Fallout: New Vegas Preview

Play.tm had an hour-long hands-on session with Fallout: New Vegas and they share their impressions of Obsidian’s upcoming RPG with us.

This reputation system is one of the big new features in Fallout New Vegas, feeding into the game’s overarching struggle between the uptight authority figures of the New Californian Republic and the slaver army of Ceaser’s Legion. You’ll have to be careful who you side with, as each choice can have far reaching implications. Aligning yourself with one group will automatically create tensions with their rivals, the strength of feeling ramping up as your ties grow. Choose to follow one path exclusively and eventually the opposing faction will shoot on sight and you’ll be locked out of their missions.

Despite what their names may suggest, aligning yourself with each faction isn’t just a straight choice between good and evil. In Fallout: New Vegas the boundaries are far more blurred than that. Along the way you’ll encounter all kinds of murky moral decisions. You can even choose to play one faction off against the other. It promises to be far more complex than Fallout 3’s binary karma system.