A Fallout of Epic Proportions

Welcome to Earth, 2277. It has been two hundred and three years since the Great War, a battle that has destroyed the entire world. You are a Courier in the Mojave Wasteland, a land filled with war and death. Two main factions constantly battle for control over this land: The New Californian Republic (NCR) and Caesar's Legion.

As well, the natives of the land inhabit New Las Vegas, more commonly known as New Vegas. This is the namesake of the videogame we talk about today, "Fallout: New Vegas". The game starts you off by getting shot in the face as you look the end of your mail-delivering days in the eye and say "Bite me." Naturally, being the main character, you survive this dark ordeal and wake up about a week later, deciding to trade in your mailbag for a nine millimeter pistol.

As an open world game, you get to travel the Mojave Wastes, battling your way through the fallout of the nuclear war that had happened two hundred years prior to the game. The game has several things to do, and multiple skillsets for different abilities for each individual playthrough. This doesn't mean you can ONLY have a Lockpicking Skill in one playthrouh; in fact, by the end of my main playthrough, I had all but three skillsets maxed out.

The initial Level Cap is 30, just like it was in Fallout. However, with each DLC you get, your cap gets raised by Five Levels. That is five whole levelups to apply! More skills to max out! The most lovely thing I'd ever heard of.

Not only that, but each DLC has it's own deep storyline to follow, all leading up to who you (The Mojave Courier) really are. The story and ending revolves around who you choose to be, who you choose as your friends and enemies, and how dedicated you are to the cause of saving the Mojave Wasteland from whatever you perceive the greatest threat to it to be. You can even be the greatest threat to the Mojave, as anyone and everyone in the game is...well, fair game. Anyone can be killed, and everyone can be killed. But there are consequences to these decisions.

The Symbol of the NCR--a Two Headed Bear

If you kill a quest-giver, or someone related to a quest that needed to be alive for it, you naturally are no longer capable of completing that quest. So maybe exterminating all life in the Mojave is a bad idea. That said, there are many, MANY quests that, even at the Level Cap of 50, I have not done. You can find a lot of quests in close to anywhere in the Mojave, but beware, doing these quests can be a bad idea at times.

You see, this game isn't just "Good and Evil" like Fallout 3 was. This game entails a large variety of Reputation. What is Reputation, you may ask. Why, Reputation is how a faction sees you! Not everyone in the Mojave will see you the same way: for instance, if you are a stout follower of the NCR, and help them wherever you can, their enemies, the Legion, are not going to be very fond of you. Vice versa, as well. However, there are several communities in the Mojave who will all have their own opinions of your actions through the Mojave--everything between being Idolized to being Vilified by a nation.

Concept Art of the Legion slavers

There is still a Karma system, which is really just saying that you are a good or a bad guy. You may notice you have a title somewhere in  your Pip-Boy, the game's GUI system. That title is based off of two things: Level, and Karma. The top three titles are "Messiah", "True Mortal", and "Devil". 

All of these choices, all of these communities, all of these consequences and ideas lead to some very interesting ending scenarios, with great rarity on repetition. Being one of my nice guy games, I always did my best to be my best, and help everyone, so I got some pretty positive endings. I still have two endings I need to see, being "Side with NCR for the war" and "Side with Legion for the war", as I have already made an Independent New Vegas and a House-Ruled New Vegas as two characters.

The DLC's all have their own endings, as well. I will briefly describe each DLC, as they are all good and are definitely worth a look over.

Dead Money: 

You have been kidnapped by Elder Elijah, formerly of the Brotherhood of Steel. Forced to navigate the deadly Sierra Madre Casino and it's outskirts, it is up to you to gather a deadly team out of your fellow inmates and escape this crisis situation. New weapons and companions will aid you as you navigate the deadly terrain, filled with toxic gas and a new kind of Ghoul called a "Ghost Person".

Honest Hearts:

After returning to your Courier roots and deciding that maybe you better remember that you are, in fact, a Courier and not a genocide machine as many people play him as, you head up with the Happy Trails Caravan for a job all the way to New Canaan. However, you are headed off at Zion National Park by tribal bandits, killing everyone but your badass genocide machine self. After allying yourself with the natives of the Park, you find new weapons and enemies in this new area as you try and find your way back to the Mojave. You also get to meet Joshua Graham, known as "The Burned Man" by the Legion, a barely-living legend who is still skilled in combat.

Old World Blues: 

Kidnapped again by scientists, you awake at a dangerous area known as "Big  Mountain". The natives call it the "Big Empty" because "Mountain" abbreviates to "MT" and people phonetically tried to figure this one out. So? You've been in dangerous places before. You now find out you have to help your kidnappers to get something very important back. What could be so important, you ask? That's why you need it back! To find out. There actually is a reason described, but for suspenseful reasons you need to get this DLC to find out.

Lonesome Road:

You get a mysterious message from a man named "Ulysses" saying to go to an area known as "The Great Divide". The Great Divide is a highly dangerous area, filled with radiation and highly destructive winds. A highly lethal place that makes the Mojave seem like a pleasant place to live in. It is here, in the Great Divide, that you learn of your past and who you were before the bullet to your noggin back at the beginning of the game. You have to find Ulysses in the Divide, and settle matters with him once and for all. Whether those matters be peaceful, or end up with Ulysses' corpse is up to you. After settling matters with him, you have to make a choice that would change the Mojave Wasteland forever.








The graphics, however, are outdated. Using the same engine as Fallout 3, it naturally has all the same problems that Fallout 3 had; frequent crashes, not too good looking character models. However, other than those small problems, this is a very good game, and I recommend it highly.

Until next time, I post, peace! Remember that the Elder Scrolls: Skyrim comes out 11/11/11, and Assassin's Creed Revelations only four days after! My wallet is certainly in pain just thinking about it.