped the first one; think I'll have to cave and get this one.

  • thewool #26 1 year ago

    \o/

  • Beano #27 1 year ago

    Giant Bomb and other sites mentions many bugs and claims it's even more glitchy than FO3...

    EDIT: Overlooked EG comment about it.
    Edited by 2 at 19/10/10 @ 09:19

  • Daeltaja #28 1 year ago

    What happened to the 3pm embargo?! I didn't expect such a high score and as if I wasn't already psyched for Friday.. 3 glorious days off to get lost in this monster. Well done Obsidian!

  • Zeliard #29 1 year ago

    Chris Avellone and JE Sawyer.

    The kings.

  • Ninja_Tino #30 1 year ago

    @tossetaz, there's no connection (unless there's maybe the odd reference or something) but getting Fallout 3 first might not be a bad idea. It's so cheap online and the GOTY adds a lot more if you're willing to spend an extra tenner. By the time you're through with that beast then New Vegas should have taken a nice price drop.
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/10 @ 09:21

  • henro_ben #31 1 year ago

    I can rob graves again? Awesome!

    Sounds like it's a little bit more like Fallout 2, which is a good thing in my view. Day one purchase for me I think...

  • Beano #32 1 year ago

    "There are even complete game freezes, usually after prolonged play sessions, though Bethesda assures us that this is a known issue and a day-one patch will fix it."

    Well... it's out in US and no patch yet :(

    I was looking forward to this game but don't like all the stories about glitches and frequent (and long) load-times :p

  • Oli Verified Reviews Editor, Eurogamer.net #33 1 year ago

    @Daeltaja

    I don't know what happened, but sometimes embargoes just don't hold. We got up this morning and there were Fallout: New Vegas reviews all over the internet.

  • Shikasama #34 1 year ago

    Vanmunt - I don't want to put words in your mouth and say that is how you feel, but if we rate games solely on the tech they use, The Force Unleashed 2 is the best game ever and everything else isn't even worth it.

    The people who thrive on games like FO don't really care about pixels per square inch and what fps the game is rendered in. Whereas generic FPS 2001 uses that sort of stuff as a crutch, a game like Fallout (and to a lesser extent, Oblivion) transcends that.

  • d00dl #35 1 year ago

    Wow. It looks like the months up to christmas will be outrageously expensive and time consuming yet again. I still need to finish fallout 3! Oh well, I guess the gym will have to wait until next year :)

  • darkmorgado #36 1 year ago

    I feel a dead-is-dead hardcore playthrough (and accompanying blog) coming on...

  • Der_tolle_Emil #37 1 year ago

    Nice! I did not have the chance to play the first one (somehow the game of the year edition refuses to go down in price) but it's good to know that once I'm done with Fallout 3 I have the chance to get even more quality Fallout.

  • Ignatius_Cheese #38 1 year ago

    F*CK! I really didn't need to buy this...

    /pre-orders ;_;

    Edit - Although I recall Sainsburys doing a launch deal on FO3 so may hold off ordering until the weekend.

    # I don't want to set the world on fire... #
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/10 @ 09:29

  • pauleyc #39 1 year ago

    @Vanmunt

    You know, I can live with the insult of playing a game based on a 2-year old engine (if only slightly improved) if the game is written by somebody who knows how to tell a good story (and IMO Avellone and Sawyer know how to do that). To me, more insulting are those games that use fancy engines, lighting, bazilions of polygons and shaders as a mere facade to hide their ultimately empty gameplay.

  • muscleblade #40 1 year ago

    Personally i probably get Vanquish over this. Very different game but i dont have time for more than a couple more games this year and that is just if i choose the shorter games. Castlevania Los is a loooooong game. I dont want more games at that lenght tbh.

  • smithdown #41 1 year ago

    Awww nuts. I've still got to finish Demon's Souls, start Mass Effect 2, and I'm still loving Reach MP. And now FO:New Vegas comes along to take up 6 months of my limited gaming time! Must.... resist..... ahhh bollocks to it, Shopto here I come....

  • Jonny5Alive7 #42 1 year ago

    Hooray, so glad this is going to be good. Looking forwards to getting totally immersed in the madness. Love the first paragraph of the review, I always find it hilarious when you get sucked in as much as that.
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/10 @ 09:42

  • Les #43 1 year ago

    Will probably get this once it's been patched. I liked the original, it was good though not great IMHO (bland visuals, moronic AI, generic quests).

  • BritishBlue1 #44 1 year ago

    I wasn't going to buy this but that Hardcore Mode sounds too damn intriguing.

  • guernican #45 1 year ago

    Have to say, although I ended up finishing Alpha Protocol, it had outstayed its welcome long before the final section.

    Nice to hear that they've got their shizzle together for this one. As Tyronne says at the top, the only problem is going to be how to spin to the girlfriend that this is another 80-hour monster that I'll probably shoot for platinum with.
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/10 @ 13:10

  • funkateer #46 1 year ago

    ""There are even complete game freezes, usually after prolonged play sessions, though Bethesda assures us that this is a known issue and a day-one patch will fix it."

    There are complete game freezes in FO3 that *never* got fixed, so I wouldn't hold my breath.
    It's no deal-breaker though, just an annoyance.

  • kangarootoo #47 1 year ago

    Hmmmm, I hadn't really had my eye on this, as much as I loved FO3 from the off, I sort of lost momentum with it (its a long story, but it basically involves waiting for the DLC that unlocks the level cap... and by the time it arrived, I didn't care). I never finished FO3 in the end.

    However, this review is peaking [sic?] my interest. I think this might spell the end for DR2, consigning it to rarely used (in my case) trade in status, while it still has some value.


    But dammit, when is AC:B out? I can't play two hour hungry games like that back to back. Stoopid run up to Xmas.

  • Ranger101 #48 1 year ago

    "The Super Mutants have their own talk radio station."

    1. Made me even more glad I preordered.
    2. Made me smile.

  • menage #49 1 year ago

    Don't tempt me.

    I'll pick it up in a month or so

  • Skandalle #50 1 year ago

    VIVA!

  • Darren #51 1 year ago

    Oooo, I couldn't resist a peak at the end but what a promising score... glad I pre-ordered then... now to read the full review.

  • overcorpse #52 1 year ago

    Skimmed review,looked at score,now erect.

    Then the fking tories ruined my day :/

  • apoc_reg #53 1 year ago

    Well I've brought the game as I'm an Obsidian fan but I'm really not sure i can play another game with as bad animation and 'physicality' as Oblivion and Fallout 3. It really is startlingly bad when you go back to them!

