Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout: New Vegas is a post apocalyptic role-playing video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks. While New Vegas is not a direct sequel, it uses the same engine and style as Fallout 3. It is the fourth major installment in the Fallout series (sixth overall). It was developed by a few of the employees who worked on previous Fallout games at Black Isle Studios, along with a larger number of new employees. It is set primarily in a post-apocalyptic Nevada, although some areas of California, Arizona and Utah are also visited.

The game was released on October 19, 2010, in North America, October 22, 2010, in Europe, and November 4, 2010, in Asia. It is available on the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. It was released on Backwards Compatibility for Xbox One on June 23, 2016.

Development history
Discussions for New Vegas began between Obsidian and Bethesda in 2008/'09. They knew the game wouldn't be a "Fallout 4," and it was referred to as "Fallout 3.5" within Obsidian. It was specifically designed to be more of an expansion rather than a sequel; Obsidian, however, saw the project as akin to the Grand Theft Auto titles Vice City and San Andreas - not numbered entries, but full games in their own right. As Bethesda "had dibs" on the U.S. East Coast, Obsidian set the game in the American West. Obsidian submitted a three-page pitch to Bethesda for the project, which they named "Fallout: Sin City." The game was later renamed to "New Vegas."

The game was originally slated to have three playable races - human, ghoul, and super mutant. This idea was abandoned due to issues with the engine, specifically with how the weapons and armor would work. Joshua Sawyer described the development process as having used "sprint overtime," though he does not consider it crunch time.

The game was announced on April 20, 2009, at Bethesda's London showcase. The first official information was released in the February 2010 issue of PC Gamer. A cinematic teaser trailer and a gameplay trailer was released. The game spent a total of 18 months in development.

Setting
The game is set in and around a post-apocalyptic retro-futuristic Las Vegas, following the Great War between the U.S. and China, as a conventional and nuclear war that occurred on October 23, 2077. It lasted less than two hours and caused immense damage and destruction. Before the Great War, the Resource Wars took place, during which the United Nations disbanded, a plague rendered the United States paranoid, and Canada was annexed. Thanks to Robert House, the city of Las Vegas itself wasn't hit as hard as most of the other districts, with most buildings left intact. The Hoover Dam supplies free electricity and water to those who control it.

Story
The story has taken some parts from the Fallout and Fallout 2 stories, and is for the most part unrelated to its predecessor, Fallout 3.

Fallout: New Vegas takes place in 2281, four years after the events of Fallout 3, 40 years after Fallout 2, 120 after Fallout and six years before the events of Fallout 4. The New California Republic plays a major part in the game's story, being in a three-way struggle among the Caesar's Legion slavers, the New California Republic and the mysterious Mr. House.

The Courier, the player's character, was meant to deliver a package from Primm to New Vegas; however, they are intercepted by the Great Khans led by a mysterious man, who shoots them and takes the package, leaving the Courier for dead in a shallow grave. The Courier is later found by a robot named Victor, and is taken to the settlement of Goodsprings, where Doc Mitchell saves their life. After the Courier is given some medical tests, the player is pushed back into the open world, and the quest Ain't That a Kick in the Head begins. Fallout: New Vegas has a definitive ending, unlike Fallout 3.

The endings for Fallout: New Vegas are dependent on what actions the player took during the game's quests, with separate endings being shown for each major location, political faction, and recruitable companion.

Gameplay
The gameplay system is similar to Fallout 3 gameplay, although some changes have been made, one being changes to the combat system to give the feel of a first-person shooter, including the ability to use weapon iron sights. The game also made a change from the true bullet flight paths in Fallout 3 to simulated bullet flight paths, which means the bullets, when fired, originate from the center of the screen's crosshairs, rather than the tip of the gun's barrel.

Hardcore mode
Hardcore mode is an optional setting that makes the game more realistic, with gameplay elements such as dehydration, and non-instantaneous healing. It can be turned on and off mid-game. Either a trophy or achievement is awarded for completing Fallout: New Vegas on Hardcore mode; however, in order to earn it, the entire game must be played in Hardcore, from the point first prompted until the endgame sequence, without ever turning the setting off. The Casual/Hardcore mode distinction is independent of difficulty settings.

