I don't think too many of you would disagree with me when I say Fallout 3 was, quite simply, one of the best games ever made. It provided a compelling blend of FPS and RPG action and a vast, fully explorable setting that saw many gamers spend 100 hours or more wandering its post-apocalyptic Wasteland. Immersive, high-definition gaming at its finest.

It's fair to say then that its sequel, Fallout: New Vegas, has quite a lot to live up to. Ahead of its release at the end of the month I visited Bethesda HQ to play through the first two hours of the game and take a sneak peek at a few noteworthy sections later on.

Despite near-universal acclaim, Fallout 3 did have some niggling issues, and it seems that, knowing they've all but perfected the basic structure of the game, Obsidian have taken great care to iron out the most apparent problems.

I imagine I wasn't alone, for example, in finding the overarching narrative pretty lacklustre compared to the side-missions and secrets which made your adventure so memorable. As the main story was building to a climax, I was far more concerned with finding new weapons or characters to interact with than I was Liam Neeson and his giant water-purifier.

New Vegas looks to remedy this with a more involving and less-linear story that weaves into the fabric of the game with much greater deftness. Although Bethesda are understandably loathe to release too much detail, the narrative looks to take the form of a rather unconventional whodunnit, tracking down those responsible for your own death – the game begins with your resurrection.

Fallout 3 was criticised in many quarters for being visually dreary at times and suffered from a monotonously washed-out palette – and the use of colour in New Vegas, most obviously in the brilliantly blue sky, is one of the first things you notice as you take your first steps out into the world map.

By shifting the setting from East to West coast, Obsidian have been able to present a significantly different Wasteland experience. Civilisation, all but obliterated in the nuked DC area of the last game, is now much more evident, with a fully functioning Las Vegas strip and colourful road signs and landmarks punctuating your journey.

The art design and music used are mainly 50s-themed – licensed tracks also used in Mafia II play on the Pipboy's in-game radio, coincidentally – and the added effort made here to present not just a run-of-the-mill post-apocalyptic world but a stylised one makes New Vegas' setting all the more memorable.

Graphics too have been significantly tweaked, with the developers pushing the capabilities of the existing engine much further than I'd seen in previous previews. Facial animations have been improved, and there looks to be much more variety in the voice-acting talent too – though I must admit hearing Chandler's voice in the intro sequence jarred-somewhat. Could there be any more super-mutants?

Still, if all you're expecting from New Vegas is a better-looking Fallout 3 with a new set of missions and enemies, you certainly won't be disappointed. Controls and the basic mechanics of the game are almost exactly the same, so you won't have any problems jumping straight in.

One criticism I've heard a few times of Fallout 3 was from FPS fans that didn't like the VATS system, which essentially reduced the skill of shooting into a more RPG-like, points-spending affair. This time around, players will be able to use the bizarrely-named 'Ironsight' (which I insisted must in fact be called eye-in-sight, to no avail) which essentially just gives you the left-trigger look-down-the-sights that has become standard in FPS games.

This small tweak actually changes the flavour of the action considerably – depending on your weaponry you now needn't use VATS at all, and it's much easier to take out targets from range without relying on percentages.

Your use of companions throughout the game has been completely overhauled, with a new command wheel system meaning kitting out and controlling your comrade works much better than in Fallout 3. The AI has also been tweaked, I was told, so hopefully now your collected buddies will be of much greater use - spending less time getting noticed, using the wrong weapon to defend themselves, and then dying.

There's also a new 'reputation' system to get to grips with, where the morality of your actions are not just judged broadly as they were in Fallout 3, but also seen in light of how they will be received by the warring tribes and villages that make up New Vegas' inhabitants. The moral choices the last Fallout was famed for now have much weightier repercussions – I'm told it's impossible to play through the whole game and keep everyone happy.


Along with these broader changes, Obsidian have introduced a few new features aimed specifically at Fallout's passionate online community. Weapon-modding, for example, has been introduced, allowing silencers, scopes, different ammo types and so on for added customisation.

Fans will also be delighted with the frequent references to Fallouts 1 and 2 which I was told will be much more apparent than in Fallout 3, as a number of developers that worked on the first two games were brought back for this new instalment.

A new 'Hardcore' difficulty level is also available for players looking for a more intense challenge. In this mode you'll have to search for water or risk dying of thirst, scrabble for old bullet casings to make ammunition and sleep at regular intervals in safe places to stay healthy.

I daren't offer too much detail regarding the missions I played through – but the dark humour of Fallout 3 is still very much evident. The map looks to be similar-sized, though I was promised even more side-missions and areas to explore than last time around. New Vegas has a level cap of 30, which potentially means a whole 33% more of incentivised character development to encourage exploration. Prepare to lose a few weekends.

Obsidian have created a new world – not too dissimilar to the last one but pleasingly different nevertheless - that I, for one, can't wait to sink my teeth into. Look out for our review in a couple of weeks.