As is the case with most video games, the longer you play them, the more you notice the small things.  Fallout: New Vegas is no different.  I mean, on a thematic level, New Vegas does not offer an entirely new genre to the video gaming industry.  It has created its own battle system (V.A.T.S.), and the world the story takes place in is a novel idea.  However, it’s the small things that will keep you playing.

More Playtime

The wind and the radio.  Sounds like a bad Disney classic, but it actually is a killer part of the game.  The word fallout does imply some form of nuclear holocaust; I can only imagine the world left standing would be eerily exempt from human life.  Think more Inception and less I Am Legend.  So, building a game with no people would look ridiculous.  Almost as if the developers forgot to include people in a game that is surrounded by…people.  Sure, there are not that many people around.  But the wind?  The first time I noticed it, the sun was setting in the background, and I felt calmed by the soothing wind one second, and the next second I was scanning the horizon for signs of life.  Eerily desolate.  Eerie.

Secondly, the radio is just fun.  The twangy guitar, the melancholy voices, and the slow, droning tunes just fit the mood perfectly.  I always turn off the radio when I’m in a building and fighting people, because that’s just weird.  But this does add a dimension reminiscent of Vice City.  And, you know, that game had moderate success…

People with plot-relevant dialogue.  I get that the story is meant to be short, but the scripting of the dialogue is excellent.  I wish they would have played to that strength more in the first four to five hours of the game.  The characters possess unmatched inflection and tone.  Almost as if they signed a free agent from Bioware.

Less Playtime

Skipping.  It’s like if you were watching Rudy, and the movie kept skipping during the scene where all the players turn their jerseys into their coach to pressure him into adding Rudy to the team. This is the part of my writing where I want to swear a lot.  Drop a few f-bombs and tell Obsidian to get their shit together.  For such an amazing game – storyline and all – you mean to tell me you can’t make a fucking game that plays smoothly and doesn’t threaten to skip or freeze every minute?  Fucking boo.

Sideways storytelling.  Alright, this is why everybody loves Mass Effect 2: when you complete a mission, you move on.  The storyline progresses in a timely manner.  I don’t mind a quick campaign or storymode, but I want to feel like I am accomplishing something when I’m done.  New Vegas will send you across the map three times in a row, and then cough up three quests that make you move less than a constipated bowel movement for the next hour.  The quests are not even bad; they are quite fun.  Just please keep the pacing regular instead of bouncing back and forth for some dude who probably won’t even matter ten minutes from now.

Moving Forward

I’m heading to New Vegas tonight with an incinerating flame thrower, a shotgun, and lots and lots of stimpacks.  I won’t report live from inside, but when it’s over, you’ll know.  You’ll know.