Fallout: New Vegas – 10 Years Later

It’s been a little over 10 years since I ran home from a morning university lecture, in the hope that a pre-ordered copy of Fallout: New Vegas arrived at my door. I recently played through the game again, complete with all of the DLC, and it struck me just how well the experience held up. When I first started playing back in 2010, I wasn’t expecting much more than a glorified Fallout 3 expansion pack, much less for it to still be one of the best games of the franchise as of 2020.

The first two Fallout games went over my head (which I have since rectified), and Fallout 3 was the first installment that really hooked me in. And it really did hook me in – I had completed the base game, along with a couple of DLC packs, multiple times. When the reveal trailer dropped for New Vegas, it came as a little bit of a surprise, given the relatively short amount of time that had passed since the previous game, and my feelings were mixed. If I had experience of the early Fallout titles, and knew that the creators of those games were handling the development this time around (Obsidian Entertainment – formerly Black Isle Studios), I would have had no doubt that New Vegas was going to be good.

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In terms of gameplay changes, Obsidian did not reinvent the wheel, but they did modify it. Improvements have been made to the Fallout 3 framework in small, but noticeable ways. Most guns now have iron sights, and overall, the weapons, while still a little clunky, seem to have a little more weight to them. You can also upgrade and modify weapons in various ways, and load special ammo, giving the already large roster of weapons even more variables. Speech is also tweaked in a way that opens up interesting avenues, as investing in different skills can open up different dialogue options – this allows for something as small as a funny dialogue choice, or as major as changing the solution to a certain quest. 

As you’d expect from a game that is set in the desert, the map is far more open, and far more sandy than anything you saw in Fallout 3. This is a pretty stark and refreshing change from the labyrinthian sewers and train tunnels of The DC Ruins, but attempting to make a home run for your mid-game objective is ill advised at best. The most direct routes are inhabited by some of the most dangerous enemies in the game – Cazadors (giant Tarantula Hawks who roam in packs) and Deathclaws (fast, giant reptiles, made mostly of spikes). This method of funnelling the player is a modern spin on a technique dating back to the early Fallout titles, and is known in some circles as the “meat wall”.

Fuck them

To avoid these monstrosities, you have to take the path of least resistance; this happens to be the longest route. A cynical take on this would be that it’s artificially padding the game, which is valid, but as you explore the settlements on the way, you are organically introduced to several factions, both big and small. This change in exploration does play a part in the storytelling – in Fallout 3, the separation between side quests and main plot is quite distinct, but in New Vegas, the two blend together quite seamlessly, for the first act of the game, at least.

While these changes to the gameplay do improve upon Fallout 3’s shortcomings, I think that the story of Fallout: New Vegas has allowed it to stand the test of time. You play a courier, who is on a vengeful quest to find the person who left you for dead. Along the way, you are thrust into a power struggle between some of the larger factions in the region. One of the biggest players, The NCR are a well meaning, but meddling organisation, who are well established in the Fallout canon. The NCR’s most formidable opponent, Caesar’s Legion, are essentially a conglomerate of tribes, who base their entire way of life around the ancient Romans, and they have plans to absorb the West Coast of America into their empire.

New Vegas – a small part of what remains of current day Las Vegas, is seen as the main hub of The Mojave Wasteland. The Strip (which is home to several Casinos and their respective gangs) comes complete with the corruption that would most likely take place in a post-apocalyptic version of it. Booze, gambling and prostitution are encouraged on The Strip, while weapons and drugs are sold just beyond the walls of it, in the slightly more run-down and anarchic Freeside.

The Legion seek to rid the corruption that is rampant in The Mojave, but are cut-throat and ruthless in their methods. A town you come across early on, Nipton, is a good example of this. Nipton is a den of iniquity, and allowed both NCR troops, and gang members to indulge in whatever vice they happened to prefer. This was until The Legion took over and held a lottery with the town’s residents – the losers were either enslaved, crucified, or executed outright. Most people would automatically assume that this shitty conduct would make them the bad guys on balance, and I consider myself part of that crowd. Dig a little deeper though, and their iron fist approach has ensured that there is zero tolerance on drugs and crime in the areas that they have already colonised, and any tribes or gangs in their territory have either been exterminated, or absorbed into the legion. In their own fucked up way, they want what is best for The Mojave Wasteland.

