Fallout: New Vegas – just ignore the jank (pic: Bethesda)
A reader explains why he loves Fallout: New Vegas so much, as not just the best of the series but one of the best video games ever.
It was around this time a couple years ago when I first picked up Fallout: New Vegas on eBay, from what seemed to be the remains of a break-up. For only £5 I was able to get an Xbox 360 copy, barely used, and booted it up on my Xbox to visut the sandy stretches of the Mojave wasteland.
The jank was immediately noticeable. The gunplay was certainly something and I couldn’t bear the sight of it. So what makes me consider it to be one of the best video games ever made?
I’m sure if you’re reading this you’ve probably encountered numerous articles, video essays, and reviews talking about how amazing this game is, praising it to death. And yes, I am simply here to reiterate on that point, unfortunately.
What makes this game so special is its ability to constantly be engaging and interesting. Assuming that the genre piques your interest and you can get over its age, a contemporary player will definitely enjoy the experience.
The immense amount of ways to play the game, in comparison to most modern games, still works really well, if not exceeding most of them as well. When I first played it, I took the Widowmaker perk and instead of confronting Benny (one of the early antagonists of the game) I was able to seduce him, then steal the MacGuffin from him and walk away scot-free, rather than a traditional shooting gallery approach.
The story is neatly layered, with intertwining narratives that create a complex and rich world, giving added depth and a sense of purpose to actions and events that take place. Sure, it’s not ‘immersively’ reactive, where every single aspect of the world changes, but it does the job well enough to give a convincing portrayal of events and the consequences from them, even from more minor interactions in the world.
This is helped along by the fact that the main two core factions, the NCR and Caesar’s Legion, aren’t particularly good people either, nor are the majority of the subfactions in the game. The former wants to reinstate structure and govern with an iron fist to create a safer wasteland, taxing the population to starvation and crushing livelihoods in the process. Whilst the latter indulges in slavery and barbarically traditional punishments, under the orders of a deranged leader. Admittedly, the NCR is the better option but even so, hollow promises and misguided management result in some severe consequences.
The human condition is examined in such a way as to convey quite a dark and ruthless portrayal of people when placed in a world as mad as Fallout’s. New Vegas certainly does it the most justice out of all the current incarnations of the franchise, especially due to the nihilistic portrayal of good and bad being essentially two sides to the same coin.
Hell, if you don’t think either of the factions are good enough, throw the coin away and run it yourself! These options and choices give you a good grip on the way the world works and culminate into interesting stories of your very own making.
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The DLC is widely regarded as individual hits in themselves; from the Saw style Dead Money, the restless Joshua Graham in Honest Hearts, or Ulysses’ grizzly narration throughout Lonesome Road. They are nice additions that build on the already rigorously established world, oozing with character and giving you new ways to play the game in a less traditional open world Fallout way.
Even in 2023, it’s certainly worth a try if you haven’t already, and if you have, it’s always worth a replay right? Hopefully see you in the wasteland, courier…
By reader V
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A reader explains why he loves Fallout: New Vegas so much, as not just the best of the series but one of the best video games ever.