Fallout New Vegas Goes Back to the Roots of Fallout

So after 2 days of playing, I'm 12 hours into Fallout: New Vegas and its awesome. Different in many respects, but I think fans of Fallout 1&2 will be pleased with the new writing, new faction and morality system, and more varied questing, crafting and character customization.

The game does have a few flaws. There are noticeable framerate issues where the game will stutter or freeze. Now I have only had the game completely freeze on me once in 12 hours. Just remember to save a lot and you should be fine. While many Fallout Purists will enjoy the return to the original setting of the American Southwest, I did enjoy the epic feel of the Capital Wasteland in Fallout 3. In FO3 you seemed to be more put in a survivalist situation, everyone seemed to be a potential enemy and settlements were few and far between. The entire map was covered with Super Mutants and other hazards. In this game however settlements are more populated, as the nuclear fallout hasn't hit as hard, and there are many large tribes fighting one another. In this game you feel much smaller in as more of a pawn in the rivalry between the factions. New Vegas feels much more alive, which makes it feel less foreboding. I didn't think I would be saying this about a game, but some of the quests are a little too complex. I've had three missions already where there are more than three outcomes. Unless you save before missions and try all three outcomes, you may have to play this game many times to experience everything. Thats great for replay value, but I like to play a variety of games and sometimes find replaying games tedious.

Another big gripe: the music sucks. Don't expect the jazzy soundtrack of the DC wasteland, its more of a country feel and not as catchy. Furthermore the MC's are less interesting than before despite the authentic Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton providing the voiceover. But its not really the music itself that makes the soundtrack weak, its the lack of variety. I've unlocked 3 stations and probably heard every song multiple times. In fact I turned off my in game radio over the last few hours of playing. Hopefully there will be more stations as I progress further in the game.

There are welcome changes as well. The ability to aim down the sights (ADS) a la Call of Duty is nice for shooter fans. There are many more companions to follow you and give you backup(albeit with glitches). New weapons can also be modified much more than before. The biggest new feature is the faction morality system where you can gain the favor of different tribes while making enemies with others. This should add replay value to the game. As I said before the setting takes place near the original Fallout games and fans will like to see how the wasteland has changed since the original games.