  • Moribundman #54 1 year ago

    Excellent. Joystiq posted a 3.5/5 review (they were first I think - I'm ignoring the fake attackofthefanboy one since he clearly hadn't played the game and it came out on Saturday!) so I was expecting a bad to mediocre review from EG.

    Seems a good EG review is tougher to swing these days, and for this to get a 9/10 is a HUGELY encouraging sign. Glad mine is being packed as we speak :-D

  • Ranger101 #55 1 year ago

    I remember going to GermanTown Police HQ, with a high stealth perk and just listening in to two Super Mutant in conversation and laughing my arse off at the 'domestic' conversations they were having. Trading tips, talking about their day. A lull in the conversation comes and they both look my way...

    ...Almost feel bad when the slow-mo plasma bolt hit's one of their finger's and he goes into super gib mode like he got hit by the 100 cracked fists of the north star. And the second Mutie doesn't die, but then a quick twang of a guitar string, and out pops Mysterious Stranger to pass on his greetings in the form of hot lead.

    Nothing left for me to move on and reminice about the two friends I could've made that day, if it were not for the slip of my trigger finger.

    Good times.
    Edited by 2 at 19/10/10 @ 10:13

  • immateriaux #56 1 year ago

    Good stuff. That Hardcore mode sounds like the mutt's nuts. Definite purchase this

  • Plewt #57 1 year ago

    Seems like another ultra-buggy game getting rated way too high.

  • Roarster #58 1 year ago

    Will definitely pick this up but I think I'll wait for a few patches first. I'll also be waiting to see which platform is the least buggy as well, seeing as I have that option. Both the PC and PS3 version of Fallout 3 crashed fairly regularly for me with the PC version a real struggle to get stable (apparently it could have problems with 64-bit Windows and multiple core CPUs).

  • Plewt #59 1 year ago

    Also, looks like there is some severe performance issues on Nvidia cards.
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/10 @ 10:22

  • Alf-Life #60 1 year ago

    Shame I know I won't have time to play this properly.

    It's the kind of game I love the sound of... but will probably never get round to playing. :(

  • GitSomE_UK #61 1 year ago

    Goodbye world!!!... I have to finish my other games before I vanish into this.

  • geeza2020 #62 1 year ago

    Encouraging review. I'm still going to wait for the inevitable GOTY though.

  • Utopolitan #63 1 year ago

    I guess this is the nail in the coffin for my already screwed up social life.

  • Markitron #64 1 year ago

    Really looking forward to this now. Any word anywhere on the PS3 version performance. Im willing to get it on the 360 if its significantly better but im afraid my 3 year old machine wont survive 100 hours of this..................

  • OnASteamer #65 1 year ago

    Does anyone know if the Hardcore mode can be toggled on and off? (Or, at least, can I start in Hardcore mode and then shamefully give in and revert to normal settings later on?)

  • neems #66 1 year ago

    I believe, although I can't confirm, that you can turn Hardcore Mode off if necessary, but I'm not so sure that you can turn it on.

  • magicpocket #67 1 year ago

    Hardcore can be toggled on and off. Of course, if you change the settong once, you wont get the 'reward' for playing the whole way through with it on.

  • Ranger101 #68 1 year ago

    @OnASteamer

    Yup Hardcore mode can be toggled on/off on the fly. You won't get the achievement though if you switch it off and then on again, even if only to 'test the difference'.

  • Deckard1 #69 1 year ago

    bollocks, was gonna try to resist this for a bit, but reading that reminded me of why I loved fallout 3. I'm gonna have to buy it straight away now.

  • SbEguy #70 1 year ago

    Damn, and here i was almost hoping it would turn out a buggy piece of shit, if only to avoid the agony of having to wait for it to unlock on friday. Hardcore mode sounds absolutely delightful for a second playthrough when one has gotten a sense of how the game works.
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/10 @ 10:46

  • Boomerang #71 1 year ago

    "Fairly certain ye can turn [hardcore mode] on or off at any time"

    I'd be VERY surprised if this was the case. Surely it'd have to be one or t'other, no pussying out ;)

  • metalangel #72 1 year ago

    @darkmorgado: I had to simulate all that for my FO3 adventure diary/blog, but make sure you travel everywhere by foot (no fast travelling) to ensure you get into lots of scrapes and random encounters along the way!

  • Whizzo #73 1 year ago

    Finally Fallout 2 gets a sequel, it'll be nice to see how the NCR has developed in the intervening years and at least one FO2 character is back, cannot wait!

  • Vortex808 #74 1 year ago

    Eurogamer, you said it'd 3pm. I've actually been working instead of checking on here for this review. You big evil, lying, but lovely swines!

  • DanWhitehead #75 1 year ago

    Yeah, Hardcore Mode can be toggled, and it's independent of the overall game difficulty. There's 100 Gamerpoints for playing to the end without switching it off though...

  • mkreku #76 1 year ago

    Excellent, spoiler-free review! I'm almost on the verge of forgiving you for that Risen review now, Dan ;)

  • SproutWinkler #77 1 year ago

    Nice review. Must hurry up and finish DAO:A and Bioshock 2 so I can put some time into this. Will wait for the inevitable Ł17.99 PC price drop though.

  • Xardan #78 1 year ago

    An unexpectedly high score. I doubt i would agree with it after playing the game myself.

    Joystiq's review seemed more honest and in depth to me and eurogamers seemed to give too much praise. I think ill wait till tech issues are sorted as well as see how the DLC turns out before picking this up.

  • actionfitz #79 1 year ago

    Damn.
    can't afford it right now :/
    and fecking Fable 3 is out the same day.
    Buggery!

  • Murbal #80 1 year ago

    Fable 3 is actually out next week.

  • Caimbeul #81 1 year ago

    Fallout 3 is sitting on my PC waiting to be played but have too many games to finish :-(

  • Retroid #82 1 year ago

    9?

    Oh, my.

    I am *so* looking forward to this.

    #So bongo, bongo, bongo, I don't wanna leave the Congo, oh no no no no no
    #Bingo, bangle, bungle, I'm so happy in the jungle, I refuse to go
    #Don't want no bright lights, false teeth, doorbells, landlords, I make it clear
    #That no matter how they coax him, I'll stay right here

  • darkmorgado #83 1 year ago

    @darkmorgado: I had to simulate all that for my FO3 adventure diary/blog, but make sure you travel everywhere by foot (no fast travelling) to ensure you get into lots of scrapes and random encounters along the way!

    Ohhhh that was you that wrote the FO3 one? I remember reading that, and loving it. Well done :-)

  • apoc_reg #84 1 year ago

    How can you give a game with lots of bugs and really old tech (like 4 years old!) a 9?

