Giantbomb.com Fallout New Vegas Review - 4/5 Stars

[Regs]

I ran into all the bugs you mentioned but I managed to make it through the game with patience and some console cheats - my friends no clip and movetoqt helped.

The broken quests, dialogue breaks, random crashes (mostly after receiving your items from lock ups), and the saves are definitely some game breakers for many.

Even though the graphics make this games presentation seem stale, and the obvious bugs make you rip your hair out, I think this game has a lot of promise.

 

[disappoint]

Why the fuck are radscorpions so fucking powerful?!? Even with a companion and a missle launcher I still get raped by these...so dumb, really makes me not wanna play.

I have 2 companions, ED-E and Raul the Ghoul mechanic (you get him at Black Mountain, and use sneak attacks on the Radscorpions, they are not so bad anymore. Level 12. Also take high ground on giant rocks so they can't get to you. Then you can shoot them all day and they can't do anything except temporarily knock down your companions.

 

[NoSoup4You]

I bought the game today, I'm two hours in and so far zero crashes/freezes and no bugs whatsoever except for some type of "bright white" flashing texture issue, though I see from this thread I'm not the only one getting it. I haven't updated my drivers though so I bet that's it.

For fun while I was waiting for Steam to d/l New Vegas (small d/l btw - under 5GB's) I launched a new game of Fallout 3 starting right when you walk out of the Vault for the first time. The game completely locked up on me twice in the first 10 minutes, and I will say that FO3 was NEVER a stable game in my experience (and I played it a lot and on two different hardware configs - one AMD and one Intel).

I will say a couple things about New Vegas - the flashing textures are annoying, I need these fixed. Being able to aim down the sights is very nice and an appreciated addition, but the gunplay is still sub-par for an FPS - it remains "Oblivion with guns" - or in other words not a good shooter. Battles are still clumsy and there's still the "invisible dice rolls" going on every time you shoot. This is fine and it worked great in Borderlands but man oh man does New Vegas (and the Gamebryo engine) feel like old trash compared to Borderlands.

The voiceacting has been okay so far but I'm skipping a ton of the dialogue already - not a good sign at all in terms of immersion. Right now I think I'm gonna focus on the main quest and then after beating the game I'll go back into the wasteland and explore a little and do the many side quests available.

But overall I think the game is fine so far, I'd have been happier with a $39.99 price tag but so far it's been fun and I'm not hating it like I'd feared...etc. Let's face it, if you're a fan of open world games then you are probably gonna like this game even if it's so familiar to FO3 and burdened with terrible graphics.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Despite the bugs, I'm enjoying it much more the FO3. It feels larger - lots of sidequests and companions who last more then 5 minutes. Better weapon array, and you don't become lord death of murder mountain by level 10 like you did in FO3. Ammo and armor continues to matter long into the game.

Some interesting locals too. The vault 'elections' in the one vault definitely give you a feel for how vault-tec actually did things. And pretty much everyone is a bastard. Feels perfect.

 

[Regs]

The voiceacting has been okay so far but I'm skipping a ton of the dialogue already - not a good sign at all in terms of immersion. Right now I think I'm gonna focus on the main quest and then after beating the game I'll go back into the wasteland and explore a little and do the many side quests available.

Come to think of it, I find myself doing the same. We are missing that character and faction development like you had in the first game. Most times the story does nothing to try to engage your attention. At one moment I almost thought I was retarded because I would listen to an enormous mount of words and not be able to recollect what the fawk the character just said to me.

 

[TraumaRN]

I have 2 companions, ED-E and Raul the Ghoul mechanic (you get him at Black Mountain, and use sneak attacks on the Radscorpions, they are not so bad anymore. Level 12. Also take high ground on giant rocks so they can't get to you. Then you can shoot them all day and they can't do anything except temporarily knock down your companions.

Ive managed to kill the radscorpions using Boone with one of the sniper rifles and me using a missile launcher. However deathclaws are still raping me even with sneak attacks and increased crits...damn things are waaaaaaaaayyyyy overpowered and I'm level 16 now and 12 hours in.

