Recommended to me a million times from different directions, I had to try at some point. After a grueling installing process of mods through viva new vegas, it was finally time. I did not play with any survival mechanics, as I've never enjoyed those. The guns feel nice, but combat is pretty boring. The quests and conversations are well written, the world/setting is really cool. The gameplay just never really got there for me. Perks don't change quite enough, and with auto-inject stim paks there's not much danger.
Honest Hearts would get an 8/10, great area. Old World Blues a 7.5/10 mostly for the silliness/humor while still providing background into the world. Lonesome road is quite boring, 5/10. Dead money has great companions but terrible gameplay 4/10.

It’s taken a lot out of me to write a review of this game. Been a favourite game of mine for years, and every time something in my life happens — good and bad — I think back to this game. This is a long review, so bear with me. This is just me speaking from my heart, at 2am, after crying for a few hours. This won’t be an average review by any means.

It’s been a tough week for me. Tough year, even. It barely even started. I’ve had lots of losses and lots of personal realizations recently. And it’s been tough to deal with.

Is it stupid to think of a game like Fallout: New Vegas? Yeah. Maybe it is. But when I say this game changed my perspective on life, I mean it.

This whole game is about letting go which is something I have a hard time dealing with. Letting go of friends, of viewpoints, of habits… it’s never been easy. Especially when it’s something close to you.

But something that always comes back up is the theme of letting go to what you hold dear. Every single time I think it’s this foreign concept that I’ll never master, I remember playing FNV. I remember playing the dlc, I remember finishing the main story, and realizing that I let go of so much. By completing my main save, I let go of my character. By doing the dlc, I let go (in game) of old concepts and beliefs.

It’s poetic. To let go of a core part of yourself isn’t easy. It’s something I hate doing even though it’s inevitable. But this game — and the lessons it taught me — has almost guided me through this process, like a helping hand.

For months I wanted to write a review of this game. I never knew how, nor did I know what I could write about that hasn’t been said already. “Good game, great writing, bad graphics, famous mechanics,” etc. gets stale. I never saw someone talking about the core lesson that it taught me and has taught the biggest fans of this game.

Recently I’ve had to let go of a lot of timings I held dear. I won’t say specifics, obviously. This is a largely anonymous review. You don’t know my name, nor do I know yours. You’ll never think about me again. But one thing I hope people take away is that, if the theme didn’t sink in, play it again. If you’re having a hard time coping with grief, play this game. It’s a soothing hug, a guiding hand, a gentle voice — all reassuring you that it’s okay that the process hurts, it’s inevitable but it passes with time.

Nobody’s going to read this. But I’m finally ready to write this review of the game. It’s been sitting in the back of my mind for a while. I could never find the words to put how this game has helped me down on paper. But I finally did it. Everything clicked. I finally found out how to write it all down. I can move on from this, too, even if it’s minor. This will be a hard week but I’ll move on.

If anyone is reading this and is struggling too, time will pass and carry you with it. Everyone has the capacity to let go and move on. It just takes gentle guidance.

Ah... Good old Fallout New Vegas! After playing Outer Worlds, I've decided to go back and replay New Vegas. Although I did have an excellent time with the game (again), some issues prevented it from being as good as its predecessors (again).

New Vegas is familiar to anyone who played Fallout 3. It's basically a glorified expansion of that game, with a few twitches here and there. But that's not to say that this is a bad game! In the Mojave Wasteland you'll meet great characters, amazing new factions to connect with (or not), fine companions, interesting quests, crazy guns, mysterious areas, plenty of secrets and a VAST open world location to explore. And I'd like to reiterate: A HUGE world of possibilities!

When it comes to gameplay, the combat may not shine, but I do believe that the V.A.T.S. system compensates for this. If you have played previous Fallout games, you probably know that this game is about talking your way through a problem instead of shooting your way out of it. But the greatest thing is that, if you want to shoot anything and anyone, well... Go ahead! The sheer freedom of choice in this game is insane. I don't think the story is as great as other games of the franchise, but the overwhelming amount of options and independence is astounding. Especially how they tackle the main quest.

This, the personal sense of progression and the scale of things you can discover in New Vegas, make up for a great time.

The problem with New Vegas is the fact that none of previous mistakes were fixed here. In fact, some of them got worse. This game is not polished at all! It's rough around ALL of its edges and it just gets more and more dated.

It crashed CONSTANTLY, there were glitches EVERYWHERE, game breaking bugs around the corner of every decision/movement your character takes, maze-like dungeon design, annoying unnecessary filler fetch quests, slow combat system, cluttered UI, confusing quest objectives and a karma system that doesn't work properly. These are just a few of the problems you will encounter on your playthroughs, but I could go on...

Also, although dialogues are well-written here, YOUR character's dialogue choices are very vague. Back in the day, that didn't bother me so much, but after games like Mass Effect 2, Witcher 3 and Outer Worlds, the lack of persona in your character is highly noticeable and quite awkward.

And to think that this game came 2 years after Fallout 3... Things could have been better optimized, at least.

Despite its jarring shortcomings and its overwhelming nature, Fallout New Vegas can still be a great experience. Not as good as the other games in the series, but I definitely recommend it, in case you want to scratch the Fallout itch or just feel like playing a bleak, but sprawling RPG.