    Not to say it isnt good but thats just glossing over the issues. Plenty of games get marked down heavily for such problems and called broken. But when its bethesda/Bioware etc etc its largely ignored in scores
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/10 @ 11:19

  • darkmorgado #85 1 year ago

    @Retroid

    DAMN YOU! I've got that in my head now. And I've been clean for 12 months :-(

    /sob

  • darkmorgado #86 1 year ago

    How can you give a game with lots of bugs and really old tech (like 4 years old!) a 9?


    Because gameplay > graphics?

  • apoc_reg #87 1 year ago

    @ darkmorgado

    yeah... but if a games not finished and is out dated it should be reflected in the score shouldnt it?

  • ryandsimmons #88 1 year ago

    Really looking forward to this now. Any word anywhere on the PS3 version performance. Im willing to get it on the 360 if its significantly better but im afraid my 3 year old machine wont survive 100 hours of this..................

    Exactly my problem. My 360 is playing up (disc read errors) so would rather get a PS3 version as that machine is looking healthy. But then again the 360 version is probably better...

    Aaargh I can't decide!

  • darkmorgado #89 1 year ago

    @apoc_reg

    The problems are pretty much inherent in the engine though. And I don't see how an old engine makes the game itself dated - the review clearly states the new mechanics are brilliant.

  • Miths #90 1 year ago

    On the official forum people are reporting problems with the Steam version crashing on start, and many of those that do manage to play the PC version complain about framerates much lower than in FO3.
    I sure as hell hope they've found some fixes/workarounds for these problems by Friday. I've got the Steam version pre-loaded and it's itching in my fingers to play - I would hate for Friday night to consist of a long stream of start up crashes or crippling framerates.

  • darkmorgado #91 1 year ago

    On the official forum people are reporting problems with the Steam version crashing on start

    Erm, how would they know? The game is locked till release...

  • TheJuriel #92 1 year ago

    The Hardcore Mode is very interesting to me, but why are the graphics still so goddamn ugly? Ugh.

  • TheJuriel #93 1 year ago

    "Erm, how would they know? The game is locked till release"

    US release date is earlier. With your region set to US, you too could be playing now.

  • darkmorgado #94 1 year ago

    US release date is earlier. With your region set to US, you too could be playing now.

    Or not, if what you say is being posted on teh forums is true :-)

  • telboy007 #95 1 year ago

    I see what you did there.

  • Skorms-Boss #96 1 year ago

    Disliked Obsidian since they fucked up Kotor II, but this sounds good......might have to buy..... no fable III and FU II next week, let some one buy me this for christmas instead!

  • darkmorgado #97 1 year ago

    Disliked Obsidian since they fucked up Kotor II

    Obsidian didn't fuck up Kotor 2, Lucasarts did by forcing Obsidian to release it before they had finished.

  • mooseti #98 1 year ago

    9 then. Not a big surprise there...

  • Gaol #99 1 year ago

    There are reports cropping up everywhere of both the PS3 and 360 versions freezing almost continually; check out Giant Bombs review for a start. If that's the case, then it's a serious omission by Eurogamer. Fingers crossed the game runs OK.

  • telboy007 #100 1 year ago

    FO3 froze on me a lot as well, still loved every minute of the game.

  • FTM #101 1 year ago

    why do people worry about the graphics..I just last month played through fallout3 again and honestly didnt find anything hideous about them...I just became engrossed in the game again

    the orignal had its quirks and bugs, but most get fixed eventually...when a game is good you are willing to forgive some technical problems as the end result is still excellent

  • Murton #102 1 year ago

    "Why are people getting their panties in a twist because New Vegas uses the Fallout 3 engine?."

    Because the Fallout 3 variation of the long obsolete GameBryo engine had piss poor performance and was shockingly unstable. I'm certain that many would forgive the old engine if it had actually worked. Fallout 3 was in no way a bad game, but the build quality (or rather lack of it) unfortunately destroyed any positive experience for many gamers, especially those on PS3 who didn't even receive patch support due to the DLC debacle.

    I put off pre-ordering this opting instead to wait for independent reviews before making the purchase. I'm glad I did as it seems that even the mainstream reviewers aren't afraid to tell the truth about the build quality this time round, and that means that I'll be waiting a couple of months for the game to reach a working state before I part with my money. Assuming of course that New Vegas does in fact reach a working state, after all, Fallout 3 didn't and it's been out for nearly two years now.

  • CaptainQuint #103 1 year ago

    Hang on, a quick look on Metacritic reveals that this game is getting really mixed reviews. EG getting carried away again?

    I'm gonna put off a potential purchase, at least until I've nothing else to play, by which time this should have been greatly discounted at retail.

  • Dr_Wookiee #104 1 year ago

    Seriously good review. My appetite is back
    For some more Fallout

  • Skire #105 1 year ago

    Just bought Fallout 3 (the original, not the hell that is the GOTY version, plagued by freezes) for the PS3. Will buy this game immediately when the GOTY version comes out!

  • telboy007 #106 1 year ago

    "Hang on, a quick look on Metacritic reveals that this game is getting really mixed reviews. EG getting carried away again?"

    [link url=http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/ fallout-new-vegas/critic-reviews
    ]http://ww w.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/...[/link]

    85 is mixed reviews now?!?

    Disclaimer: 85 at time of url postings. :)
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/10 @ 12:56

  • TheElfishGene #107 1 year ago

    Hardcore mode=sold

    At last hopedfully a RPG that actually role plays.

  • chrisola #108 1 year ago

    Vanquish, Enslaved, Castlevania, Fallout --- glad i have next week off work!!

  • asphaltcowboy #109 1 year ago

    Loved FO3, but still haven't completed it. I think I'm hesitant to go back to it because I know that if I do I'll end up getting sucked back in. It's the type of game where you can't play it for 30 minutes at a time, I always end up diving in for an hour or two...!

    Re: the shonky game engine - It was already shonky-looking when FO3 came out (apart from a few of the nice vistas). Let's hope the new deal with id means we'll see Fallout 4 running on idTech 5 eh? :D

  • GAmbrose #110 1 year ago

    @telboy007 - Hehe

    Some people have lost perspective. 85 is a great score for a game

    And Eurogamer did mention there should be a day one patch to fix any current issues. We'll assume they mean day one of the WORLDWIDE release rather than the Yanks playing it early.

  • Cappy #111 1 year ago

    I'm dubious of reviews scoring on the basis of a patch appearing later on.