I will say the side quests and such seem much better then FO3.

 

[exar333]

Lots of crying and whining in this thread. If a few flashing textures causing you to "hate" a game, you should maybe give up your gaming entirely. Very lame.

Enjoy the game. FO3 was more buggy than this game hands-down. That doesn't excuse the issue, but it will get better. After the patch a few days ago, no more crashes for me. No gameplay glitches, and the game is working well.

The game is fun. They choose to use an older engine so they could focus on the game. I appreciate that. Crysis looks great, but is shallow. This is a great, immersive game IMHO.

 

[Gunslinger08]

I didn't get to play much this weekend, but I killed a few radscorpions and deathclaws at level 14, with a companion and ED-E. You just have to go for headshots, constantly backup, and let your companions aggro them. I normally use a fully repaired Cowboy Repeater.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Does anyone actually get perks besides Intense Training? I feel like a point into SPECIAL is worth way more than the other things you can get. I also didn't select any traits during character creation.

 

[Rhezuss]

Lots of crying and whining in this thread. If a few flashing textures causing you to "hate" a game, you should maybe give up your gaming entirely. Very lame.

Enjoy the game. FO3 was more buggy than this game hands-down. That doesn't excuse the issue, but it will get better. After the patch a few days ago, no more crashes for me. No gameplay glitches, and the game is working well.

The game is fun. They choose to use an older engine so they could focus on the game. I appreciate that. Crysis looks great, but is shallow. This is a great, immersive game IMHO.

^ This post has my endorsement.

Exactly how I feel about whining, which was to be expected anyway.

I love Fallout, from the first one to New Vegas. The franchise evolved, sometimes for the better other time for the worse, but the "Fallout feel" is still present.

Sure the game has bugs, what game doesn't? Gamebreaking bugs? Not for me and from the feedbacks, looks like most have been corrected. Your game CTD, pretty possible, but before blaming Bethesda, Obsidian and everyone else around, maybe take a look at your rig. Driver conflicts? Hardware problems? Maybe the entire world is not to blame in this.

Sure the Gamebryo engine is old, but saying the game has terrible graphics?!!? Return to your empty shell that is Crysis then.

Anyways, humans are humans.

Like most of you, i'm enjoying my time in New Vegas.

 

[Beev]

FO3 was more buggy than this game hands-down.

No. That's just not true. You may not have ran into many, if any, bugs yet, but almost everyone else is. It is worse than FO3 by a fair margin.

With that said, I am in love with NV. I loved FO3 and I am having a blast with NV, too. Bugs be damned I'm glad I got this game. I don't know if Bethesda has said what they're working on now, but I hope it's another Fallout. I like the setting more than Elder Scrolls.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Does anyone actually get perks besides Intense Training? I feel like a point into SPECIAL is worth way more than the other things you can get. I also didn't select any traits during character creation.

Plenty of useful perks. The one that makes you move faster while in light armor helps for saving time exploring (or running away from angry radscorps). Since you gain less skillpoints per level, the +2 SP/level one is very nice if you get it early.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Plenty of useful perks. The one that makes you move faster while in light armor helps for saving time exploring (or running away from angry radscorps). Since you gain less skillpoints per level, the +2 SP/level one is very nice if you get it early.

Oh yeah, I think I chose that one very early on, but every perk since then has been Intense Training.

 

[airdata]

I played 3-4 hours last night. NO ISSUES AT ALL. The only bugs I found were some mantis, bloat flies, and scorpians.

I've seen alot of 1-2 star reviews on amazon and other sites where people are just complaining about stuff like steam and issues related to their computer hardware correctly playing the game.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Well, it really varies greatly on your build. E-weps specialists get nice perks, plenty of melee perks. A stealth based character gets a bunch of useful ones - the light armor running speed helps, since you'll be in light armor anyway. Silent running as well. Better criticals, and then the +5 equivalent of luck to critical chance since I'm invested in crits anyway and stealth sometimes fails.

What's your build?

