Developer : Bethesda Softworks
Release date : October 19, 2010
Synopsis :
Fallout: New Vegas is a 2010 action role-playing game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was announced in April 2009 and released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on October 19, 2010. A spin-off of the main Fallout series, the game is set in a post-apocalyptic open world environment that encompasses a region consisting of parts of Arizona, California, and Nevada. It is set in a world that deviated onto an alternate timeline thanks to Atomic Age technology, which eventually led to a global nuclear apocalypse in the year 2077 in an event referred to as “The Great War”, caused by a major conflict between the U.S. and China over natural resources. The main story of New Vegas takes place in the year 2281, four years after the events of Fallout 3 and 204 years after the bombs fell. It is not a direct sequel, but does feature the return of several elements found in Fallout 2.
Players take control of a character known as the Courier. While transporting a package across the Mojave Desert to the city of New Vegas, what used to be Las Vegas, the Courier is ambushed, robbed of the package, shot, and buried in a cemetery. Ultimately the Courier is dug out and recovers from their wound. The Courier then begins a journey to find their would-be killer and recover the package, makes friends and enemies among various warring factions, and ultimately becomes caught up in a conflict that will determine who controls New Vegas and the Mojave Wasteland.
New Vegas received positive reviews, with critics praising the game’s writing, quests, and improved gameplay, though it was criticized for its glitches and bugs on launch. It was a commercial success, shipping more than 5 million copies, and is estimated to have sold around 12 million copies worldwide. The game received a Golden Joystick Award for “RPG of the Year” in 2011 and was nominated for two BAFTA Awards (Best Strategy Game and Best Story), as well as a NAVGTR Award for Supporting Performance in a Drama (Felicia Day). It has since obtained a cult following, with some critics referring to the game as the best in the Fallout series as well as one of the greatest RPGs of all time.
Fallout: New Vegas takes place during the year 2281 within the region surrounding the former city of Las Vegas (now a city-state called “New Vegas”), around four years after the events of Fallout 3, and roughly around 204 years after the Great War of 2077. At the time the game begins, three major powers seek control over New Vegas and its surroundings: the New California Republic (NCR), Caesar’s Legion, and Mr. House. Since their last appearance in Fallout 2, the NCR has become overextended and mismanaged, but their expansion eastwards has allowed them to gain control of the majority of territories in the Mojave, with the only threat to their expansion coming from the slave-driving, Roman army-styled forces of Caesar’s Legion, led by their leader Caesar (voiced by John Doman), who have conquered and united 86 tribes further to the east, and plan to conquer New Vegas. Four years before the start of the game, both sides came into conflict at the Hoover Dam, a major landmark that supplies power to New Vegas, and which both sides seek control over. The battle resulted in a narrow victory for the NCR, but with Boulder City being leveled in the process. As both sides prepare for a second, inevitable conflict over the dam, Mr. House, a mysterious businessman who presides over New Vegas as its de facto leader with an army of “Securitron” security robots, also seeks control of the dam while ensuring neither side gains control, and is moving towards the final stages of his plans.
Much of the game takes place in the Mojave Wasteland, which encompasses parts of the former states of California, Nevada, and Arizona. Along with the three main factions, the region has a number of minor factions. These include the Boomers, an isolationist and xenophobic tribe of heavily armed former Vault dwellers who have taken shelter at Nellis Air Force Base; the Powder Gangers, a violent group of escaped convicts from the NCR Correctional Facility near Primm; the Great Khans, a tribe of drug dealers and raiders descended from the remnants of the New Khans in Fallout 2; and the Brotherhood of Steel, technology-craving remnants of the U.S. Army who are attempting to secure any technology that could cause significant harm. Along with the Hoover Dam and Nellis Air Force Base, the region has additional landmarks, including its own vaults and the HELIOS One solar energy plant.
The protagonist is a courier working for the Mojave Express, a postal service that serves New Vegas and the surrounding Mojave Desert. The game begins as the Courier is ambushed by a mobster named Benny (voiced by Matthew Perry) en route to New Vegas to deliver a mysterious item known as the “Platinum Chip”. Benny shoots the Courier in the head and leaves them for dead by burying them, taking the Chip for himself. The Courier is then dug out and rescued by a Securitron named Victor (voiced by William Sadler) and brought back to good health by Doc Mitchell (voiced by Michael Hogan) in Goodsprings. The Courier embarks on a journey across the Mojave Wasteland to locate and confront Benny and get the Platinum Chip.
The game proceeds according to the Courier’s decisions and involves many different events, factions, and characters. The main storyline follows the Courier’s pursuit of Benny to both settle the score and retrieve the Platinum Chip. Along the way, the Courier encounters many groups of people with various problems that they can choose to assist with, ignore, or otherwise sabotage, resulting in positive or negative karma. Eventually, after finding Benny and the Chip, the Courier finds themselves in the middle of a conflict between three major factions: Caesar’s Legion, a group of Roman-esque slavers, the New California Republic (NCR), an expansionist democratic federation, and Mr. House (voiced by René Auberjonois), the enigmatic de facto ruler of New Vegas, in command of an army of Securitron robots that patrol the city. Each of the three sides aims to control Hoover Dam, which is still operational and supplying the Southwest with power and clean, non-irradiated water; thus, control of the dam means effective control of the region. It is revealed that Mr. House, a human from before the Great War and surviving via a contained life support chamber, ordered the Platinum Chip’s delivery the day of the war. The Chip is a data storage device with a program that can upgrade the Securitrons to a greater level of combat effectiveness, and was stolen by Benny as part of a scheme to take over House’s security and claim New Vegas for himself with the help of a reprogrammed Securitron named Yes Man (voiced by Dave Foley), a scheme that the Courier can co-opt for themselves and continue.
The Courier is notified that Caesar’s Legion is attacking Hoover Dam, and they must take part to decide the outcome. As the Legion strikes the Dam, led by the fearsome Legate Lanius, the NCR defends its position under General Lee Oliver. Depending on the faction sided with up to the battle, the Courier will either conquer the Dam for Caesar’s Legion, defend it for the NCR, or connect the dam’s systems to House’s network so either he or Yes Man can take control and push both back. The game concludes with a narrated slideshow showing and explaining the results of the Courier’s actions, the battle for Hoover Dam deciding the faction that comes to power over New Vegas and the Mojave, and the fates of the various other factions based on how the player negotiated with them and which of the major factions emerged dominant.
Source : Wikipedia