The Legion in a nutshell

The NCR are not without fault though. They are idealistic, and at the core, also want to bring order to the West Coast of America, albeit with less archaic measures. Their control in The Mojave is crumbling though, due to complacency and sustained skirmishes with both the Legion, and the smaller tribes that they coexist with. They have a complicated history with factions like The Great Khans and the Brotherhood Of Steel (both encountered in previous games), and there have been numerous incidents in which the NCR haven’t always been the knights in shining armour that they first appear to be. 

They look pretty badass though

This is just one aspect in a multi-layered story though. The political affairs of New Vegas, and The Mojave Wasteland as a whole, involve crime families, gun runners, chem fiends and many more. Just about every group has a backstory that makes it feel like the person you are either talking to or beheading is more than just “Raider #346”, even if their faction is mostly hostile towards you by default.

As you go through the game, you are trusted to take the information that you have on the society of The Wasteland, and base your choices on that, along with your own moral compass. As I said earlier, most people (including myself) would probably draw the line somewhere with The Legion, and say “hey, I’m not sure if I could support people who keep slaves and kill babies”. Morally, you’d be right, but if you do want to follow their questline, or even make a difference to how they handle things, you can pursue that, just as you did in the early Fallout games. This adds to the replay value, as during your first playthrough, you may go with your own personal convictions, but because you can’t please every faction, certain outcomes to quests get locked off at pivotal points in the story. The only way to see all of these outcomes is to play through again as a new character.

When I came back to New Vegas, I was half expecting it to be something to pass a bit of time during the pandemic, but I was taken aback by rediscovering the quality of writing that has been seldom seen in games since. Quite a few evenings were spent trying to find quests that I may have overlooked in the past, and approaching old problems with new ideas. 

On a final note, the PC I had back in 2010 probably would have exploded if I tried to play this game, so I first experienced it on Xbox 360. Now that I have a PC that is slightly more capable, I have been playing on that, and it does make a difference. The tactile differences to the UI and controls make things feel more deliberate – things like selecting inventory and dialogue options make you actually stop and think, rather than just pressing X to proceed. Perhaps it’s because I’m now 30 and have milked the game dry, but it was strange to me how a simple change in platform can add a different angle to the game. 

As I purchased the game on GOG, it came with all of the DLC, which takes the storyline in new and interesting directions, while also building on established themes. Not only that, but I have been dipping my toes into the expansive modding scene, and found a few which improve the visuals and sound, and also adds hours worth of gameplay. In my next post, I’ll be looking at all of the DLC packs, and some of the more interesting mods that I’ve discovered for the game. 

Doom Eternal (2020) – Review

At the time of writing, I have not played the multiplayer battle mode of Doom Eternal, so I will not be talking about that at all in this review.

It’s been just over a week since the release of Doom Eternal, and while current affairs are pretty bleak, they have resulted in me having enough time to play it to my heart’s content, and actually write something about it. 

I’m gonna spare any preamble and just say that this game is fucking phenomenal. Beating around the bush with that wouldn’t be fitting to the spirit of the game, as it doesn’t really mess around before throwing you right into the action. The story is kind of a re-imagining of Doom 2, just as Doom (2016) was a re-imagining of its 1993 ancestor. Doomguy (AKA Doom Slayer) has thwarted a demonic invasion of Mars in the bloodiest way possible, and seemingly defeated the bad guys on their home turf. Since the events of the first game, the forces of hell have decided to invade Earth, and it’s up to the Doomguy to stop them. This is explained in a short cinematic, but like most of the cut scenes and lore, it is skippable, so you can make your experience as story-centric as you like*.

You start with your trusty shotgun in an unknown interior location – the only thing that’s important at this point is that the legions of hell are in front of you, and they need to be dispatched. Everything is crumbling, bloody, and grisly. It’s not long before you get outside, and things open up to the ruined streets that are crawling with possessed soldiers and imps, who are fighting each other, presumably because they’ve run out of humans to kill.

By this point, you’d have been introduced to the glory kill system, and the chainsaw. Glory kills make a return from Doom 2016, and are used to regain health from staggered enemies with a brutal coup de grace. There are now even more variations on the animations, thanks to the Doomguy gaining a Predator-esque armblade, which he uses liberally. The chainsaw also treats you to a short, gory animation, and just like last time, a shower of ammo bursts out of the enemies bodies. This initial section gives you a chance to test these abilities out in a safe(ish) space before getting into the real tempo of the game.

