Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition

Fantastic all around. Worth playing for choices and consequences, and lots of ways to play your own. If you played Fallout 3, well, you'll never look at it the same after playing FO:NV.

This was a nice breath of fresh air, after FO 1 and 2, this feels to be the true sequel to the greatest franchise that is fallout. I wont mention the other 3 fallouts as i feel they do not deserve the attention, nothing but watered down shells.

That's the TLDR of pretty much every review of this game and with good reason. The storytelling here -IS- amazing, but the engine, the same that powered TES4 Oblivion and Fallout 3, was already well known for being buggy. I also remember that Obsidian didn't get any bonuses or royalties because the game didn't get a 85 metacritic score shortly after release. Yet here we are, over 10 years after release and people still look fondly at this game (minus the Old World Blues DLC, fck those bullet sponge enemies). Even unmodded, the game is good, but not without faults and facepalm worthy decisions, such as the numerous invisible walls you bump into when fooling around with the hills. Unlike Fallout 3, you can kill everyone you encounter. Important questgivers aren't safe, you can transform everyone into gory, bloody sausages, but even as a genocidal maniac, you can still complete the game and the DLCs. Killing everyone is always an option here, which is great for when you just want to cause trouble, then reload an earlier game and continue as if nothing happened.

Everything made after this went downhill. This was peak gaming when 18 month development time leaded to great things despite inherant gameplay flaws.

An excellent edition to the Fallout franchise though I can't say for certain why it gets the praise it does. Perhaps it's because Fallout: NV lures you into a cycle of kill, loot, purge? Perhaps. This game is often lauded for its quests and honest as much "fun" as I'm having with the game, I can't say it outshines Fallout 3. Really, each game has the same problems, as far as I'm concerned. New Vegas is definitely satisfying though. It is VERY easy to get into a Skinner box where you kill, loot, discover. That said, I don't find there's much sincere depth to the game. While I am currently 50+ hours into the game (after 1 DLC and about half the main quest finished) I can't help but feel there is a repetitive nature to Fallout: New Vegas. It is enjoyable, but that enjoyment has more to do with a drug addiction than actually liking what I'm doing. That said, I bought this game for a reason. There are a lot of quests to finish and there's a lot of things in the Mojave to kill. However, as open ended as this game is often advertised as being, it really funnels you down a certain point. That isn't to say there isn't good content in here but for all the talk of this game being an open-world masterpiece, it certainly is not perfect. That is to say nothing of the not entirely uncommon crashes. Even in the patched state it exists in, Fallout: NV is a buggy mess. That is to be expected with Bethesda games, but it is something to be aware of when purchasing. This problem can be turned from a hindrance into an irritant by simply saving one's game at regular intervals. So would I recommend Fallout: New Vegas? While I have been playing it for as long as I have, I can't say I would. It is definitely a PC game through and through. As such, it suffers from some severe problems. But there is plenty to like about it. Just go in with an open mind and a finger hovering above the save key.