Fallout: New Vegas

Developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks, Fallout: New Vegas places the player in the shoes of the Courier, a man or woman (depending on the player's choice), tasked with delivering packages across the brutal Mojave Wasteland, in the year 2281.
While delivering an important package to the city of New Vegas, the Courier is shot in the head by a man in a checkered suit, and buried in a shallow grave. A strange robot named Victor finds the Courier, not nearly as dead as they seemed, and brings him/her to the resident doctor in the town of Goodsprings. This is where Fallout: New Vegas begins. The player creates their character, chooses their SPECIAL, skills, and traits, and Doc Mitchell sends the Courier on their way with an old Pip-Boy 3000 and a Vault 21 suit.
In much the same way the player feels when exiting Vault 101 in Fallout 3, so they might feel walking out of Doc Mitchell's house. The sun is shining bright, and the hot desert of the Mojave sprawls out before the player. The amount of possibilities are huge. The player can decide to track down the man who shot them right away, taking them to the towns of Primm and Novac, encountering the two major factions, Caesar's Legion and the New California Republic, and dealing with the mysterious Mr. House. Or stay around a while and learn how to survive in the Wasteland from the residents of Goodsprings, explore the Wasteland, gamble in the casinos in the wonderfully imagined city of New Vegas, or simply try to survive in the harsh environment. How ever the player chooses to play the game, Fallout: New Vegas will take them on a great journey through the Mojave Wasteland.
 
Players of Fallout 3 will be very familiar with the gameplay of Fallout: New Vegas.
The game is typical of a first-person shooter, though the entire game can also be played in a third-person perspective. Health (HP) and crippled limbs can be restored by using a Stimpak or visiting a doctor. The player can get radiation (RAD) poisoning if they spend too much time around radioactive materials. There are various ways to lower RAD levels, such as visiting a doctor or taking medicine such as RadAway. If the player uses chems too much, they can become addicted, and must be cured by a doctor. Weapons and apparel can degrade over time, and must be repaired. If they player has a high enough Repair skill, they can do it themselves, or visit a vendor.
There is a strong element of role-playing, the traditional Fallout way. Traits return from Fallout and Fallout 2, which can put a spin on gameplay by making the character excell in one regard at the cost of another, such as increased accuracy with guns at the cost of speed. Two can be chosen at the start of the game, in Doc Mitchell's house.
The player gains XP for killing enemies, having a silver tongue in conversation, and completing quests. As XP is gained, the player levels up, increasing their skills and choosing new perks. The level cap in Fallout: New Vegas is 30.
The player can fight their way out of most situations, either with guns, melee weapons, or explosives. Other encounters might require more cunning, where the player might have to talk their way out of an arguement, or convince an NPC into helping them out. The player can even disable and reprogramme robots and computers to aid them and make a fight easier. Weapons can also be modded, to make them more lethal.
The player will meet a lot of characters during their time in the Mojave Wasteland. Some of these characters can accompany you and provide extra firepower. They can be commanded by using the companion wheel.
Karma returns from past Fallout games. Depending on the player's actions, they will gain positive or negative karma. This has no significant impact on gameplay. Also returning from past Fallout games is the reputation system. The player can increase their reputation with factions and towns, which will change how they react to you. If you have a good reputation with a faction or town, they will be good to you. You might get a discount in their stores, or they will come to help you in a fight. More often than not, though, having a good reputation with one faction can reduce your reputation with another. This can lead to fighting with that faction, and can affect which quests you are given or cause certain companions to stop accompanying you.
There are also several mini-games in the forms of lockpicking, hacking computers, and gambling at casinos to earn some extra caps.
For real role-playing and Fallout veterans, there is the option of Hardcore mode. This introduces new aspects of gameplay such as hunger and thirst, Stimpaks heal over time, crippled limbs are harder to heal, ammo will have weight, and enemies are more intelligent and dangerous. It is not recommended to switch on Hardcore mode your first time playing Fallout: New Vegas, though it does provide extra challenge and I think should be tried atleast once to enhance the experience of exploring the Mojave Wasteland.
 
On the other hand, Fallout: New Vegas does have it's downfalls.
Plagued by glitches and bugs, the flow can be broken sometimes and many of these bugs can be incredibly frustrating. A quest may become broken or a save might become corrupt for no apparent reason. Though incidents like this are mostly rare, they overshadow the player's experience, and can be a constant worry while playing the game.
Loading times are also an issue. They seem to get longer and longer as you progress through the game, breaking the pace. Coupled with the bugs, the game can likely crash during a loading screen.
The Gamebryo engine also shows its age in this game. The visuals can sometimes be stunted, with model and texture pop-in, and animations don't seem as smooth as they should be.
 
Despites it's problems, Fallout: New Vegas is a fantastic game. There is so much to do, so much to see, and so many crazy people to talk to. The Mojave Wasteland is huge, and begging to be explored as soon as you start the game, and the city of New Vegas itself is a joy to look at and experience. The amount of outcomes and endings available to the player regarding their actions throughout the entire game are worthy of praise. The visuals of the Fallout universe returns with vigor, with the crazy, retro-futuristic style present pretty much everywhere in the game.
 
Whatever you decide to do as you step out of Doc Mitchell's house, the Mojave Wasteland might take you by surprise and you'll enjoy it, too.