The entertainment world has endless examples of things that are easier to admire than like. We can tell that a movie is good, but we don’t really enjoy it.
With “Fallout: New Vegas,” it’s just the opposite. The game feels half-assed and about three-quarters-baked, but because it’s powered by the same fantastic design that made “Fallout 3” the best game of 2008, it’s a lot more fun than it deserves to be.
Systems » PS3, Xbox 360, PCPrice » $59.99, $49.99Rating » 5 out of 5 stars
After making “Fallout 3,” the folks at Bethesda Game Studios farmed out their first-person role-playing formula to Obsidian Entertainment to make the sidestory “New Vegas,” which is more like a giant expansion pack than a full-fledged sequel. The story exists independently of any previous “Fallout,” and takes place in a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas. Unlike the Washington, D.C. of “Fallout 3,” New Vegas was never took a direct hit from a nuke, so fans of Vegas will enjoy seeing futuristic updates to some of their favorite landmarks, the Stratosphere especially.
As before, the giant appeal of this “Fallout” is its vastness and variety. You play as a courier who’s been shot and left for dead, and when you wake up, you can go anywhere and do anything you want — go after those responsible, or ignore them entirely and become a drug dealer. Along the way, every action you take contributes to what kind of character you become. Whether you want to be a laser-toting nerd with a robot sidekick or a dynamite-throwing cowboy with spurs that jingle jangle jingle, there are quests around every corner to help you pursue that dream.
To shake things up, the developers introduced factions into the world, so you can pretend you’re killing for a cause. Whether you want to ally yourself with the lame neo-Romans trying to take the Hoover Dam from the fledgling New California Republic, or declare for the Kings, a group dedicated to independence, personal liberty and Elvis Presley, there’s a group for you. Unfortunately, “Fallout’s” wonky karma system hasn’t been updated to account for the factions, so, for instance, you won’t get bad karma from killing a member of an enemy faction, but you will if you pickpocket him.
Technical glitches like this abound. Graphical pop-ups mar your view of the Mojave, and enemies that would otherwise be hard get their arm trapped in a wall, so they just stand there while you blast them.
In almost every way – excepting a brilliant turn by Wayne Newton as radio DJ “Mr. New Vegas” – “Fallout: New Vegas” is less memorable than “Fallout 3,” and its load times and glitches grind you down. The obsessive experience that remains despite these shortcomings begs the questions: Could any game be transformed into a work of brilliance with the “Fallout 3” engine under its hood?
