Review Gamebanshee Does Fallout: New Vegas

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: Fallout: New Vegas; Obsidian Entertainment

<p><strong>Fallout: New Vegas</strong>, the second coming of cRPGs, the savior of the genre, the best RPG since Fallout 1, MCA's second otherwordly masterpiece (sorry Josh Sawyer but you only get the blame, not the praise) <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/100520-gb-feature-fallout-new-vegas-review.html" target="_blank">gets the review treatment</a> from Gamebanshee too.</p>
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<p><strong>...and in conclusion, Fallout 3</strong> <br /><br /> While I have made a lot of comparisons to the Fallout franchise throughout this review, I haven't really addressed how it compares to Fallout 3. Well, to begin with, it really isn't "just a large expansion pack" for Fallout 3. One might get that impression after a short period of gaming, but if you sit down for a few extended sessions or have even a half-professional gaming eye, you'll soon note that Obsidian's intent in design is much different from Bethesda's in many key ways. These have been described above, and what they come down to is that where Fallout 3 was focused on offering an experience without any barriers for exploration and enjoyment, New Vegas tries to grab back further to Fallout 1 and 2's roots. Not only is it more different from Fallout 3 than a casual glance would admit, it's also an enormous game, easily the size of Fallout 3 in world exploration, and a whole lot bigger when it comes to depth and breadth of quests and factions.<br /><br />When I start comparing the two, the first notable point of reference is the writing, simply because New Vegas' writing is very superior to Fallout 3's. Fallout 3 is a low standard to begin with, but as long as you don't expect too much from the main story, New Vegas offers some of the best writing of any recent RPG. The fact that it also does so much to improve the RPG mechanics and their effect on the world means it is much closer to being a game where your character build matters, and therefore more of a joy for role-playing enthusiasts than Fallout 3 was.&nbsp; To put it simply: Fallout: New Vegas isn't just a superior Fallout title, it's also a superior RPG.<br /><br />Whether or not it is a "better game" is something I feel is more open to debate. Its major flaws lie in map and fetch quest design and while that is tedious, it doesn't detract enormously from the title. If you're not looking for more roleplaying in your RPGs and felt Fallout 3 struck a great balance of open world exploration, shooting, and sandbox entertainment, then be aware that New Vegas has less sandbox and less shooting to offer you - though the shooting elements do come with improved mechanics. <br /><br />Ultimately, if the FPS genre mixing doesn't put you off, both Fallout and RPG fans should be all over this game.&nbsp; And if nothing else, Vault 11 is really, really awesome.</p>
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<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/100520-gb-feature-fallout-new-vegas-review.html">GB</a></p>

 

[Darth Roxor]

Seems like New Vegas reviews are the shit among cool kids nowadays.

When's the 'Dex review coming, then?

 

[MicoSelva]

Might be that VD's review is the closest thing to a Codex review we'll get. Honestly, it would probably be rather difficult to review it and not repeat 90% of what he wrote about the game.

 

[spectre]

New Vegas' writing is very superior to Fallout 3's. Fallout 3 is a low standard to begin with

Nothing new here, tbh, but I really love bits like that. wasn't F3 even nominated for a best game writing award some time ago?

 

[Excommunicator]

There is a very obvious connection between the popular opinion and the tone and direction of a review. So many reviewers seem to be so spineless that they will do anything to appease the broader public opinion and avoid the wrath of those who would be prepared to protest their criticisms.

Genuine reviews/analyses with professionalism, intelligence, insight and impartiality I imagine would satisfy a sizeable niche much alike the more hardcore/traditional RPG, and like those games, no one has yet realised there is a large enough audience to support their production.

 

[MicoSelva]

Gaming journalism nowadays seems similar to politics. It's kind of sad very funny to check back what reviewers/politicians said a few years ago and confront it with what they say now - or with reality around.

 

[Excommunicator]

Yeah, unfortunately they never get served what they deserve for lying and contradiction. I think there should be more accountability for that kind of thing politics, games and whatever else.