Character system
The SPECIAL system returns, and directly influences speech options and quests. Unlike Fallout 3, traits are available for taking, and perks are gained every two levels instead of at each level, a move made by the developers to avoid creating overpowered Couriers.

Combat
The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S., is an active pause combat system implemented in the game, just like in Fallout 3. While using V.A.T.S., the otherwise real-time combat is paused. V.A.T.S. also allows the gory deaths in the game to be shown in slow motion and great detail. Attacks in V.A.T.S. cost Action Points and the player can target specific body areas for attacks to inflict specific injuries.

During real-time combat, you can now look down the iron sights of weapons, rather than the zoom in Fallout 3. Unlike Fallout 3, melee weapons now have special moves in V.A.T.S., such as "Fore!" for golf clubs, along with special Unarmed moves such as "Ranger Takedown."

New Vegas also brings back the Damage Threshold (DT) mechanic absent from Fallout 3. If an enemy has a high DT, some weapons may be ineffective. This is indicated by a red shield near the enemy's health bar when attacking it, both in and out of V.A.T.S. The damage threshold will be due to high armor or a built-in mechanic to that character, and will require the Courier to either retreat or attack with a more powerful weapon. Players also take much more damage in V.A.T.S. than in Fallout 3 (75%, up from 10%), which makes dying during V.A.T.S. a real possibility. Another new feature is the presence of a dynamic "Kill Cam," which shows the killing bullet in slow motion, permitting players who prefer to play in real-time to experience the same cinematic feel of V.A.T.S. This camera can also be enabled/disabled at will, and is only shown on killing the last enemy of a group.

Karma and reputation
Karma returns, incorporated alongside a reputation system similar to Fallout 2. Reputation is a form of tracking relationships within the many factions and towns of Fallout: New Vegas, such as the NCR or Goodsprings. A high reputation with a faction or town may give certain benefits, such as gifts from the people of that town, while a low reputation may lead to hits being taken out against you. Karma in New Vegas has less of an effect compared to Fallout 3, with reputation being the primary factor affecting how people react to you.

Weapon modding
A modding feature allows you to modify your gun by adding scopes, extended magazines, silencers, and more. Weapons can have a maximum of three attached mods, and they cannot be removed once placed. Obsidian implemented this feature as a direct response to the popularity of the Weapon Mod Kits mod for Fallout 3.

Unique weapons
There are unique versions of weapons in Fallout: New Vegas, a feature introduced in Fallout 3. Unique weapons have different textures and adornments. They were not originally intended to be modified and most cannot be; however, some are still able to take on modification (such as the weathered 10mm pistol). Even so, their built-in abilities and higher damage output often make up for their lack of flexibility. Counting all the add-ons, there are a total of 81 unique weapons to be found inside the game, but some require the completion of a quest to find (e.g., Pew Pew). Some can be found on the bodies of enemies (e.g., Oh, Baby!) or can be found in specific locations such as the Ratslayer.

Companion wheel
A new companion wheel has been added to quickly and easily give companions commands such as "Talk," "Use Ranged Weapons," and "Wait Here." It also makes it easier to restore their health (using stimpaks) and swap equipment. The companions also have their likes and dislikes; giving a sniper companion a shotgun, for example, will result in a nasty remark and decreased effectiveness.

Gambling
The city of New Vegas, as well as other smaller settlements in the game, have a variety of colorful casinos or other forms of gambling to explore. In Fallout: New Vegas, several gambling mini-games have been added, including blackjack, roulette, and slots. Outside the casinos, many people across the Mojave play Caravan, a card game designed by Obsidian specifically for New Vegas. Luck is a considerable factor when it comes to gambling. You get money for winning, and floor managers will congratulate you with food or drink and maybe a VIP stay at the hotel. Winning too much money after that, however, will make the managers come down, give you the customary "tap on the shoulder," and tell you to leave the casino on suspicions of cheating. You will not be able to gamble in that casino anymore but are still able to enter and buy items or food from the casino. This will not remove your current chips.

