Fallout: New Vegas



Obsidian Entertainment presents new features and improvements in Fallout: New Vegas that are implemented upon the foundation of Fallout 3. For example, the original Fallout 3 version of the Gamebryo engine was reworked in order to accommodate the extra lights and effects of the New Vegas strip.

The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, or "V.A.T.S.", returns with the addition of several V.A.T.S.-specific attacks Use of certain melee weapons trigger unique animations. Added are new weapons, a weapon modification system, the ability to use the iron sights on almost all guns (excluding several larger weapons that are shot from the hip) and a better over-the-shoulder view for third-person combat.[16] The modification system allows for modifications such as mounted telescopic sights, rate of fire modifiers and increased magazine size.[16] Crafting also plays a role in weaponry, with the ability to craft ammunition such as hand-loaded rounds. A plant-harvesting system similar to that of The Elder Scrolls series is also in place, allowing the player to use plants to craft special meals, poisons, and medicines.

The quantity of factions prompted developers to reintroduce the reputation system that was absent in Fallout 3.\ The degree of faction loyalty influences the player's reputation with that faction, which in turn affects the behavior of the faction's non-player characters (NPCs) toward the player and reflects the impacts of selected choices in the world.\ Karma is also a factor, but is independent of faction reputation (the player can rob a faction member, lowering their karma, but leaving their reputation unchanged assuming they are not caught). Availability of dialog options with NPCs are based upon character attributes, skills, reputation and karma. Skills have a bigger effect on conversation choices. Whether a dialogue option will succeed or fail is shown up front, and entirely dependent on skill level, rather than both skill and chance as seen in Fallout 3.

Companion behavior and tasks are controlled using the new "companion wheel", removing the need to enter conversation to give commands. The new companion wheel offers command execution by selecting commands that are presented in a radial menu. Game director Josh Sawyer has stated that the companion wheel offers ease of companion interaction.[17] Such examples of companion commands include setting and changing combat tactics, default behavior towards foes and usage frequency of available resources. The player can have one humanoid and one non-humanoid companion at the same time and receives a unique perk, or unique advantage, per companion. These companions can be upgraded if the player completes a special quest related to the companion.

In New Vegas, the player can visit casinos to participate in mini-games, including blackjack,[18] slots, and roulette. A card game called Caravan, which was designed specifically for the game, is playable outside of the casinos.

Hardcore mode
An optional Hardcore mode[19] delivers more realism and intensity into the gaming environment. Game director Josh Sawyer stated that the mode was inspired by several different Fallout 3 mods.[20] As gameplay difficulty is increased, players are encouraged to implement effective strategies, make careful considerations in resource management and combat tactics, and pay high attention to the surrounding environment. Gameplay difficulty is increased in several ways: An achievement (Xbox 360[22] /Steam[23] ) or trophy (PlayStation 3)[24] is awarded for completing the game on Hardcore mode.
 * Stimpaks and other healing items, including food, do not heal the player instantly, but instead work over a period of time.
 * RadAway will also decrease radiation poisoning gradually, rather than instantly.
 * Stimpaks cannot heal crippled limbs. Healing crippled limbs requires a "Doctor's Bag", sleeping on an owned or rented bed, a chem called "Hydra" or visiting a doctor.
 * Ammunition has a weight value.
 * The player character must eat, drink and sleep to avoid starvation, dehydration and exhaustion, with each illness causing various skill decreases.[21]
 * When companions are killed in combat, they do not get back up (unlike in normal difficulty), instead they will be permanently killed.

Setting
Fallout: New Vegas takes place during the year 2281, four years after the events of Fallout 3, and 204 years after the Great War of 2077.[14] The game is set in a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas, Nevada, and the Mojave Desert, which is known as the "Mojave Wasteland". The Mojave Wasteland is roughly the same size as the "Capital Wasteland" in Fallout 3,[14] and is spread across parts of real-world Nevada and Arizona. Part of Fallout and Fallout 2 ' s Core Region appears in the form of California. Unlike other cities in the Fallout series, Las Vegas was not struck directly by a nuclear attack. Many of its buildings remain intact, and mutation of its inhabitants is minimal.[14]

The city and its surroundings are divided between various factions, but there are three major powers competing for control of the region: The New California Republic (NCR), Caesar's Legion, and Mr. House. The NCR's military, returning from Fallout 2, is now overextended and mismanaged, but controls the majority of territories in the Mojave. The slave-driving, Roman army-styled Caesar's Legion, formed by its leader, Caesar, conquered and united 86 tribes and now plans to conquer New Vegas. Mr. House, the mysterious businessman rumoured to be 200 years old, controls New Vegas with an army of "Securitron" security robots. There are many other factions and groups as well, including the Boomers, a tribe of heavily armed vault dwellers, Powder Gangers, violent groups of escaped convicts, Great Khans, a tribe of drug dealers and raiders, and the Brotherhood of Steel, the technology-craving remnants of the U.S. military.[11] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GameSpy_14-3">[15] Landmarks featured in Fallout: New Vegas include the Hoover Dam, which supplies power to the city,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GameSpy_14-4">[15] Nellis Air Force Base and the HELIOS One solar energy plant.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-IGN_AU_PS3_18-1">[19]

Gallery
See Fallout: New Vegas Gallery