A game of limitless choices, possibilities, and complexity; something an RPG wants to be at its core. Fallout New Vegas is truly an 'epic' experiance, with a whole world of choices and options at the players fingertips, all of which is explorable and playable space. Want to be a space cowboy firing lazors and lever action rifles, sure. Want to be a swat trooper who bashes peoples knees in with a katana, you can easily do that. The game just has a lot of things to do.

These choices, compound into its ultimate game strength; the sheer amount of content there is. The game has a massive world, with easily 110+ quests, and probably even more unmarked quests. As well, the vast arsenal of weapons, the variety, and the balencing the game has in regards to these are phenoninal. Any playstyle is viable in this game, and it is an experiance where everyone can flourish. The game is perfecly paced as well, meaning that at no point are you this indestructable God of death, you are fragile, you are not the best, you are mortal. The game teaches you that very well, that you are human, nothing more. You live in this shattered world, dealing with your own human nature; whether it be the mortality, the drugs, sex, disease, or just plain stupidity.

But despite the games humanity, it falls into one major trap. That is, the game encourages metagaming at its finest. For instance, to get the best stuff/ending/quests, you need to know how/when to do things. This can be argued in the whole nature of the complex choice system as well, but because of the no turn back attitude of the game, it highly encourages veterans to play the game rather synthetically, rather than let it all flow together as it may. Yes, this does mean replayability, but its not as fun as a purely organic gaming experiance.

Despite the main criticisms of the game, and other factors I chose not to mention (for length restraints), the game is not bad. On the contrary, its quite good, very good. Why is it good? Because it emplifies its core concept excellently: Humanity, and what it means to be human. That focus in what its about, makes it a must own.

A game of limitless choices, possibilities, and complexity; something an RPG wants to be at its core. [i]Fallout New Vegas[/i] is truly an 'epic' experiance, with a whole world of choices and options at the players fingertips, all of which is explorable and playable space. Want to be a space cowboy firing lazors and lever action rifles, sure. Want to be a swat trooper who bashes peoples knees in with a katana, you can easily do that. The game just has a lot of things to do. These choices, compound into its ultimate game strength; the sheer amount of content there is. The game has a massive world, with easily 110+ quests, and probably even more unmarked quests. As well, the vast arsenal of weapons, the variety, and the balencing the game has in regards to these are phenoninal. Any playstyle is viable in this game, and it is an experiance where everyone can flourish. The game is perfecly paced as well, meaning that at no point are you this indestructable God of death, you are fragile, you are not the best, you are mortal. The game teaches you that very well, that you are human, nothing more. You live in this shattered world, dealing with your own human nature; whether it be the mortality, the drugs, sex, disease, or just plain stupidity. But despite the games humanity, it falls into one major trap. That is, the game encourages metagaming at its finest. For instance, to get the best stuff/ending/quests, you need to know how/when to do things. This can be argued in the whole nature of the complex choice system as well, but because of the no turn back attitude of the game, it highly encourages veterans to play the game rather synthetically, rather than let it all flow together as it may. Yes, this does mean replayability, but its not as fun as a purely organic gaming experiance. Despite the main criticisms of the game, and other factors I chose not to mention (for length restraints), the game is not bad. On the contrary, its quite good, very good. Why is it good? Because it emplifies its core concept excellently: Humanity, and what it means to be human. That focus in what its about, makes it a must own.