    If it crashes out of the box, it should be reviewed on that basis. All those boxed copies of the game will be around longer than the patch will be available and some people don't take their consoles online in the first place.

    Completion with no crashes at all is supposed to be the norm for console games, anything that misses that mark should be penalised heavily.

  • whigwam #112 1 year ago

    looks good, even good enough to drag me away from minecraft for a few weeks. I do hope freezing is less of an issue this time. nothing takes you out of that immersive post-apocalyptic experience quite like ducking into a save menu every 5 min out of fear of losing progress.

  • MORZTAN #113 1 year ago

    Is it just me, or is the tagline borderline brilliant?

  • Gamez_Kartel #114 1 year ago

    Apparently the reviewers at Eurogamer are such Western RPG fanboys. Mass Effect 2 & Fable II get a 10 and this Fallout New Vegas gets a 9, not like I disagree but the passion these folks have in issuing high marks to just about any WRPG is quite interesting. It'll only be fair if they treated other games like the did with those.

    Giving an okay game like Mafia II an insulting 4 beats me.
    How FIFA 10 is a 9 and FIFA 11 an 8 is strange.
    WRC Rally is such a crappy game it shoulda had that 4 Mafia 2 had, yet it gets a ridiculous 7, wow!
    Plus, most critics don't find MOH that good, yet you folks see it as an 8

    Eurogamer, enough with the attention seeking, always wanting to stand out at Metacritic, always tryna have a different opinion to the majority. I love this site but your reviews lately have been a complete mess. Hell, hows SFIV/SSFIV a perfect 10?

    I'll trust this site when it comes to Digital Foundry's comparisons but with the reviews, I don't know...

  • DanWhitehead #115 1 year ago

    My fame froze maybe five times in over 50 hours of gameplay, usually after a mammoth 6-7 hour session. It's an issue, certainly, but hardly a constant problem.

  • DanWhitehead #116 1 year ago

    "game" not "fame" - enormous man-fingers plus tiny iPhone keypad.

  • Cappy #117 1 year ago

    Once the PS3 GOTY edition of Fallout 3 passed the 100 hour mark, I was getting crashes four or five times an hour in some areas plus unbelievable frame rate drops. Sub 1FPS on one section of Broken Steel.

    Lets see how things are going for players who get towards the 200 hour mark when the Fallout: New Vegas DLC arrives.

    Edited by 1 at 19/10/10 @ 13:04

  • Rack #118 1 year ago

    Not so much "mixed" as Joystiq are bashing it a lot more than everyone else. It's going to be a long wait for the GotY, wonder if I can hold out.

  • Macdory #119 1 year ago

    I've seen promises from Obsidian to patch something and they have never bothered - Alpha Protocol, KOTOR 2, and NWN2 stayed broken for a long time.

    I'll wait for the patch to be released before buying ...

  • darkmorgado #120 1 year ago

    always tryna have a different opinion to the majority

    The key word here is opinion, something which is entirely subjective, and as such your entire ranting post has absolutely zero merit. EG are under no obligation to make sure that they have exactly the same viewpoint and nor should they.

    Games journalists aren't the freaking Borg, you know.

  • CaptainQuint #121 1 year ago

    @ telboy

    I was referring to the numerous reports of bugs, one or two of which are allegedly VERY bad.

    I don't know about anyone else, but that's enough to put me off coughing up 40 notes for an [unfinished] game. If I ever play this, it'll be further down the line - when it's been patched to kingdom come.

    I think that's wisdom, not a lack of "perspective".

  • guernican #122 1 year ago

    "Seems like another ultra-buggy game getting rated way too high. "

    If there are ultra-buggies in it, I'm definitely buying. Will they have rocket launchers?

  • barchetta #123 1 year ago

    Those RPS chaps have a few reservations over the PC version:

    Here

    More bugs than the game per se but still looking forward to it anyway!
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/10 @ 13:12

  • GAmbrose #124 1 year ago

    Did Fallout 3 have bugs? Yes.

    Were any of them gamebreaking? No.

    Do I like that Console games are increasingly released in a rushed state and need patching? No

    Am I looking foward to New Vegas regardless? HELL YES.

  • pauleyc #125 1 year ago

    @Gamez_Kartel:

    "Apparently the reviewers at Eurogamer are such Western RPG fanboys."

    And why exactly would that be a bad thing? :-)

  • Cappy #126 1 year ago

    "There is a fix for the PS3 version of Fallout 3 GOTY, just pause your game in the wastelands and let the game do a full instal, takes half hour. When the yellow light stops blinking it's finished. No more frame rate problems, no more crashes."

    Didn't work. That was supposedly a fix for the extended loading pauses. If you can call up the XMB it was actually a long pause (a bug in itself) rather than a crash, versus what I was getting, a total system lockup with no XMB.

    By the time I'd completed all the DLC excepting Broken Steel the game would actually crash if I went near specific areas of the map, by the time Broken Steel was done I simply couldn't play any further. The game would crash long before I could reach any further unexplored locations

  • Captain_Beardface #127 1 year ago

    Looks like a job for Captain_PC_Fanboy! Do you know what version game will soon (thanks to using the same engine) be modded to include better graphics and animations (just like FO3 was), thus eliminating one of the biggest complaints about New Vegas? That's right, the PC version.

  • Spuzzell #128 1 year ago

    Can you please mention which platform you did your playtesting on?

    Obviously you playing through all 3 versions before a review isn't feasible, but it would be handy to know if I need to find a PC specific review to check up on any issues. PS3/360 owners would probably appreciate the information too.

  • darkmorgado #129 1 year ago

    @Spuzzell

    Wait for the inevitable faceoff.

  • telboy007 #130 1 year ago

    Thank god you're here Captain_PC_Fanboy! We've had over 144 comments and there have been no platform fanboy wars. We can rest easy now. Phew.
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/10 @ 13:30

  • Captain_Beardface #131 1 year ago

    @telboy007 Well, this is actually valid info - a lot of people don't realize just how much the PC modding scene added to Fallout 3. Hell, I'd say its contributions are *better* than the official DLC.

  • Judas_Priest #132 1 year ago

    NOOOOOOOOO! WHY NOW! I need my final exams to pass before I can even think about this game, damn it! We'll I think getting distinctions or higher in everything may just be a bit more tantalising than a new Fallout game.... just.

  • Plewt #133 1 year ago

    Yea modding is great and all but it's a disgrace we should have to rely on that get a decently working game.

  • RobTheBuilder #134 1 year ago

    After more than 60 hours on FO3, I'm not sure I can fit this is... must...find...way

  • Fab4 #135 1 year ago

    Gamers seem to be bug obsessed. My most favourite console game of this gen has been CoD3, which had more bugs than features. It would freeze. it would kick you out of online games. There were glitches for every map. It was (is) still fun as fuck.

