Fallout: New Vegas

First of all, it's actually somewhere between "Recommended" and "Meh".

Third act is ruined whole game for me, because there is no ending that I want to choose at least a little. And the worst thing that you can't properly talk to anyone.

[SPOILER] When House says go kill BoS there is no option for you to talk to them about this AT ALL, that's crazy. Before going to House you can't speak with Yes-Man again, that's crazy too, it's like roleplaying game stops being roleplaying. After checking all endings on wiki I think that NCR one is actually the best. [SPOILER]

Overall, there are plenty of good quests, plenty of bad, main quest is really good only for first two acts then game changes dramatically.

If you gonna play it without mods, you will see that game aged badly.
One of the worst things for open-world game is that pretty soon it's becoming simply uninteresting to discover this world, because almost nothing happens, all caves starts to look the same also as enemies and npcs.
And after reaching level 50 (that's not hard thing to do at all, I got from 20 to 50 only by completing DLCs) there is no more progression, but there is still a lot of content in the game and honestly, this is stupid.

What I REALLY recommend is DLCs - they are great. (though I didn't like "Old World Blues", but plenty of people likes it).

This game became a classic already a while ago and it's had giant base of fans and I was really surprised how not many of them talks about awful third act. History says that game was developing in rush and they cut out plenty of stuff from game and especially third act and unfortunately it's very noticeable. 

Concise Review:

Didn’t live up to the hype. Not impressed.

Journal Style Review:

I’ve never played New Vegas before so this is a first time run. I’ve played fallout 3, which I remember enjoying, I’ve played fallout 4, which I liked but was disappointed because it wasn’t the game I wanted, and I played outer worlds which I enjoyed the most. I’ve heard people say great things about new Vegas and lots of people say it’s their favourite fallout game, but review scores have it lower than 3 and 4. So that’s where I am going in.

I enjoyed the opening cutscene and story setup. “Who shot me and why?” Is a good opening. I enjoyed the character creator perks set up. Then for the next hour and a half it was a bit boring with too much running from point to point.

I know the gunplay is going to be awful because not only is this a fallout game but it’s an old one. And it is, but there is something to it that’s okay because I know it’s not what the game is about. The use of vats, and swapping between weapons for different situations and conserving ammo and resources looks like it will create the fun survival mechanics that are needed.

The load times are insanely fast. That’s a perk of playing an old game.

The world does still feel pretty empty to me. I’m early on so maybe it feels more alive as I go on but by today’s standards its hard not to notice how empty the world is. I critiqued fallout 76 so much for having an empty lifeless world. Hopefully this ones becomes better and I’m just early on. Many rpgs take a bit of time to get going.

From the opening of the game....And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I like fallout 76 more as of now.

Too much running back and forth so far. I really like the level upgrades when I get them but the actual gameplay is too much run here, talk, run here, talk. I can see the many similarities between this and the outer worlds, but the outer worlds is improved in pretty much every way. 

Some side characters have been interesting but they don’t do enough with them. I think I’ve played 5 or 6 hours and at this point, I’m not a big fan. Maybe I just don’t really like fallout games? I always feel like I should like them more than I do. Fallout 3 was the first I played and I have fond memories but every game since I’ve been dissatisfied.

Still not liking it except for the levelling up aspects. There is so much running back and forth. 

Around the 10 hour mark. It’s been a hair better since arriving at the strip. The boomer quests weren’t bad either. They are getting a bit better at least. Still not great. But the different factions are fun.

Around 14 hours. It’s picking up. It still hasn’t surpassed my enjoyment for even fallout 76, but it’s getting closer. My complaints are the same but at least now I have more weapons to use and there is just more going on. I continue to like the leveling system.The exploration is getting a bit better.

The game has glitched and crashed 3 times in a row now. It’s getting frustrating.

I’ve realized a major reason for my distaste towards this game is how often I’m lost because the fucking waypoints and maps are tragic.

I really rushed the ending because I was done with the game. If I liked the game I would have overthrown mr house but I didn’t feel like putting in the effort. I just did what he said and went violent for all the remaining factions so I could see an ending, if not my preferred ending.

I can see the appeal to this game back in the day. The “play the game however you want” is done reasonably well for an old game but I guess my main issue while playing this game is I never really found any of it that fun. The gameplay is horrendous. The environment is bland. The map is so confusing to get around whenever you’re indoors. So much time is spent just walking. Some dialogue options and factions had moments that were interesting. But really, The only part I liked  was simply deciding how to spend upgrade points.

This sits at a low B. It didn’t age well for me. It was hard to play after already playing the outer worlds. 

Final Score: B