Fallout: New Vegas Preview

OXM Online is hosting the seven-page Fallout: New Vegas preview that was originally published in the March issue of the Official Xbox Magazine. In case you didn’t pick up a copy of the magazine or peruse any of the scanned versions online, here’s an excerpt:

After chatting up the locals, you trigger the (Ghost Town Firefight) quest. And with a name like that, guess what you’ll be doing? It seems the Powder Gangers a band of outlaws who’ve stolen the town’s powder kegs are set to attack Goodsprings and loot it, and now you’re tasked with recruiting as many of the townsfolk as possible to defend it. Or you could partner up with the Powder Gangers instead and burn the whole damn place to the ground. Your call.

And it’s here that New Vegas slowly distinguishes itself from Fallout 3. After deciding whether to speak with Ringo to help the townsfolk or to the Powder Gangers’ Joe Cobb if you want to plunder Goodsprings (Obsidian took Ringo’s good-guy route for our demo), you’ll have to hustle in our case, to convince the townies to help you in the imminent fight. Sunny and canine companion Cheyenne don’t need much convincing. Follow her to the Mojave Wasteland to kill a few giant mutated geckos, and she’s easily swayed. Better yet, you’ll get to test one of New Vegas’ unique weapons, the Varmint Rifle; this low-power .22 does significant damage to limbs and has a high critical-hit bonus.

Persuading the aging, apathetic Easy Pete to lend a hand is a bit trickier. Everyone knows he’s got a stash of dynamite, and it would really come in handy in the upcoming fight. He doesn’t seem to want to cough up the boomsticks, though. Remember when Obsidian chose Explosives as one of our character’s primary skills back in Doc Mitchell’s office? Here’s where we get to see it in action. Selecting the dialogue option with [Explosives] in front of it quickly changes Pete’s finicky tune, and he happily hands over his stash of dynamite.