In addition to the Glory Kill and chainsaw, you now have a shoulder mounted cannon which shoots grenades (these are infinite, but it works on a cooldown system), and a flame belch, which makes affected enemies drop armour while on fire. By limiting the resources that are dotted around the map, the game encourages you to be as aggressive as possible, and use these tools in order to stay on top of things. The glory kills are undoubtedly gratuitous, but performing them gives you a very quick breather in combat, as things get very intense, very quickly. The brief pause in action gives it a certain rhythm between running, jumping, and shooting.

One of the core principles of survival here is to be on the move at all times. You are outnumbered constantly, and while you have an impressive arsenal, you need to take advantage of the environment to evade attacks, control the crowd, and have an escape route when things become hairy. To add to the challenge, enemies can cut off these escape routes, and get there in fairly creative ways (including scaling obstacles and jumping over gaps), so the game demands that you reassess situations within seconds to avoid being dogpiled. 

The enemy roster has become more varied than ever, with familiar faces showing up, and some completely new monsters joining the party. A majority of the bad guys from Doom 2016 return, and the Pain Elemental and Arachnotron are also brought back from Doom 2. These enemies have undergone some tweaks, like the Arachnotron being able to cling to walls and ceilings like an actual spider, and the Pain Elemental simply flings Lost Souls like projectiles, making him much less of a fucking nuisance. 

New enemies include the Carcass, who casts energy shields in key locations – this guy is surprisingly tactical, and often puts shields up either right in front of you, or if you’re making a beeline for a staggered enemy, he would place a shield to block your path to them. The Whiplash is an annoying snake-like creature, and it uses energy whips to make your life miserable. Fortunately, you gain the ability to launch ice bombs just before they make an appearance, so you can use these to make them a bit easier to get rid of.

The next couple of enemies may be a bit of a gameplay spoiler if you want to keep everything a surprise, so if you’re in that boat, skip the next two paragraphs. 

One enemy you face about two thirds of the way through the game is the Marauder, who is immune to super weapons, is quick off the draw with his energy shield, and attacks you with an energy axe and shotgun. He can also summon a spectral dog to attack you, for some reason. This guy ranges between being a fun fight, and quite tedious. I honestly haven’t worked out if I like encounters with the marauder, but I think that it really is dependent on the environment where he shows up – if you have a lot of room to evade him, it can be quite fun, and makes for a cat and mouse kind of situation. If the area is cramped though, it can feel a bit unfair, as it strips your biggest defense – mobility – away from you.

Another late-ish game demon is the Arch Vile, who makes things even more of a living hell than he did in Doom 2. When the Arch Vile first appeared, I assumed there was a buff totem (devices that spawn in superpowered enemies) hidden somewhere, but the Arch Vile had spawned in an out of the way location and started spawning in different variations of enemies. When you do fight one of these assholes, you should make them your top priority, because if you let them live too long, the situation gets out of control very quickly. They don’t go down easy, especially since they can create a protective barrier, and cast flame walls at you which hit really hard. I think this is the only enemy in the game that I don’t enjoy fighting, mainly because by the time you track them down, or even realise they are there, there are times where literally can’t move for demons.

I ran out of spoiler-free pictures of Doom Eternal, so here’s a picture of a rabbit.

Despite the enemies being tough, according to the narrative, they are supposed to be afraid of you, and for good reason – you carry a formidable arsenal with you, and in keeping with the lineage of classic shooters, you are able to carry the entire lineup of weapons. In addition to the shotgun, you have a machine gun, minigun, rocket launcher, super shotgun, the plasma rifle, the Ballista (which is like a railgun), and of course, the BFG. All of these weapons (apart from the BFG) can be modified and upgraded, and a lot of these upgrades are really handy. Certain enemies have weak points, so you can use the shotgun’s grenade launcher or the machine gun’s sniper mode to destroy cannons on some of the mechanical demons, and the plasma rifle is particularly effective against shielded enemies. One particular thing that never gets old is launching a grenade into the mouth of a Cacodemon, only for it to comically explode inside them, leaving them stunned. 

Unlike Doom 2016, you will probably be using all of the weapons at one point or another, as the relationship between the variants of demons and your loadout is like a game of rock paper scissors – most weapons can take down the fodder enemies, but you need to be smart about what you use against the stronger monsters. 

The whole thing comes together like some kind of dance of death, with you weaving in and out of fireballs, while returning fire, launching grenades, and replenishing your resources by committing acts of brutality on the demons. When the action is at fever pitch, it creates an adrenaline rush that few games induce. During one particular section, I remember blasting through a ruined office complex, and finding some small refuge in a kitchen – only to have the rug pulled out from me when a revenant burst through the wall like Jack Torrance, and I realised that the skirmish was far from over. This moment, and many moments like it, gave me goosebumps.

