Fallout: New Vegas Previews

Yet another pair of Fallout: New Vegas previews have arrived, both of which were made possible by this past weekend’s Penny Arcade Expo.

Planet Fallout:

As you would expect, VATS has remained relatively unchanged. But what has changed, or rather expanded, is the arsenal of weaponized goodness. From firearms to laser rifles, everything you would expect in a Fallout game and then some. When placed in a tight spot of being overwhelmed and almost eaten alive by a swarm of mutated geckos, I came across something special in my inventory. A grenade machine gun, and yes, it is what you probably think it is. Unloading a spam of grenades with the same rate of fire as an assault rifle, this ridiculous weapon struck back with great vengeance and furious anger while putting a smile on my face.

Enemies you encounter throughout New Vegas were refreshingly varied from one another. When I came across a fortified room full of convicts, each one had a different weapon and fighting styles. With only a limited number of action points, I had to make a tactical decision of whether I should take out the sub-machine gunner who popped up from behind his cover, the guy shooting incendiary grenades, or the accurate marksman in the back of the room. I found myself switching back and forth between different weapon types in the middle of fighting in order to deal with the variety of situations in a single shootout more than I did in Fallout 3.

And LGRNexus:

On the art side everything maintains that beautiful gritty Fallout 3 look. The sky takes on a fresh appearance bringing back my memories of that perfect cobalt blue Las Vegas sky, for those that have been there. The shanty huts do a look slightly new and improved, a likely side affect from the 2 years worth of graphic growth.

Factions, factions, factions is all you seem to hear from quest givers in this early introduction and rightfully so. New Vegas has become riddled with gangs in this post nuclear world; all dueling for control of money, tech or just fame. It would seem that improved faction sets are one of the greatest changes this title has made. In fact they are so improved, each faction set has their own currency! The one faction you’ll recognize right away is the New California Republic. While we didn’t play deep enough into the game to see if you can actually join their ranks, you do begin hearing of them right from the start.