Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition

Period.

Obsidian knows what they are doing, Bethesda doesn't. In this installment, the systems are much deeper, albeit the outdated, dumb game engine doesn't let those systems shine properly. Anyway, let's see: The green filter has been replaced wih an orange filter (install Fellout NV), there is now ammunition crafting and weapon modification, the Capital Wasteland was replaced with the Mojave Wasteland and the bad story with a much more interesting one, Three Dog is gone (YES!!!!), companions such as Veronica Santangelo or Boone have been properly fleshed out, the DLC is good-to-great, there is gambling which can make you piles of money... well worth 5 EUR unlike the original.

There's not much that I can say about New Vegas that hasn't already been said. IMO it's the best of the first-person Fallout games. It's got an interesting, branching storyline, memorable characters, a lot of references and lore evolving from the first two Fallout games, and I'm especially a fan of what I call the "Courier Trilogy" which unfolds through the expansion packs; a story that I personally found more intriguing than the main storyline. I'd give this game a five-star review except that a decade after its initial release, it's STILL plagued by some all-to-familiar stability issues which make it frustrating for me to completely enjoy. The worst of them is whenever I try to load a saved game; I've found there's roughly a 20% chance of success. The other 80% of the time, it hangs on the loading screen. Adding insult to frustration, is that the Task Manager won't pull up, so the only way to get out of the game is to force log out with Ctrl-Alt-Del, log back in, and try again--and again, and again, and again. Even after it loads, there's more than a decent chance that I'll go through a door, and rather than loading the next area, the game will just quit, forcing me through the whole routine again. I suppose if you like all the gambling aspects of Fallout: New Vegas, these bugs could add charm to your experience. But I find them unforgivable considering that they're the same bugs I experienced when I played this on Xbox 360, ten years ago, and they're the same bugs I've experienced in every Bethesda release since Morrowind. I'll digress, since I'm not the first, nor will I be the last, to have these grievances. If you've never played Fallout: New Vegas, I highly recommend it for its more canonical writing and art direction--compared to Fallout 3 and 4--as well as mature, and appropriately morose, narrative and humor. Just be prepared for technical difficulties.

New Vegas is simply the best written of the series by a large margin. The bonus content adds even more great characters and side missions, I can say I have enjoyed my time with it, and will probably go over 100 hours soon. My only issue is it crashes after a couple of hours which can get annoying, so I am regularly quick saving, not sure if this is a common issue or just with my system. Nonetheless, it does not detract from the experience in the slightest! Well done Obsidian!

Amazing game with probably one of the single worst fanbases in modern gaming... and it's over 10 years old!