  • darkmorgado #136 1 year ago

    Gamers seem to be bug obsessed.

    Nah, I always prefer Psychic or Water type.

  • Markitron #137 1 year ago

    CoD3? Really????

  • Skire #138 1 year ago

    Let's see whether this game has the same bug that plagued Fallout 3: the infamous >10MB save file. When your save file would eventually surpass the 10MB mark, you were screwed. The game would freeze constantly and there was no way back.

  • Fab4 #139 1 year ago

    Yeah, CoD3. Pisses all over MW and its bastard children in terms of playability.

  • intpleeus #140 1 year ago

    The hardcore mode feels like a minor victory for me.

    I created a popular thread on the official Fallout 3 forums detailing a set of user-enforced rules that amounted to a hardcore mode; they were intended for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 users who did not have access to mods. The goal was to increase the challenge without just turning enemies into bullet sponges.

    My conceit is that, along with the "hardcore" mods, the thread motivated Obsidian to include the hardcore mode as standard in New Vegas.

  • Murton #141 1 year ago

    XNick: Fallout 3 is in a working state, I've finished it over 4 times and the game froze about twice. Drama queens.

    What platform did you play it on though? It's widely documented that the PS3 version especially was far from working, and the 360 and PC versions, though better, were hardly perfect. If we forget specific game breakers such as the GOAT bug, Jefferson Memorial bug or the 100 skill point bug which affected all three systems and halted progress requiring the player to start from scratch, there is the little issue on PS3 of the game becoming increasingly unstable leading to frame rate drops and lockups as the save file approaches and exceeds 8mb, something which Bethesda outright refused to acknowledge as an issue, let alone work to fix.

    Fact is, the PS3 version of Fallout 3 was a lazy port and the reviews don't paint New Vegas in a disimilar light, though I personally appreciate that the reviewers have been honest about it this time. It is nonetheless difficult for me to get properly excited about this game as I now know that improvements haven't been made and that as long as Bethesda maintains the DLC exclusivity there's a good chance that the PS3 version will once again go totally unpatched just as Fallout 3 has done.

  • Grayvern #142 1 year ago

    Loved the dig at Mass Effect 2 and the terrible way it treated difficulty, especially with regard to biotics.

    Just happy obsidian has been able to do what we all knew it could.
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/10 @ 15:17

  • Lunatic4ever #143 1 year ago

    Well Fallout 3 simply looked like dogshit BUT there is just somethign to it that makes you never want to put it down again.
    I've spent so many hours travelling through the landscape,absorbing the atmosphere and loving the setting.

    You don't need Crysis-esque vistas to make a game stunning. This game proves it brilliantly.

  • flippet #144 1 year ago

    Having just played through Borderlands I'm in two minds about this...I still love the post-apocalyse setting but Borderlands' light hearted Mad Max style was more fun, and the engine and combat mechanics were frankly superior (to what I remember from Fallout 3).

    Mind you, to completely switch to a survival mindset the hardcore mode might be interesting. Borderlands drops so much loot that half the time I couldn't even be bothered to rummage, there was just no need.

  • Macdory #145 1 year ago

    So basically FO:NV is full of game breaking bugs (read RPS) yet Eurogamer never came across any of these and awarded it 9/10, yet Mafia 2 has no noticable game breaking bugs and scores 4/10 ...maybe there is a lesson to be learnt by releasing buggy games ...

    Eurogamer are just trash really aren't they?

    All I ask for is an honset review to help base a purchase decision on, and I get this crap ... Eurogamer really is a joke !

  • darkmorgado #146 1 year ago

    Cry me a river, macdory.

  • ouchio #147 1 year ago

    9/10 seems slightly excessive for a game that is shipping in a very broken state I would suggest. And these are only the first bugs that have been discovered, I fully expect at least 4 lots of major update fix patches or even more going on bethesdas track record of shipping broken software that they may or may not even bother to fix. factor in Obsidian as devs and the bugs are only going to be bigger.
    This is a lazy broken bug ridden expansion pack cash in. BUYER BEWARE.
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/10 @ 15:46

  • Astro-Creature #148 1 year ago

    Even if they gave this a 1/10 I still would have got it.

  • Ranger101 #149 1 year ago

    @Macdory Dan Whitehead (that would be the reviewer who wrote the words in this 3 page review and justified the score rather splendidly) wrote in these here very comment pages that the game only froze on him twice in a 50-hour gameplay span. I imagine that, and the other related issues mentioned in the review text, explain why this isn't a 10/10.

  • pauleyc #150 1 year ago

    @Macdory:

    I don't want to sound like a die-hard Fallout NV apologist but Quintin posted this in the RPS comments:

    "As I mention in the article, I’m enjoying myself. None of this stuff is game-breaking. Just disappointing."

    A RPS Wot-I-Think feature would be more important from my point of view as it goes beyond the first impression stage.

  • Osahi #151 1 year ago

    Damn it. Now i've got to buy it :p

  • dirtysteve #152 1 year ago

    Anyone else just breath a sigh of relief? :)

  • Rajin #153 1 year ago

    @dirtysteve

    Aye:p

    So glad that this game is at least a improvement on obsidians previous work(god-awfull NW2 keeps haunting me combined with the 6-hour long patches)

    Edited by 1 at 19/10/10 @ 16:15

  • Trafford #154 1 year ago

    Well done Obsidian.
    I was trying to resist,but this game will last me months and months.
    Cya next year chaps!

  • HistoryTeller #155 1 year ago

    Extremely well written review. Getting game despite the overload of study and parenthood.

  • Widge #156 1 year ago

    Bethesda engine game is buggy, this a non-surprise. I moan about the bugs in their games (and the lack of patching support) as much as any, however I HAVE enjoyed their games. I’m not too fussed about the visual tech as I thought Fallout 3 looked fine, hell even Oblivion still looks fine. Its all going to be about immersion and atmosphere.

    Hardcore mode looks like how the first game should have played. My character became an invincible and invisible walking death machine by level 13 on F3, this gameplay mode should go great guns to balancing that out and adding an extra layer of depth. Hell, should compensate if that rather low level cap carries over from F3.

    Think about this is that I can probably assume there is due to be about Ł30 odd of DLC to come in the future, so am going to wait for the GOTY to come out as I really cannot be bothered with drip fed content. I have the game, I want to play all the game now please.

