Fallout: New Vegas Review (2 legit 2 quit)
Fallout: New Vegas is, to me, the pinnacle of Fallout games. I know, I know! Fallout 2 is also within that same realm and for many, that is the ultimate Fallout game. New Vegas, however, I feel is the perfect marriage of the isometric Fallout games and the modern first-person immersive Fallouts. It's not a game about tight plotting, but a game about rewarding player agency. 11 years later, I'm still finding things in the game that I did not know you could do and handle in specific ways. By giving the players so many off-the-beaten-path choices, it rewards you so many different outcomes and experiences. 11 whole years of it for me. Obsidian doesn't always see their ideas and games come to fruition (As many are abandoned or cancelled) but when they strike gold, they strike it very rich. Both Knights of the Old Republic II and Fallout: New Vegas are the pinnacle of Role-Playing Games in my eyes. I've often had an oddball love for janky games that are flawed that have an incredible amount of heart. My love of Cyberpunk 2077 proves just that. Obsidian's work is usually characterized by glitchy and janky products that have so much depth and heart to them that you keep finding your way back year after year.
What to expect with Fallout: New Vegas:
-A deep, complex world full of various factions with varied ideologies of the world and politics.
-A world full of interesting, twisted and often hilariously memorable characters. (Fantastic anyone?).
-Writing that straddles a very thin line of not taking sides, but allowing the player to formulate their own.
-A blank-slate player character which allows each player to fully craft/decide who they want to be and what they want to do.
-Various ways to approach any given situation. You have tons and tons of tools at your disposal and how you craft your character will give you opportunities to utilize your chosen abilities to reach your outcome.
-Tons of different builds that perfectly showcase why the difficult job of the blank-slate approach can work so well. Make up your own story!
Would I recommend this game? You're damn right I would. It ties for my favorite RPG of all-time and easily fits in my top10 games ever made. I feel like Yes Man (the only single thing in this game you cannot kill) perfectly sums up Fallout: New Vegas when he says "It's whatever you want to do!". Time for my next run!