 

[Beev]

I've taken:

Intense Training (Once to get my INT to 10. I did this before I knew I could take it 10 total times.)
Educated
Bloody Mess (permanent DAM increase for everything I ever use? yes plz.)
Gunslinger (was incredibly useful in FO3, so I assumed it was here too)
Finesse (5% crit is worthwhile imo. It's the same as +5 luck, so I think that makes it better than using 5 Intense Training points on luck)

 

[Beev]

I've seen alot of 1-2 star reviews on amazon and other sites where people are just complaining about stuff like steam and issues related to their computer hardware correctly playing the game.

I hate this. A lot. Bugginess is bad, and sometimes unforgivable, but general bugginess should not ruin a review. Add a massive warning to a review stating how buggy it is/can be, then review the game for the gameplay, story, etc.

 

[coldmeat]

The only perk I made sure I got was light step. I got really tired of crippling my legs because of mines. There's mines everywhere, sometimes in the most random spots.

 

[Rhezuss]

No. That's just not true. You may not have ran into many, if any, bugs yet, but almost everyone else is.

I don't think that most players have bugs, it's just that most players THAT have bugs post about it, the rest are too busy playing the game.

I'd more curious to know those actual stats then getting the feel of a game by reading posts.

 

[Beev]

I don't think that most players have bugs, it's just that most players THAT have bugs post about it, the rest are too busy playing the game.

I'd more curious to know those actual stats then getting the feel of a game by reading posts.

It's widespread enough to be affecting review scores, which did not happen to FO3. I put in about 150 hours into FO3 as well and I think I ran into maybe ten total bugs, with half of those being complete freezes. I have ran into more than ten already in NV, and I've only put about five hours in. It's buggier for sure, but again, that isn't stopping me from playing it and enjoying the hell out of it.

 

[exar333]

No. That's just not true. You may not have ran into many, if any, bugs yet, but almost everyone else is. It is worse than FO3 by a fair margin.

With that said, I am in love with NV. I loved FO3 and I am having a blast with NV, too. Bugs be damned I'm glad I got this game. I don't know if Bethesda has said what they're working on now, but I hope it's another Fallout. I like the setting more than Elder Scrolls.

Did you play FO3 on launch day? I picked-up the game when it released and it was pretty damn buggy. The CTD was really common, as were the memory leaks early on. New patches came out all the time, and the Bethesda boards were full of issues of people not even able to launch the game. After a few weeks, and then a month or two, almost all of these were resolved.

It could be my build as well, but FO:NV has been pretty seamless for me this time around. A lot of my friends had the same issues as me in FO3, but for the most part, F:NV has been good for others I know that are also playing. It's subjective, sure, but it seems more polished this time around.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

I discovered putting in cheat codes, makes things a lot more fun now that I am not having to fight things with my fists because I am out of ammo.

 

[NYHoustonman]

Bugout Vegas
if u aint encountered a glitch u just aint been playing long enough!
broken quest? check!
strange lights...white.
gunshot salvos with no one around yep!
acheivements?lol

corrupted saves
what a mess

10 hours in, and nothing /shrug. I know how first hand how buggy Oblivion/FO3 could be... Not seeing it here, though (luckily?).

 

[Dahak]

I had been playing this over the weekend and have been seeing odd things/bugs too..

I get alot of CTDs which is odd because everything other game is fine. FO3 I never had any issues. May need to update my video drivers (running 8800gts)
Been getting alot of enemies stuck in the terrain too. Think I found 1 bug for boons quest, and cant seem to complete it. Had another bug in primm where everyone is running around with guns drawn. Couple of other minor ones but cant remember them right now

But once I get over those, been enjoying it so far same fell as FO3 do like the factions reputation. Got to get used to the different ammo types tho. Im used to just going and shooting.

 

[coldmeat]

I discovered putting in cheat codes, makes things a lot more fun now that I am not having to fight things with my fists because I am out of ammo.

So far, Ive always had more ammo than I could use, and I never buy any. Im only playing on normal though. It could also be because I steal everything I can get away with lol. And if somebody is watching something I want, Ill just drag it somewhere else.