  • Cappy #157 1 year ago

    "@Macdory Dan Whitehead (that would be the reviewer who wrote the words in this 3 page review and justified the score rather splendidly) wrote in these here very comment pages that the game only froze on him twice in a 50-hour gameplay span. I imagine that, and the other related issues mentioned in the review text, explain why this isn't a 10/10."

    He actually said five times. Which is rather a lot compared to most other games which don't crash at all. That's just a reference to crashes, not a testament to the game being bug free aside from crashes.

    If this game is based heavily on Fallout 3, those crashes would become increasingly frequent as the game progresses. 99% of my crashes in Fallout 3 GOTY happened over the 70-80 hour mark. With so much to explore especially with the added DLC you could easily spend 200 hours wandering but for the fact that the game hits barely playable spots frequently as you top 100 hours and beyond.

    By the time I finally decided to stop my save file had swelled to 15MB.

  • Ranger101 #158 1 year ago

    I think my game crashed once in F3, and that was 80 hours of gameplay and 2 years ago, when I first got the game and was about 13 hours in.

  • lordofthedunce #159 1 year ago

    three hours in and the only bug I've seen got shot in the face.

  • darkmorgado #160 1 year ago

    What is it with people comparing Uncharted 2 to other games, no matter how ridiculous the comparisons?

    People will be comparing it to bloody Pro Evo next.

  • darkmorgado #161 1 year ago

    Then there were the amount of buttons, and possibilities, which I found off putting

    Perhaps you shouldn't be playing RPGs if you found Fallout confusing. You'd have a mental breakdown playing Demon's Souls.

  • DrMGinius #162 1 year ago

    If you keep giving '9/10-s' to games with outdated tech, they will keep using it. But since nobody but me and some trolls seem to care, thats probablly ok.

  • Demiath #163 1 year ago

    I get slightly worried about Eurogamer's review standards when so much text on other fairly reputable sites (Giant Bomb, Joystiq etc.) have been taken up with in-depth descriptions of just how broken the game actually is; as well as convincing arguments about the cosmetic nature and/or sheer insignificance of most of Obsidian's additions to the dated Fallout 3 experience. Dan Whitehead seems to have played a different game entirely...which is always a reasonable (if by no means conclusive) cause for suspicion.

  • Astro-Creature #164 1 year ago

    "It's widely documented that the PS3 version especially was far from working"

    Completed the PS3 version 100% three times. Had about 5 freezes.

    Where you get your facts?

  • Murton #165 1 year ago

    @ Astro

    Use google to look for Fallout 3 PS3 issues. You'll find countless posts on Bethesda's own forums, official PS forums, numerous independent forums, blogs, websites and more. IGN's original review of Fallout 3 mentioned game breaking bugs and crashes but was replaced by an edited version stating that they had no issues worth noting.

    Thankfully the reviewers are being a little more honest this time and while reviews seem to be mixed every one of them agrees that the game crashes for fun, much like Fallout 3 PS3 still does now, two years after release. If New Vegas really is as bad as Fallout 3, it's going to be very difficult to recommend to PS3 owners, in fact I've personally recommended to my friends that they not buy it and buy something else instead, wait a few weeks and see if once again Bethesda's DLC exclusivity extends to bug fixing patches as it did with Fallout 3, if so then this game simply might not be worth the hassle in the long run.

  • Rob_B #166 1 year ago

    I played FO3 on the PS3 and yes, it was buggy and crashy after about 60hours, it was still the best game i've played in my life.

    I'm upset that issues still surround the game, that should have been fixed before they even started on the gameplay!
    I'll still buy it though, I just cant resist some more Fallout devoted hours!

    Edited by 1 at 19/10/10 @ 19:32

  • byakuya83 #167 1 year ago

    quality control appears to have been ignored. after experience joy and frustration in equal measure with fallout 3 there is no way i'm paying full price for an unfinished game. i could overlook the terrible animation and poor framerate if more had been done to tweak the game engine and get the game running properly.

    these are just the early impressions amongst journalists. once the game gets into the hands of the many gamers across europe plenty more game ending bugs will be found.

    think i'll wait until such a time as it's fixed and go with vanquish this month.

  • EmiliasHorse #168 1 year ago

    Well it is a relief that a game I was always going to buy turned out to be brilliant. Now I want it more than ever.

  • Madder-Max #169 1 year ago

    so...can you gamble in this then or is that DLC?

  • Daeltaja #170 1 year ago

    Hmm I put 60+ into FO3 and all dlc packs save Mothership and not once did I experience the game freezing on me. I literally can't even recall a single glitch or bug, there might have been some, but this shows how insignificant they were in the overall experience.

    Vegas will be exceptional, the game lockup issue will get a fix as mentioned. Roll on Friday and roll on the DLC. It's something to look forward to and I have no problem dropping less than €6 on 3-4+ hours worth of new content, almost the price of a pint? I fail to see some peoples logic here.

  • peppergomez #171 1 year ago

    What about the bugs? No one is really worried about the content...it's more the technical polish folks doubt.

    http://ww w.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/10/...

  • peppergomez #172 1 year ago

    What about the bugs? No one is really worried about the content...it's more the technical polish folks doubt.

    http://ww w.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/10/...

  • upselo #173 1 year ago

    Honest question : How "There's still a lot of crap lying around the game world but, as with Fallout 3, the wheat-to-chaff ratio is brilliantly designed to tweak your obsessive-compulsive tendencies" is supposed to be good ? Is there any value in being made to compulsively open every crate or box lying around ? Is this supposed to heighten my immersion in the game, constitue in itself a pleasant activity or serve to bring across any valuable meaning ?
    From my point of view, it is just a weak formula to keep players addicted, granting them shallow but constant "rewards". I wish gaming was about more than just tiny ego boosts "I found something !", "I levelled up !" or the worst "Watch this fabulous headshot and this head gorily rolling in slow motion !"

  • telboy007 #174 1 year ago

    @upselo If I was in a post nuclear wasteland, I'd be looking everywhere for stuff I could sell on / use / save my life with. Don't know about you! Applies to this game some what.

  • upselo #175 1 year ago

    @telboy007 : if it was a wasteland you wouldn't find ammunition, food, health packs, guns lying everywhere, stuffed in every box, for everybody to take.
    I hear that the new Hardcore mode may justify the need to loot everything, but in Fallout 3, you ended up with ridiculous amount of everything and it was supposed to be a wasteland as well. I never fell short of anything to be honest. Looked a lot more like a supermarket, as if nobody was interested in picking this stuff up before you came around.
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/10 @ 22:50

  • RKOwned #176 1 year ago

    I would love to see a Reveiw that even acknowledges the PS3 versions existence and says wether or not they bothced it again.
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/10 @ 23:24

  • vizzini #177 1 year ago

    Cappy: "@Macdory Dan Whitehead (that would be the reviewer who wrote the words in this 3 page review and justified the score rather splendidly) wrote in these here very comment pages that the game only froze on him twice in a 50-hour gameplay span. I imagine that, and the other related issues mentioned in the review text, explain why this isn't a 10/10."

