Bugs are fun when they don't break the game.

If you liked Fallout 3, you're probably already planning to play Fallout: New Vegas (available for the PC on Steam, and also on Xbox 360 and PS3).  It's not exactly more of the same, although that's not a bad thing when "the same" is good.  It's hard to improve upon that.   New Vegas is all of the stuff that made Fallout 3 the thoroughly entertaining and engrossing experience that it was, but with more.  There are new features that sound very promising, and one First Impression video isn't enough to cover them all.  We went almost to the one-hour mark, and were still just getting started. Playing Bethesda's Fallout series can be like that.  I played Fallout 3 for hours at a time, and well over 100 hours total.

What made Fallout 3 so amazing was the story, the atmosphere, the exploration, and just the entire Wasteland experience, which meant taking nearly an hour to get into the setting, set up your character, and get on your way when you first begin.  New Vegas is adding to that in-depth experience by adding survival features to make your game more realistic, including a "hardcore mode" in which your character must do all the human things that someone actually living in the Wasteland would do, such as drinking water, eating food, and sleeping.

The story is looking like it will be both hilarious and serious, and starts out with you already deep into a rich, substantive world, just as you would expect. The world and game engine have been expanded and improved, but this isn't without it's snags: this game's mechanics still have issues.   Lots of them.  If you've been keeping up with the news on Fallout, you've probably seen one or two.  We ran into another interesting one toward the end of our video, which caused us to have to stop.   For now.  All we can recommend at this time is that you might want to wait for these issues to be fixed before you get deep into New Vegas, as some game-breaking ones may still pop up.   However, patches are supposed to be released soon, so things may get better quickly.  And the overall experience is so enjoyable that we're willing to tolerate a bug or two, as long as the game remains playable.

Our First Impression isn't over.  We're coming back for a second part, since the gameplay is just now starting. But we won't stop at that point, either. We're going to do a complete playthrough of Fallout: New Vegas.  So, if you want to ride along for the full journey, with all its twists and turns and glitches, keep watching!

Part Two