Unfortunately honesty and proper integrity is meaningless these days

 

[Admiral jimbob]

What the fuck, fetch quest design? There's a few, but of the Fallout 3 quests I haven't managed to block out, only a couple weren't.

Also, if nobody else is volunteering to do a Codex review, I might try my hand at gushing all over the front page.

 

[Kz3r0]

What the fuck, fetch quest design? There's a few, but of the Fallout 3 quests I haven't managed to block out, only a couple weren't.

Also, if nobody else is volunteering to do a Codex review, I might try my hand at gushing all over the front page.

Squirt all over us.

 

[flushfire]

What the fuck, fetch quest design?

lol yeah i was confused which game he was talking about after reading that

 

[Black]

Fetch quest... There was that shitty "Return to Sender", but can't think of any other.

 

[Roguey]

The friendly rivalry you have here with Brother None is pretty funny but he didn't mention Avellone at all and did give Sawyer credit for the rebalancing. Though he also deserves a lot blame for making unarmed/melee overpowered and energy underpowered. GREAT DESIGN THERE JOSH

Another solid review, I liked all the negativity in this one, balances out the abundance of positivity in VD's.

the game lacks ways to avoid this death zone early on, basically forcing you to follow the path it wants

This is bullshit though. You can get past them, but it's tricky, as it should be.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

The friendly rivalry you have here with Brother None is pretty funny but he didn't mention Avellone at all and did give Sawyer credit for the rebalancing. Though he also deserves a lot blame for making unarmed/melee overpowered and energy underpowered. GREAT DESIGN THERE JOSH

What I wrote wasn't aimed at BN at all. Or at the GB-review specifically. Just an intro to a newspost.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Also, if nobody else is volunteering to do a Codex review, I might try my hand at gushing all over the front page.

Do it. I'm not gonna write it for sure, unless I find a version of the game that I can play for more than an hour without wanting to throw my PC over the window in rage.

 

[janjetina]

Hopefully Torr won't read the review, it might give him ideas for Fallout IV:

It is an equivalent of the Brotherhood of Steel running around calling one another ser and challenging each other to duels on brahmin back with sword and lance.

I disagree about the quest design - the proportion of well designed quests to fetch quests is high in favor of well designed quests, and some fetch quests have very high redeeming qualities (Chief Hanlon's speech, for example) that make doing them worthwhile.

 

[Brother None]

New Vegas' writing is very superior to Fallout 3's. Fallout 3 is a low standard to begin with

Nothing new here, tbh, but I really love bits like that. wasn't F3 even nominated for a best game writing award some time ago?

Much worse. It actually won.

Genuine reviews/analyses with professionalism, intelligence, insight and impartiality I imagine would satisfy a sizeable niche much alike the more hardcore/traditional RPG, and like those games, no one has yet realised there is a large enough audience to support their production.

Rock Paper Shotgun and GameBanshee are fairly niche and both large enough to supports pay its editors for their work (though GB depends on its guides for a good deal of traffic).

What the fuck, fetch quest design? There's a few, but of the Fallout 3 quests I haven't managed to block out, only a couple weren't.

Fallout 3's quests (and there were only a handful actual quests since they were tied to achievements) were really well-designed, in structure. The main quest had a few fetch events (getting the satellite for Three Dog, searching the Vaults), but most had solid to great design (Tenpenny Towers, Replicated Man, Power of the Atom, Trouble on the Homefront). The problem was the writing was so painful it's hard to keep your wits about you, but these quests offer different resolutions, use different skills, and offer different choices. That's pretty solid.

Now here's a short list of some New Vegas quests that are designed as fetch/deliver/courier quests, ignoring most unmarked ones or partial ones: The House Always Wins, part VII, Et Tumor, Brute?, Ant Misbehavin', Sunshine Boogie (collecting the parts), Young Hearts, Still in the Dark, Missing Laser Pistol, I Hear You Knocking, Cold, Cold Heart, You Can Depend On Me, Debt Collector, Birds of a Feather (2nd mission), Aba Daba Honeymoon, Cry Me a River, Keep Your Eyes on the Prize, Wheel of Fortune, Return to Sender, Nothing But a Hound Dog (most of it).

