REVIEW: Fallout: New Vegas - Dead Money

Written by Brittany Vincent

Fallout: New Vegas certainly isn't without fault, but it did serve as a succinct followup to one of my favorite PC adventures of the past few Christmases, Fallout 3. After choosing to go the way of Steam for that adventure and this one in turn, I found myself engrossed in a world I couldn't quite escape from...until I was met with saving issues and other wonky glitches that desperately needed ironing out. But surviving the wasteland quickly consumes you, and I knew without a doubt I'd be looking forward to the first available DLC. I should have been leery for all intents and purposes once said package, Dead Money, was announced, but as the release date neared and I was given the opportunity to evaluate the latest addition to the Fallout saga, I was ready. But only if Dead Money could transcend the disappointment and feelings of being disenfranchised that Mothership Zeta so readily inspired. And I'm happy to say that it does, if only by a tiny bit. It's not the fantastic "The Pitt" DLC, but it's a start.

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REVIEW: Fallout: New Vegas

Written by Mark Hagan

Fallout: New Vegas is a paradox. You could compare it to baseball; entirely too long, slow, overpriced, and resistant to the improvements technology could provide. Yet, as the immortal Greg Maddux once said, chicks dig the long ball. So, does New Vegas hit a home run?

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Could Fallout Become a Reality? Ask Michio Kaku

Michio Kaku is the freakin' man. There's simply no other way to put it. An incredibly well-spoken futurist, physicist, and co-founder of string field theory, he teaches classes in my stomping grounds, at the very affordable New York City universities, and has a penchant for camera time and discussing video games. What is there to not like about this guy?

GameTrailers has a great series of videos where some dude who looks like a pothead Jesus is humbled by the vast expanse of Dr. Kaku's knowledge. When you get a chance, I recommend giving them a watch, they're pretty entertaining. In this clip, Dr. Kaku tackles the question of whether or not the events of the Fallout universe could really happen. The short answer? Michio Kaku has the strength and intelligence to make anything happen, people.

Fallout: New Vegas, and The Post-Apocalyptic Sunset

Bethesda Softworks has outed a lovely TV spot for it's upcoming opus Fallout: New Vegas, and when I say lovely I really mean it. I admittedly slept on Fallout 3, having not playing it until maybe six months or so after it's release, but I'm really glad I got around to it. As one of the best games I've played in recent memory, Fallout 3 was not without it's drawbacks, which New Vegas looks to improve on, and add to tenfold. 

The ambiance of New Vegas is a rapid departure from the ruins of Washington D.C. While the awesomeness of seeing our history destroyed and inhabited by super mutants and ghouls blew my mind, traversing from point A to point B got bland fast. If you didn't happen upon a tattered national monument, there wasn't much to be seen in D.C., unless of course you crossed paths with a traveler, or a stray robot, or a super mutant, or some other kick-ass randomness. And even though it was these things that mattered, that kept the game engaging, and that made me want to wander around the wasteland looking for the next random situation my character could become involved in, part of me was still lulled to sleep by the District of Columbia's far-too-typical post apocalyptic snooze-fest of browns and grays.

Enter New Vegas and it's well captured spirit of the old Vegas' panache. Sure, the neighborhood ain't as pretty as she used to be, but the charm is still there. Bright lights, flashing advertisements, exploding buildings, and a vault that looks like a freaking casino! That's a nice touch right there. New Vegas even features beautifully vibrant skies to get your eyes their daily dose of colors. Gone are the two-toned nuclear winters of Washington D.C., replaced with mythological things, like the post-apocalyptic blue sky, and sunset.

Above all else, Fallout New Vegas looks to deliver where it matters: gameplay, story, and the immerse world of throat-cutting and slaver-gutting that Fallout 3 so aptly portrayed. Gambling, shooting, exploring, blowing shit up, and tough moral decisions. Now all I'm left wondering is, will we be able to solicit ghoul prostitutes? 

Fallout: New Vegas releases on October 19th