Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition

This is still the best 3D-Fallout game. If you like Roleplaying-Games and Story you can have an impact to, this is the Fallout you will like. Also check out the mods at nexusmod to give the game a facelifting and have it running better on modern Systems ( Have to try out the gog release yet).

Obsidian's New Vegas was a return to form for the franchise. The game takes the first person 3D perspective from Bethesda's Fallout 3, alongside plenty of its mechanics, and on top of tweaking them (for the better) adds new features of its own, like traits (from the original Fallouts), gun customization and iron sights (inspired by mods for Fallout 3), a Hardcore mode with basic needs (food, water, and sleep), survival recipes, a reputation system that almost entirely replaces the flawed Karma system of Fallout 3, and factions you can side with in order to alter the plot. The writing, in addition, is top notch. New Vegas isn't a perfect game. Engine is almost the same as Fallout 3's, so you can consider this game as an "expansion" to Fallout 3, though New Vegas stands perfectly on its own as a full release. It was very buggy on release, and most importantly, it isn't as challenging as the original titles were, which takes away from the experience. jsawyer is a mod developed by the game's Lead Designer, Joshua Sawyer. It makes the game considerably more challenging and in-tune with the classics. If you must play New Vegas and you have experience with Fallout 3 or slightly hardcore RPGs, I suggest you get that mod and play the game as Sawyer would have intended you to. The difference it makes to the experience is huge, and you won't regret it. If after that you decide you want a tougher wasteland experience, Vicious Wastes (from the Nexus) is an excellent, punishing alternative.

As a fan of the series and someone who has played each title(even 4, and I don't even like 4) multiple times, my favorite is by far New Vegas, with 2 close behind and 1 close behind 2. Player choice matters in this game, and it matters a lot. Your choices will affect who you can be companions with, the quests you can do, and more. The writing is astounding, especially in the DLC. Speaking of the DLC, the best in the series can be found here. Personally, Dead Money is my favorite part of the entire series, even above the conversation with the Master in 1. Fallout: New Vegas successfully transfered the values from the originals to the 3D environment, something I cannot say Bethesda has been able to do yet, and likely won't ever. If you have never played this game, and are looking for a true RPG to spend hundreds of hours in, look no further. Finally, the mod scene deserves a bit of a mention, as it can be important in deciding if you want to invest in this already cheap game. It absolutely rocks, with some of the best mods for any game ever. I recommend the someguy2000 series, but only after you have played one or two playthroughs first. Have fun with this game, I know I will only continue to.

As a big fan of Fallout 2 I have to say: this is a good successor! I loved very minute of it and Obsidians writing is fantastic.

This game was massively gimped on release, it was built on a really bad game engine and had a very short development cycle. On a technical level, this game is a disaster. Having said that, the story and gameplay (as flawed as the gameplay is), are so incredibly memorable. This is RARE for even a lot of new games to be this memorable, this game is a game I just finished replaying after 7 years of not replaying, I was surprised that I still remembered about 90% of the game. That is how much this game stuck with me, the factions, the weapons, the world building, the companions, the hilarious NPCs like Oliver Swanick and Fantastic, the DLC, there are too many amazing things to write home about this game. This game alongside the original 2 Fallout's, have crafted a world that captures your imagination in ways that few games including the following Fallouts fail to do. I would encourage playing Vanilla 1st time, if you are going to add mods, just add mods that fix bugs, improve performance, and very safe texture mods such as Ojo Bueno and so on.