I've been looking forward to getting my hands
on Fallout New
Vegas for, well, pretty much since Bethesda announced it. Today at
QuakeCon 2010, I finally had that chance with a one hour session of
gameplay. Among the many things I learned during my short time: the map
system is still irritating, Securitrons are very hard to kill, and one
hour isn't nearly enough time to enjoy the subtle changes that have been
made to the Fallout
3 engine.
My pre-designed character started out in the
city streets of Freeside
(think Megaton times ten, if you will), an area that players will come
across about a third of the way into the story. As soon as I entered the
city, I knew I needed to pick up a quest to make my hour of gameplay
worthwhile. I walked over to the nearby Atomic Wrangler Casino to ask
around for quests and play some blackjack. Francine Garret, the
proprietor of this fine establishment, revealed that she indeed has some
work that needs doing: Specifically, collecting debts from three
individuals in the town. I agreed, and the Debt Collector quest began.
Since I was inside a casino, it was time to pick up some chips from the
cashier in the back, and sit down at a blackjack table to try my luck.
After winning a couple of hands, I left to go complete my quest by
looking for my three targets. Searching for these targets illustrated
one of the main issues I had with Fallout 3, and that was its GPS
system. It's pretty much the same mess as it was before, not giving you
any help in regards to the direction you need to travel to seek out your
intended target. Still just a green overlay showing your location. I
get that since things like this would remain the same to some degree,
but giving the player an updated Pip-Boy model, especially one with a
better map system, would have been a nice touch.
I wouldn't let this stop me, however, as I journeyed through the city
frustrated with my inability to track my intended targets. I decided to
check out the Kings School of Impersonation. This happened to be the
headquarters of The Kings, one the gangs that wander around the city of
Freeside who model themselves after what seems like a '50s era Elvis
mixed with The Fonz from Happy Days . They remind me of the Tunnel
Snakes from Fallout 3. Inside were three floors of mostly empty rooms
until I made it to what seemed like a love lair, complete with a heart
shaped silky bed and a single woman hanging out there. What followed,
I'm told, was a bug in the game.
I decided to interact with the nearby jukebox to see what was available
(even though the interaction text was outlined in red), and in doing so
scared the girl and turned all of the Kings against me. That wasn't
supposed to happen; but it did, and in doing so I was able to try out
the game's shooting mechanics, which have improved considerably. The
best way to describe it is that it seems like the weapons have more
weight, which made the whole experience feel much more like an honest
first-person shooter. VATS (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) however
remained the same: cycling through body parts followed up with a slow
motion cinematic kill. Again, going for the limbs is still the most
sure-fire way to quickly eliminate an enemy. Eventually I escaped after
killing a number of the gang members, decreasing my overall reputation
in the city.
I continued to wander the streets looking for my targets, and in doing
so became distracted by the gated entrance to the main Strip. Figuring I
could find a way past this gate to explore the Strip, I approached it
and noticed several Securitrons (the robots that were digging up the
grave in the New Vegas teaser trailer ).
Nearby was a man named Old Ben; he kindly warned me that I would need to
either have 2,000 caps or a passport to pass through the gates to the
Strip. Nonsense. I'll just shoot my way through past the robots, looting
their body for a key in the process. That was the plan, anyway, and was
encouraged to do so because apparently someone tried the exact same
thing earlier in the day.
I started to litter the ground in front of the locked gate with plastic
explosives. As soon as one of the Securitrons rolled over it... kapow!
Unfortunately, things didn't go according to plan. Before I could get to
a safe distance, they opened fire, and I was killed rather quickly. I
reloaded my save file and decided to go look for some hired guns --
mercenaries if you will -- to help me in my endeavor. I found some
hanging out at a nearby house, and hired one of them to come help me
out.
Again, I littered the ground with plastic explosives, retreated, and
took cover after instigating the Securitrons. Since they were so
occupied with attacking the hired gun, they rolled over the plastic
explosive, and kapow! I took one out. But before I had a chance to
search the broken robotic body for a key to unlock the gate, the bounty
hunter started to fire on me -- because I injured him in the process of
trying to destroy the Securitrons!
I retreated back to a side street where I crouched in waiting for him to
come around the corner. Sure enough, he did, and I blew his head off.
But in doing so, I completely ruined my reputation in the town of
Freeside and everyone in the streets started to attack me. I retreated
for the exit back out to the wastelands, never completing my Debt
Collector quest.
Once outside of the gates, the entire world was mine to explore. But the
clock was ticking, and I didn't have much time left in the demo. I did,
however, start to harvest some of the nearby plants. I'm told that
harvesting certain plants will yield items that can be used to create
medicinal items and chems, or even special types of ammo because you
have the ability to play with the gunpowder in your weapons; although I
never had a chance to craft anything during my play session.
While a lot of the game does feel very similar to Fallout 3, the jury is
still out for me on if this feels more "Fallouty" (is that a word?)
than Fallout 3. Or if anything truly substantial has been put into New
Vegas to clear it of that, "it looks like an expansion" mystique that
has followed the title since the first gameplay elements were shown.
That's something that will take much longer than a single hour to figure
out. But coming from someone who absolutely loved Fallout 3, I'm still
excited for New Vegas. Even if it does turn out to be more of the same
once it hits retail.
Originally posted on 1UP .
See More: Fallout: New Vegas |
Fallout 3 |
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