"Golden Gecko". Exclusive Preview of Fallout: New Vegas
Vegas is a place where you can buy anything with money. Any luxury, any whim. In Las Vegas, so many enterprising people have gathered that even after a nuclear war, its lights did not go out but shone with new strength amidst the engulfing darkness of the Mojave desert. New Vegas has become a fortress, but its doors remain open to all who have enough bottle caps in their backpack. But can New Vegas do what fans are willing to pay any price for: bring back the real Fallout? To seek the answer to this question, a delegation from GAMER.ru represented by AQuaRity and Iliart went to the office of 1C-Softclub, where we spent several hours with an almost final version of the game.
Before we begin our story, a bit of history. Unlike Fallout 3, New Vegas is being created by Obsidian, which has seen many former employees of Black Isle who were involved in the creation of Fallout 1-2. At first glance, this is an undeniable plus, but more than ten years have passed since the second part, and out of three full-fledged projects by Obsidian, one was released in a cut version (KotOR2), another in an unfinished state (Neverwinter Nights 2), and the third was supposed to die two years before release (Alpha Protocol). But the stakes are higher than ever: if Obsidian fails to create a true “Renaissance,” fans of the old Fallout will finally turn away from Bethesda. To avoid being too “spoilery,” only the tutorials and the first 10-15 minutes of gameplay are described in detail. After that – only impressions.
The starting video is already online, retelling it serves no purpose. The main character is dug up by a robot named Victor and brought to the doctor, where the character generation will take place. Distributing SPECIAL points on a special machine, then answering several questions and taking a Rorschach test. After laughing at the answer options and choosing initial perks, we complete character creation and receive our clothing back. Interestingly, along with the clothing, we were given a razor, although those who played before us did not have a razor appear in their inventory. After a brief reflection, it was decided that this was due to the beard we gave the character during generation. It seems like a small detail, but it immediately evokes respect for FNV.
Before releasing the hero into the streets, the game offered to switch to Hardcore mode. This is one of the main innovations of New Vegas, a special difficulty level. If you enable it, you will need to constantly think about food, ammo will no longer be weightless, and stimpaks will not heal instantly, while fractures and severed limbs can only be healed by a doctor. While in Fallout 3 this could only be achieved through user mods, here it’s all official. And a “special reward” is promised for completing the main story in Hardcore mode. Taking one last look around the doctor’s house, we step out into Goodsprings. The Pip-Boy happily catches the local radio, and to the sounds of country music, we look around, trying to understand what has changed?
First of all, the improved graphics catch the eye. The engine remains the same, but now it is free from the “muddy” crutches of Oblivion and boasts clearer textures and increased draw distance. From a distance of 100-200 meters, you can easily distinguish individual slats of the fence. The changes to the global map resemble the evolution of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series: in Shadows of Chernobyl, the map was large but rather chaotic and somewhat “patchwork”; Call of Pripyat, however, provided a smaller territory but a more concentrated, coherent, and... alive, so to speak. Similar emotions are evoked by the FNV map: almost a fifth of it is occupied by New Vegas, while on the edges of the map, villages and other fairly closely spaced attractions are sprinkled. The city itself is enormous, but you can’t just walk in right away. There are many ways to get inside, but it’s quite a complicated and lengthy task, so we preferred to explore the surroundings and form a general picture of life in the Mojave desert.
The field training program included crafting at campfires and hunting wild geckos. These upright lizards from Fallout 2 are abundant here and very charismatic. They run amusingly, always in groups, and sometimes even with their young. The peak of endearment came when one of them received a crit to the head and covered its head with its paws. I had to hold myself back and continue pulling the trigger, remembering the important mission. I believe Obsidian did the right thing by evoking a sense of aversion to thoughtless shooting during the tutorial. Because, if you believe recent interviews, you can complete New Vegas without shooting at reasonable creatures at all. As much as we could, we verified this claim.
Almost all the bandits encountered in the desert clearly belonged to certain factions. Each faction has a uniform, and by dressing up in it, the hero stops being their target but doesn’t immediately become a friend. To further develop relationships, you need to increase your reputation by completing a couple of quests, for example. And the reputation of several factions is often mutually exclusive, which means a true pacifist will have to run a lot between them. But judging by what we saw, the promises were kept, and this path of completion is indeed possible.
After a while, it became apparent that the robot that dug us up was always hanging around, as if watching. As an experiment, we tried to kill him. When Victor’s health reached zero, he fell, but after a few seconds woke up again, healthy and friendly. Perhaps such robots are too hardy, but most likely Victor is simply necessary for the plot. It’s a shame we couldn’t get through without such conventions, but all the other intelligent beings we encountered, including the residents of Goodsprings, readily died after a few shots, some in signature slo-mo with limb detachment.
The combat system has undergone some changes. VATS still dictates its terms, you can play in full shooter mode… In general, it’s pretty much the same. It’s worth mentioning the ability to craft ammunition from scrap metal and a tactical companion management system, which we didn’t have the chance to evaluate in real time.
Among other interesting encounters: throughout the wasteland, you now come across graves that can be looted if you have a shovel. Unfortunately, we didn’t find a working shovel, but they added a nice variety to the exploring routine: even in the midst of a seemingly boring field, several burials can be discovered, from which you can scavenge some goods.
There could be many more stories about the locations we've visited, but depriving players of the joy of being pioneers in New Vegas is a crime. Given the increased draw distance, you sometimes catch yourself thinking that you want to go in all directions at once, there’s so much interesting stuff here. And you have surely appreciated the beauty of the landscapes from our screenshots.
In conclusion, let’s say briefly:
The direction of the series relative to Fallout 3 has been chosen correctly. It is a significantly deeper role-playing game than the creation of Bethesda, but whether that is enough for it to be called the true Fallout will only be shown by the release.
After the first minutes of playing in New Vegas, I realized how boring the third part was. Yes, the map is larger, but here it’s richer. This is exactly how the third part should have been. A must-have that deserves a place on the shelf.