Developers
Fallout: New Vegas was developed by Obsidian Entertainment, a company founded by Feargus Urquhart and Chris Avellone, two of the creators of Fallout 2 (originally at Black Isle Studios). The project was led by Joshua Sawyer, one of the lead designers of Van Buren, the canceled Fallout 3 project by Black Isle Studios. John Gonzalez was the lead creative designer, while Obsidian founder Chris Avellone, who worked on Fallout 2 and Van Buren, was a senior designer. Joe Sanabria was the lead artist.

Collector's Edition
The Collector's Edition of Fallout: New Vegas includes Fallout: New Vegas; "Lucky 7" poker chips, replicas from the ones found in the game; a deck of Fallout: New Vegas themed playing cards; a replica of the "Lucky 38" poker chip (the platinum chip) from the game; All Roads, a graphic novel about the history of Fallout: New Vegas written by Chris Avellone; and a "The Making of Fallout: New Vegas" DVD. The entire package comes in a collectible Fallout: New Vegas box. The Collector's Edition was also available for pre-order.

Add-ons
A total of six add-ons, Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues, Lonesome Road, Courier's Stash, and Gun Runners' Arsenal were released. There were four different pre-order bonuses, including the Classic Pack, Caravan Pack, Tribal Pack, and Mercenary Pack. Each one had a unique suit of armor and a unique weapon not found in-game, along with a few other in-game items.

Ultimate Edition
The Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition was released on February 7th, 2012 in North America and February 10th in Europe. The package contents are the base game along with all add-ons, including Gun Runners' Arsenal and Courier's Stash.

Metacritic score royalties withheld
Obsidian was under contract with Bethesda that to receive royalties if Fallout: New Vegas achieved an 85+ score on the review aggregate website Metacritic. Upon its release, Fallout: New Vegas only achieved an 84 point score on its PC and Xbox versions, one-off from receiving royalties. For their work on Fallout: New Vegas, Obsidian Entertainment only received a straight payment, as was explained by Chris Avellone on Twitter. The tweet with Avellone's explanation circulated quickly, but was deleted shortly after several game news publications reported on the royalties being missed. Jason Schreier for Kotaku wrote on to examine the disparity of using Metacritic as a benchmark for rewarding bonuses, pointing out that Metacritic uses an untransparent formula for aggregating scores and discusses the non-universal review scales that differ greatly from publication to publication.

The reveal of royalties being missed came only a day after the announced layoffs of nearly 30 employees from Obsidian Entertainment and the further canceling of an unannounced game only known as project North Carolina. In a discussion about profit margins for games, Joshua Sawyer explained that in his entire career he has only received bonuses for Icewind Dale and the Pillars of Eternity. To date, Fallout: New Vegas has sold 12 million copies, though Obsidian Entertainment never received any bonuses.

Censorship

 * In the German version, there is no gore. German players who want the full Fallout experience can, as with Fallout 3, buy the Austrian version, which basically features the uncut PEGI version with German speech and text. However, the German Ultimate Edition is completely uncensored.
 * Just like in Fallout 3, the Fat Man weapon was once again renamed to the "Nuka Launcher" in the Japanese version of Fallout: New Vegas. The Little Boy mod was not.
 * The physical disc for consoles of Fallout: New Vegas was officially banned in the United Arab Emirates, but the ban was repealed later as it did not contain enough violence to meet the ban's criteria after a test run. The ban lasted for about a day after the game's release and the game was soon stocked in stores fully uncensored (with gore) alongside the Collector's Edition. The ultimate edition was released without any issues, as the original game was already in stock and the ultimate edition was simply the same game with all add-ons included.

Reception
Fallout: New Vegas received "generally favorable" reviews on Metacritic, receiving a metascore of 84/100 on both PC & Xbox 360, and 82/100 on PS3.