    He actually said five times. Which is rather a lot compared to most other games which don't crash at all. That's just a reference to crashes, not a testament to the game being bug free aside from crashes.

    I think you are setting the bar way too low. If a game freezes or crashes, even once in a repeatable way(ie not hardware specific), then the score should instantly be dropped to half marks (5/10) because it hasn't been Q/A tested properly.

    Just like handing in University course work late; you'd only get 50% at most, to teach you a meaningful lesson so you'd avoid repeating the mistake.

    Although the screenshots/videos looked very underwhelming for me, almost in a sub-Half life 2 kind of way, and poor tessellation in the character models and foreground scenery seemed to be a repeating theme that I didn't expect at this point in a console generation for well funded game.

    However, if gamers like the reviewer enjoy this style of story/gameplay then graphical polish shouldn't really matter too much, it probably doesn't damage the game in any meaningful way, unlike freezing or crashing would.

  • Soton4084 #178 1 year ago

    Sounds good, looks like I'll be picking this up at some point! Loved the review by the way, very well written!

  • TRUTH #179 1 year ago

    It sounds to buggy, to similar to the FO3, outdated graphics with many glitches and the only thing that's changes is the story - otherwise it's the same bloody game!

  • DanWhitehead #180 1 year ago

    "Why is there no mention of how many bugs this game contains and that if freezes up every hour or so?"

    Because it doesn't freeze up every hour or so? At least it didn't for me. The game certainly has issues, as mentioned in the review, but I didn't experience anything in over 50 hours of play that diminished the sheer amount of fun I was having.

  • DanWhitehead #181 1 year ago

    " Is there any value in being made to compulsively open every crate or box lying around ?"

    Well, the game doesn't make you do that. It's perfectly possible to play the game using stuff looted from enemies and bought from traders. I do think that the compulsion to poke around in every corner is a natural tendency in RPG players, so it's more a case of the developer rewarding the player for something they'd do anyway rather than thm forcing pointless busywork on you.

  • Al_Swearengen #182 1 year ago

    In case anyone in interested, the official guide is available as a PDF. Here's a 14-page taster:

    [link url=http://www.primagames.com/catalog/promo_imag e/9780307469960_1639.pdf
    ]http://ww w.primagames.com/catalog/promo_...[/link]

    If that link doesn't work (it sometimes doesn't) it's easiliy accessible from the main splash page on the Primagames site
    Edited by 1 at 20/10/10 @ 09:54

  • imYemeth #183 1 year ago

    Stopped reading at "roulette the dogs out" … seriously, sounds like IGN.

  • GAmbrose #184 1 year ago

    @peppergomez

    He might make some good observations and it's nice to hear feedback, but as soon as he said:

    "I played Fallout 3 on my console toy so I'm not sure how bad Fallout 3's controls were on PC"

    I couldn't take him seriously. The Xbox 360 is a toy now?
    Edited by 1 at 20/10/10 @ 10:23

  • Lepinkain #185 1 year ago

    I just have to say that Bethesda have never been very good at doing their game engines to stable and bugfree. The Elder Scroll series have been huge and immersive but the engines have been s**tleaking at best. Daggerfall-Morrowind-Oblivion and then Fallout 3...every one of them had issues with memory leaks, game crashing bugs and so forth and still all of them are my all time favorite CRPG's for the same reasons: Bethesda can make good, deep and very immersive open worlds where you can lose more hours from your real life than to WoW.

  • chargen #186 1 year ago

    "I can live with the insult of playing a game based on a 2-year old engine"
    What about older engines like Unreal3 and Source? Are they unplayable now? FFS

    "I couldn't take him seriously. The Xbox 360 is a toy now?"
    Yes, like all consoles. Nothing wrong with having fun with your toys.
    Edited by 1 at 20/10/10 @ 15:38

  • Kerome #187 1 year ago

    Nothing to do with the age of the engine tbh, it's more about the overall look and how they do atmospherics and special effects. The original Far Cry still looks good, as do most Unreal 3 games, and their tech is not exactly cutting edge anymore.

  • Roarrr #188 1 year ago

    I noticed this evening that the Steam version now has steam achievements. 50 of them.

  • TRUTH #189 1 year ago

    Unreal engine has always improved and advanced over time and each release of games using it (Enslaved) - unlike FOV!!!...also FOV, the AI really is useless and pathetic (no point having them).
    Edited by 1 at 20/10/10 @ 20:55

  • upselo #190 1 year ago

    First, thank you for your answer Dan.
    "Well, the game doesn't make you do that. It's perfectly possible to play the game using stuff looted from enemies and bought from traders."
    Well, they strongly encourage you to look at everything, by way of the game design itself: I want to survive, so I better stack up as much as possible to tip the odds in my favour, so in the end, what I'm doing is busywork. It would make sense if there wasn't so much of it, if resources were scarces and vital, but most of the time it feels useless and it's just done for the sake of tiny useless discoveries of the same old ammunition, health pack etc.

    "I do think that the compulsion to poke around in every corner is a natural tendency in RPG players, so it's more a case of the developer rewarding the player for something they'd do anyway rather than thm forcing pointless busywork on you."
    Interesting point. I do think it's more of a chicken/egg problem, players being accustomed to such things so they don't find it odd, and even like it in the end. Anyway, I don't feel loot should be considered an interesting reward, that this should remain unchallenged most of the time, or that rewards should be handed out constantly. Exploration (which I guess is what RPG players are really fond of) can be made interesting without scavenging boxes. I do find problematic that an empty room is now considered a problem (http://tv tropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Ma...

  • magicpocket #191 1 year ago

    @Truth.

    Comparing two completely different games and engines, seems a little weird.

  • XdarXideX #192 1 year ago

    OK, guilty here of skim-reading the review so don't get all upset with me if the answer to this question is somewhere in theer and I just missed it... but is the NON-VATS FPS gameplay improved?

    I've wanted to join in on the Fallout3 fun since it launched and in my 4 or 5 attempts to sit down and play the game, I just couldn't appreciate it like so many of you did. The problem is that I try to play it like a traditional FPS game and rarely use the VATS system like I should (because it feels unnatural in the midst of a firefight and it annoys me when shots miss and I feel I can do better aiming myself!!) and the game just comes up short for me in a shooter sense... I dont know what it is, but my brain just tells me "No! Pull the trigger your damn self!".

