Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout New Vegas
 
First time i heard of it,or rather seen it, was on youtube, the trailer for Fallout New Vegas.
I was hyped, i was more then hyped, big fan of the fallout franchise. 
And now for the Good the Bad and the Buggy.
 
Overview
 
Is it buggy? Yeah of course it is, if you didnt see the past 30 reviews saying it was,then yeah,yeah it is buggy.
Personally, i only experienced  freezes and crashes, and in average it happens once or twice in 3-4 hours.
Other then that, a couple of graphical glitches,and some missing NPCs but a reload fixed those.
I will not take the bugginess of the game into the final verdict due to the fact that patches will be released and with time there will be no more bugs, if you go and buy the game, expect it to be buggy,but also expect it to be fixed.
Now that we got that out of the way...
Fallout New Vegas is another game set in the awe aspiring Fallout universe.
You had a chance to see Fallout in California (Fallout 1 and 2) in Chicago (Fallout Tactics) and more recently in Washington DC (fallout 3) now the game is set in Las Vegas,or rather New Vegas and its surroundings. 
This means up to 50 or even 60 hours of playing provided you do everything!
 
Gameplay 
As with any other Fallout game the gameplay is really the reason you buy the game.
You go out exploring the Mojave Wasteland and you have so much to explore,many factions locations etc.
From shooting a raider or a legionary in the head to making all sorts of useful items for yourself, to just gaining expirience and leveling your character,its all just so well done.
Fallout New Vegas introduces gambling to the mix, allowing you to win up to 10k caps in each major casino, there are 3 of them. You can only win 10k because thats the limit in each major casino, if you play slots you can win up to 32k in each casino.    
5/5

Story
(Spoiler alert)
You start off as a Mojave Wasteland Courier,you were carrying  an object that got you killed...well,shot in the head really.
You survive...somehow, and you are on a quest to find out the why when and how you got shot.
You will have to decide which faction you will work for and there are many of them, but there are 3 major ones.
The NCR or New California Republic.
Ceasers Legion
New Vegas (which is run by the mysterious Mr. House, more on factions later on)
As i said,on your way to discover who wanted you dead,and for what reason,you will have to work with the many factions, and decide which ones you will support,and which you will destroy.
 An excellent premise and a great story, much better then Fallout 3 imho.5/5
 
Atmosphere
Fallout New Vegas like any fallout game has an excellent atmosphere. Set in a retro future universe the game takes place in Nevada, unlike other fallout games New Vegas has a western feel to it. Starting from Goodsprings (settlement you start in) to across the Mojave wasteland the cowboy feel is clear. Apart from it, its just that good old post apocalyptic atmosphere we all love.  5/5
 
Graphics
 Fallout New Vegas, being developed using the same engine Fallout 3 did, and Oblivion for that matter, the graphics...are...well...
outdated, there are games out there with far,far better graphics then New Vegas,so if you are looking for a game based only on its Graphics,this one might not be right for you. 3/5
 
Audio
Inon Zur returns to compose yet another great soundtrack,but again, is shadowed by the in game radio.
This time its the Radio New Vegas, hosted by Mr. New Vegas (yeah i know they got lazy on naming the radio host).
Radio New Vegas features the excellent music of the 50s, the rat pack music featuring performers like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin and many others.
The music fits the setting of New Vegas and the post apocalyptic setting perfectly.
The Voice acting isnt bad either,noting amazing,but pretty good. 5/5
 
Characters
This is what fallout does way better than fallout 3, there are loads of interesting and memorable characters then there ever were in Fallout 3. The Yes Man, Ceaser, Benny,Chief Hanlon,Doc Mitchel, Mother Pearl and many others. 
And the companions,well,lets just say that the companions are way way way more interesting then the Fallout 3 companions, they make the game  a lot easier, but you want to keep them around despite that fact because they are so interesting, each has a back story, their own quests and very different personalities. 5/5

Improvements over Fallout 3
It cant be avoided, i will just have to compare it to Fallout 3. 
For people who say its the same game, i have to say one thing...Only the graphics are the same, and if you cant realize that then i think you went out and bought another copy of Fallout 3 instead of Fallout New Vegas by mistake, the characters,the plot, the atmosphere, gameplay (even though its the same in heart many improvements were used.) everything is different. 
Its built on the same engine,so some similarities cant be avoided.
The first major improvement for me were the guns.
In fallout 3 if you shot someone in the head resulting in a head explosion i was like: *monotonous* ,, Oh look at that some guys head just exploded''. Here much different story, the guns are way more satisfying to use,from the lever action shotgun, to the cowboy repeater to the simple 9mm pistol, almost all guns look,sound and feel cool.
Story and characters are vastly improved, unlike Fallout 3 where you got a story or a quest so you can shoot things, in Fallout New Vegas you get to shoot things to progress the story or quest.
And there are a lot of interesting quests, some are boring but most are fun and just a real enjoyment to play.
There are also A LOT more quests, there are more quests in the original (no dlc) New Vegas then there are in Fallout 3 with all the DLCs.Better dialogue and more of it. Small gameplay improvements,like the companion wheel, the ability to craft ammo, healing items, and poisons, the ability to use scopes and iron sights, the ability to mod weapons, reputation system which changes based on how you deal with a faction.
 
Final verdict
Great game,awesome gameplay,many improvements over Fallout 3. Great atmosphere, story and characters.
If you like any Fallout game,then you will love this one,its easily in my top 5 games.