Particularly, Still in the Dark and Return to Sender are an absolute pain in the ass. Does Obsidian do a better job rationalizing the quests and giving you more satisfying results through writing? No doubt. Particularly the ending of Return to Sender is absolutely solid. It's still a shit quest.

The friendly rivalry you have here with Brother None is pretty funny

It hurts my feelings

I rarely feel like naming developers in reviews anyway, but if I had added more, I would've mentioned Fenstermaker before Avellone.

This is bullshit though. You can get past them, but it's tricky, as it should be.

*shrugs* Maybe I didn't try enough. I mean, if you get a stealth boy, which you can get fairly early, you can turn it on and sneak through the death zone too. I'm not surprised to hear it's possible, but the game really doesn't want you to.

 

[Xor]

both Fallout and RPG fans should be all over this game.

It fills me with rage that these wouldn't be considered the same thing.

 

[Excommunicator]

Genuine reviews/analyses with professionalism, intelligence, insight and impartiality I imagine would satisfy a sizeable niche much alike the more hardcore/traditional RPG, and like those games, no one has yet realised there is a large enough audience to support their production.

Rock Paper Shotgun and GameBanshee are fairly niche and both large enough to supports pay its editors for their work (though GB depends on its guides for a good deal of traffic).

Nice plug I am not familiar with the reviews or the quality of either of those sites though, but perhaps I will keep a look out.

 

[Silellak]

*shrugs* Maybe I didn't try enough. I mean, if you get a stealth boy, which you can get fairly early, you can turn it on and sneak through the death zone too. I'm not surprised to hear it's possible, but the game really doesn't want you to.

For the record, you don't need a stealth boy, or even high stealth skill...just a little bit of luck and situational awareness. I think I made it through at level 1 or 2 with 2 or 3 re-loads.

You definitely aren't "supposed" to, though. You think the game was easy before? You should see what happens if you get a 10 luck character to the Freeside/Vegas casinos in your first couple hours of playing

Though, in their defense, Obsidian does a pretty good job of making sure that if you do make it north, it doesn't just break the game outright.

 

[Jim Cojones]

Good review (very informative and well written etc.), with a few accurate observations that haven't been mentioned often in other articles.

 

[Black]

Ah, yeah, Still in the Dark, forgot about that one. Agree, another shitty go here, here and here. Now go here, here and here. Now here, here and here


And yes, if you didn't get past cazadores/deathclaws to get the other way to Vegas you didn't try enough. No stealth boys required.

 

[Brother None]

Yay cojones approves :dance:

Nice plug I am not familiar with the reviews or the quality of either of those sites though, but perhaps I will keep a look out.

RPS isn't incredibly niche, I haven't read them much lately, their New Vegas review was pretty shitty, but they're PC-exclusive, cover a lot of interesting indies/obscure European titles. Good site.

I think GB has a good group of editors for writing reviews and doing interviews but I might well be wrong.

And yes, if you didn't get past cazadores/deathclaws to get the other way to Vegas you didn't try enough. No stealth boys required.

I was mostly trying to look at it from a first-time playing/non-specialist perspective. I'd assume most players gave up and turned around. I never really tried too had because, well, the game doesn't want me to.

But fine, I suck! Jeesh! You guys are harsh.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Yay cojones approves

And so do I it appears better than VD's from what I can see.

 

[Black]

I'd assume most players gave up and turned around.

But that's not how you play video games!
If the game doesn't want you to go that way you should be even more interested in doing so.

 

[SharkClub]

MCA's second otherwordly masterpiece (sorry Josh Sawyer but you only get the blame, not the praise)

I feel sorry for JES.