  • Lord_Gremlin #193 1 year ago

    Wait. How can this game have a good score when it's actually broken? Both PS3 and 360 versions. By "broken" I mean that console versions actually crash (!!!).

  • murphy1978 #194 1 year ago

    Too many games to play......

    As much as I loved FO3, with the amount of unplayed/unfinished games I am currently holding I think this will have to wait either until the new year, or the inevitable GOTY.

  • TetsuZaemon #195 1 year ago

    This looks really good. I really enjoyed Fallout 3, so, to me, "more of the same" isn't a problem at all.

    However, I'm rather worried about all these glitches and bugs. When the patches are released, how am I gonna get 'em, with my OFFLINE PS3?

    Someone, please, tell me exactly how screwed I am. :/

  • Ranger101 #196 1 year ago

    TetsuZaemon... I would wait a little bit longer mate and and see if the later release/printed copies of the game are the patched versions. Also, I don't know if they do this, but maybe ps3 magazines might put the patch on a demo cd?

    Do they do demo cd's anymore?

  • misinformed #197 1 year ago

    Just tried it and was pretty dissapointed with the visials theyre not as good as an unmodded Fallout 3 game. The old Fallout 3 apparel that ive seen so far (merc cruiser armour etc) looks a lot better than some of the new clothing developed for new vegas.

  • Murton #198 1 year ago

    @Tetsu and anyone else without a connected PS3

    You're pretty much screwed until GOTY. Sony's TRCs state that title updates must be downloaded and auto-installed only.

    From what I'm hearing this game should never have made it past submission, it seems that multiple GOTY winning publishers can push any old shit onto store shelves these day and MS and Sony won't bat an eyelid as long as the platform royalties are paid.

  • jambo74 #199 1 year ago

    No time, life to live now these days.

    Hey, it is just a game - wait for GOTY and get it all.
    Edited by 1 at 23/10/10 @ 01:29

  • Farzlepot #200 1 year ago

    I've been playing this game for a protracted period of time now (I got the preorder on Thursday, and was off work until today - 27 hours so far!). It has frozen on me once. I have had to restart the game twice - once because, for some reason, the PipBoy shot up above the screen, where I couldn't see anything, and another time because I got stuck in the ground.

    I have noticed a few minor bugs here and there - a character got stuck in a rock outside of Novac, an enemy that appeared to 'bounce' along the scenery for a few seconds, stuff like that - but hardly anything 'game breaking'.

    It's not the most polished game I've ever played for sure, but it's hardly 'broken'. Certainly no more than Fallout 3 was, and we all enjoyed that thoroughly. Well, some of us did anyway.

    Hyperbole sucks.

    EDIT - I should point out that I've been playing the Xbox 360 version, so your mileage may vary on other platforms. Also, the majority of the bugs I've experienced took place on Thursday. The release-day patch kicked in yesterday, and I've noticed a significant improvement. My primary concern now is that, the longer you play the game, the longer the loading screens get. That's pretty much it.
    Edited by 1 at 23/10/10 @ 23:44

  • makeamazing #201 1 year ago

    Ive played about 2 or 3 hours so far i guess. When you hear of bugs you do tend to look out for them more :)

    I dont like the plastic looking characters in the cutscenes, graphics look alot brighter than FO3.... seen one character stuck halfway in the ground, but generally no major issues. It does feel like an extended DLC so far (not played much, but doesn't look or feel like its been greatly advanced).

    Usual problems of items just randomly falling on the ground when you load (physics yay), some character and scenery pop. It does feel more clunky than FO3, certainly feels like the FPS has little pauses (PS3).

    Anyway, enjoying it so far, but i think they could have done with another 6 months of tuning/fixing.

  • Sevens #202 1 year ago

    Low quality throughout. - People who don't connect their console to the internet are affected by its technical problems even more.

    A 9 out of 10 appears completely inadequate.

  • makeamazing #203 1 year ago

    Played alot today (rather than working...ooops) I am enjoying it, but i think with all its performance issues, and other bugs, i have trouble giving it no more than 76% really.... the bugs are a pain, the performance is poor, game mechanics are still solid, but it just needs more work....

    Its a shame so far, wanted more FO3... but in the end, it seems more like the issues side of FO3 DLC than FO3 good (if you know what i mean)..

  • DuskWolf #204 1 year ago

    Just an FYI to anyone who's interested, I wouldn't put much stock in the more negative aspects of the Rock, Paper, Shotgun review. The thing is, the reviewer in question tends to write in what one may consider to be a somewhat sensationalist way, so much so that he'd do The Sun proud. Said reviewer actually got a review pulled from Eurogamer for being too sensationalist. So take that as you will.

    He's got a bit of a rep in my opinion for being controversial for the sake of it. And this is pretty obvious since he opens the review with a rather nasty slander against the games developer itself. (One that one of the senior developers, J.E. Sawyer, expressed some degree of dismay at in a Formspring question. Noting that, indeed, it's fine to dislike a game, but taking sneery potshots at a developer and insinuating that the developer had no passion for the game they were developing is incredibly not cool.) I mean, if he doesn't like the game, then that's fine, but who goes out of their way to insult a developer in the opening of their review? It's just not on, and it's not done for a reason.

    There were also a number of elements of the review which were 'staged' to make the game look bad, in which the reviewer was actively trying to make the game look worse than it was. For example: At one point the reviewer claimed that he'd heard about a large farm, but once he got there, the place was tiny. However, in a screenshot he'd supplied as evidence of this, he'd placed the camera in such a way as to make it look like this was the case. Move the camera left a bit and one would see that it's actually ten times the size he'd claimed. This casts the entire review into doubt.

    Really, with reviews or 'What I Think's like that, I don't consider Rock, Paper, Shotgun to be exactly credible at the moment, they had some genuine pedigree there with Kieron Gillen, but he's since left the site. And to be honest, I'm a little disappointed with them. I honestly think that after having sunk an ungodly amount of hours into the game with numerous replays and enjoyed all of it, that Dan's review is far, far more fair summation of the game. And that RPS seems to be slamming just to be controversial and to drive traffic to their site.

    So really, take it with a grain of salt.

    Source for my claim that the Eurogamer review was pulled: http://ww w.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/th... (Do note the comments about how the review was littered with nasties like Asian jokes made in bad taste, and poorly placed political jokes. Remember what I was saying about this reviewer being worthy of The Sun? I wasn't joking.)
    Edited by 1 at 25/12/10 @ 01:13