In a year where most of the anticipated titles were delayed until 2011, Fallout New Vegas stuck by its October 2010 release date. I made it out to a midnight launch for the one game left on my most anticipated list. I remember driving home in excitement with a copy of New Vegas in my possession. It had been two years since Fallout 3, and I was ready for a new experience. Boy was I disappointed.
Lets start with the obvious, the game was filled with bugs when it was released. It's clear New Vegas was rushed in order to make its release date. Bethesda figured they'd release a broken game and fix it through downloadable patches as time goes on. They promised patches would come the following week: It's been 2 months and they're starting to show up. As I'm writing this, I'm still not sure if the 360 or PC versions have received patches yet.
I lost well over 50 hours due to the bugs in New Vegas. One instance occurred when the game froze while it was autosaving. There was nothing I could have done to prevent that besides manually saving before I walked into the Lucky 38 Hotel. The result was that a corrupt file refused to load. I ended up with a few corrupt files in my journey through the Mojave Wastleland. It's frustrating to be reintroduced to characters and places I've already met and explored. Sure, the ability to change the way I approach any situation is refreshing, but it would have been better if I could have done it with a new game as opposed to making up for corrupted saves.
The story to New Vegas was also a disappointment. New Vegas' story is longer than Fallout 3's, but it ends abruptly. I'm not going to spoil it, but if the story kept going it would have made more sense. It would've allowed you to see the results of the decisions you've made throughout the quest. The ending to the game made me feel like most of the work I had put into the game was pointless. I felt like I was doing busy work for most of the time. Similar to herding goats in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
The game never took off. It just kept me busy doing random tasks. There were some interesting characters and places, but the game lacks distinct personality. You are just a courier exploring a post nuclear Mojave Desert. Overall, New Vegas is a fun game worth playing. I invested over 100 hours into the experience, but I'm not compelled to play it again. Fallout: New Vegas, you are my most disappointing game of 2010.
