First unit of Graphic closing up.

Above are two images I traced using the pen tool in Illustrator.
You can vaguely see how they resemble the orginals, but still. You can only get better, I think....

Fallout: New Vegas, review!

Fallout: New Vegas, is the most recent addition to the Fallout series. But it is not a sequel or a continuation of a previous story, minus the fact that the game is set in a Post Nuclear war scenario. That is the main theme of the game and, the Fallout series. Before diving into a full review of the game and ripping it apart to write about it, I will give my personal opinion on the game.

My first RPG (Role Playing Game) that I actually understood, played and felt immersed into was Fallout 3, the previous Fallout game prior to New Vegas. Thus, I had quite high expectation for New Vegas. In short I thought the game was good, but didn't feel very post apocalyptic, in comparison to Fallout 3's  grim, dark and bleak world, New Vegas is a very, brightly lit city. There are still the very dark, horrible places throughout the game. However, when you reach New Vegas, it doesn't feel like a nuclear bomb has devastated the area. It just feels and looks like a bad part of town.  That said, I enjoyed the game, and I still enjoy playing it, after completing it over 3 times.

On to the real review!

Story:

Upon starting a new game. You're greeted with a cut scene, of which in short, is you getting shot in the head.  Somehow, you survive this, however, it's a game based after a Nuclear "war" between China and America. (The war actually consisted of China launching a Nuke at America, the end.) After being shot and half buried, a helpful cowboy robot comes to save you. You eventually wake up in a doctor's office, in your underwear, which is, slightly creepy. The "Doctor" helps you learn the basics of the game, for example, how to move. For any experienced players of whatever platform you play it on, you will be bored for a few minutes. Your'e taken to a machine to pick your S.P.E.C.I.A.L skills, which is your Strength, Perception, Endurance, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. After this, your asked some questions to try and determine your tag skills, which are your three main skills, which you start with a +15 bonus to. Your offered the choice to pick up to two traits, which further customizes your character. But, it can be skipped. Before leaving the office, you're allowed to pick hardcore mode, and normal. Hardcore mode, without any HUD (Heads Up Display) modifications is a consistent pain, where you need to drink, eat and sleep, regularly. The main flaw of this is, you having to check your stats by pausing the game every time. There is no HUD option for it! However, you're not missing out if you play on normal, which is my personal preference.

After leaving the initial spawn town, and completing the tutorial, which is also optional. Your pushed in the direction of finding who shot you. However, it is VERY easy to become side tracked and completing side quests,(which isn't a bad thing of course!). Which must happen at points to advance in the quest line. If you do follow the game's path, you are introduced to the main two factions in the game, the NCR, which are the "good" guys, and the Legion who are the "bad" guys. You can side with either one, it's up to the player to decide. Most likely, in your first play through, you'll side with the NCR. Unless you're evil. Then the Legion is where you will find your brethren! They enslave all women and children so, it will only be men. Although, if your character is female, they don't enslave you on sight, for some magical reason. However, you'll go with it all. One way or another, you'll find yourself standing on The Strip. After talking to the correct people. You have to make a choice between who you want to end the game with.

That is the basic story, I feel that the story was good, but can get confusing and overwhelming near the end. The side quests, of which I did not mention above, are fun at first but do eventually get tiresome, especially the NCR quests. Which will just be you running around to different out posts, occasionally, you'll need to kill things. The random side quests you find, tend to be the funnier, weirder and more fun quests. One thing I would like to add, if you are playing on PC, you can download and install quest mods, which will give you more things to do. Which is a small advantage over console.

Sounds/Music/Voice Acting:

One of the things I loved in Fallout 3 was the immersion you got, which was also due to the music that set the tone of the area you where in and the mood. It's no different in New Vegas, the sounds and music are very immersive and fit very well. Whether you're listening to the background music, or one of the in game radio stations, which consists of music from the time set in the game, you should feel immersed. The actual gun sounds, and explosions are ok, nothing amazing or spectacular, but they are good. Once again, if you are playing on PC, I recommend getting a sound overhaul mod, to improve it. The voice acting is good as well, after playing through over 3 times, I have no complaints about hearing the same voices over and over. Maybe I was too immersed to notice but still. From my point of view, its fine. In comparison to another Bethesda title, The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, where you could tell, they didn't have enough voice actors to finish the entire game.

Game play:

Seeing as New Vegas is a first person RPG, it could also qualify as a first person shooter, but if it were rated based on other first person shooters, it wouldn't do very well. The movement can feel clunky at time, due to the jump restrictions. You will notice this after playing something like Oblivion, where you can hop around the game easily. One main pet peeve that I would like to point out is the lack of a Sprint feature, in ANY Fallout game. Whether this wasn't added to make the map seem bigger or to make the game last longer, I don't know. But it is odd when you see a giant, nasty looking scorpion, double your size charging at you and all you can do is turn around and jog away. Back to the game play, when trying to shoot at range with a weapon you will tend to notice, you simply don't hit people, or, headshots aren't always one hit kills. Without any research into this, I'm assuming it's based on your perception and gun skill level. One consistent glitch I have run into is, VATs failing to actually do anything, rendering your character open to attack. I seem to encounter this after activating VATs too quickly after reloading. VATs is another thing, most definitely worth mentioning, it takes you into a screen, where you can choose which part of the enemy you would look to shoot at/hit, each part of the body requires AP to take the shot. AP meaning Action Points, which regenerates after time. At points, this can feel like easy mode, just walk into a room, turn on VATs and start to put some people down. But it all depends on your character level, and what your using and what enemies your facing.  To level up your character, you gain XP from killing things, completing quests, ect, once you level up and are in a safe environment, so not in combat, it will tell you you've levelled up and will ask you to pick a perk and add stat points. One thing to note is you only get to pick a perk every 2 levels. Because of the jump limitations, you cannot simply, run around and jump onto things, for example, evil, invisible hidden walls, will stop you from exploring to your heart's content. At time, it can be very, very annoying.  I often find myself just using noclip to bypass it. The borders of the map are mountain, or invisible walls. Which, doesn't seem very nice after walking for (game) hours just to be stopped dead in your tracks.

Dialogue:

I feel it is worth mentioning the dialogue in the game, it fits the time, very well. From the Old Rednecks out in the desert, to the young, suave gamblers in the Strip. Not once have I or any of my friends that play the game, complained about the dialogue. Once, again the voice acting and script is not outstanding but it is very good. In my mind I'm comparing it to a more recent RPG, the Witcher 2, which has outstanding game play, graphics, dialogue, Etc.

Overall, I love this game, it fulfilled my hopes and dreams from Fallout 3. But that is from my point of view. For a newcomer to RPG's, the learning curve is pretty shallow. The game offers tutorials, which do help, and it's a great game to lose yourself in for a few hours. As much as I despise number rating, I'll give it an 8/10. If you are into RPG's and or FPS's you should definitely try it, there is nothing else quite like it. Minus Fallout 3.

 Fallout New Veas, with several mods installed. PC version, max settings. Credit to Luke Wise.

Mario

This is my W.I.P, a Mario level, used and made in the editor. I also re-skined some ofthe characters, using Paint.