This guy turned a chainsaw sound into an instrument.

Of course, you wouldn’t be able to get into the action if it wasn’t for the crushing soundtrack by Mick Gordon. I have BFG Division (from Doom 2016) on my gym playlist because it makes me feel like I could open a steel door with my head, but Gordon’s work on Doom Eternal just takes it to a whole new level. The music is still a blend of electronic dissonance and 8 string guitars, but now, I feel like the balance is still tipped more in favour of guitar, and the Djent influences run through the whole thing. Oh, also, there’s a heavy metal choir, and it is as awesome it sounds. I can’t really undersell the quality of this soundtrack, and how well it fits the gameplay – I am listening to it as I write this to figure out how to describe it, and the only thing I can think of is a kind of fiery war drum from hell blasting away, while the flamethrower guitarist from Mad Max loses his shit on top of a possessed Transformer. If you son’t believe me, just listen to “The Only Thing They Fear Is You”, and let me know what you think.

To break up the action, there are now more platforming sections, which take advantage of your abilities to double jump, dash, swing from monkey bars, and scale surfaces. Platforming is always a bit finicky in FPS games, and unfortunately, Doom Eternal isn’t an exception. When it works, it feels great, and I respect the fact that the combat sections are broken up by more than just corridors, but when things don’t work, it’s just frustrating. Maybe I’m just a bit stupid, but there are some areas where I felt like I was going the wrong way because a certain move wasn’t working properly, or I couldn’t time a dash right. The only other nitpick I can think of is that swapping weapon mods in the middle of combat can be a bit clumsy on a controller. This could be a non-issue with a mouse and keyboard, or perhaps I just need to get good, but swapping your mod means you have to take your finger off the thumbstick momentarily, which can mean death if you time it poorly.

The hit-and-miss platforming doesn’t take too much away from the game though, and the sense of verticality to the levels makes it feel like you’re progressing through something quite massive and expansive. Not only do the levels feel larger, but they are also way more varied – you battle it out on earth, hell, and Mars, but there are some other locations that are pretty gorgeous to look at, with a far more vibrant colour palette than the greys and oranges hues of Doom 2016.

It seems like id Software and Bethesda asked the question “can we make this bigger?” about every aspect of Doom, and even if the answer was no, they said “let’s make it bigger anyway”. Everything, from the lore to the soundtrack has been expanded upon, and it’s absolutely captivating. To show that they haven’t left the old school fans behind, they’ve added collectables throughout levels, such as unlockable cheat codes, easter eggs, and songs from id’s back catalogue of soundtracks. There’s even a feature in the options to center your weapon, like in the classic Doom games. The unlockables, as well as a few more that I haven’t mentioned, add a fair bit more replay value than your average FPS. There are also talks of some DLC on the way, which will increase the lifespan, and add to the story, and personally, I can’t wait.

*There is one level where there’s quite a few exposition dumps, but stick with it. You’ll be back to decimating the demons in no time.

Update

Someone said I should add pictures to my posts to make them stand out more. Am I doing it right?

So up until roughly a month ago, I had neglected this blog a bit – partly because I didn’t have a whole lot to write about, but I also had a few metaphorical irons in the fire at the time. I’m not going to go into too much detail, but let’s just say I’ve been pretty busy with mundane stuff that would turn this relatively short update into a long one.

That’s not to say I didn’t have any down time, but any spare time I did have was dedicated to either trying to wrap my head around learning some insane basslines from the Cardiacs (a band I wrote about a few weeks ago), and playing Doom. Oh, and getting drunk. Probably some combination of the three.

That leads me quite nicely into what I intend to write about over the next few weeks; I haven’t done anything on videogames in a little while, so the next few posts will be focusing on a few games that I loved when I was growing up. It’ll mostly be FPS games, as they were, and probably still are one my favourite genres, but there might be the odd strategy game in there as well. One thing to point out is that this will focus on videogames that can be acquired today; this might cut out a few that really spring to mind but can’t really be tracked down without spending an absurd amount of money. While I have some fond memories of some of these games, I wouldn’t want nostalgia swaying my opinion, and as I haven’t played a few of them in over ten years, I wouldn’t really be able to go into as much detail as I would like to.

If anyone has any ideas on things they would like me to write about, please let me know – it can be about anything really, but if there’s any review requests, they would probably take priority. I can do with being opened up to some new stuff.