Fallout: New Vegas

I just started playing Fallout: New Vegas.

This was another one I got from a steam sale and so far I'm glad I didn't pay full price for it.  In short it feels like DLC for Fallout 3.  The graphics aren't any better and the storyline isn't that engaging.  The ambiance is there just like Fallout 3 but so too are all the failings. 

I'm not sure if this was meant to be a sequel to Fallout 3 or some kind of parallel storyline. So if it's not a sequel and not a prequel then what do you call it?  A currentquel?  a parallelquel?  Eh, who cares..

Other than the "pip boy" wrist device and a post-nuclear wasteland I don't see much in common from a creative standpoint.  I don't see any continuity other than the setting.  Of course it's still fairly early in the game for me so maybe I'll find a connection.  If I last that long.  I'm already looking for cheats to move this thing along.

From a gameplay standpoint it's very familiar and that's unfortunate.  Do good things get good Karma, do bad things get bad Karma and get shot at a lot more.  Wander around the wasteland, consume radioactive sustenance, battle mutant bugs and ill-tempered morons all in hopes of furthering your "quest".  That's all fine and good but does it have to take so long to do anything interesting?

Ok so it's 99% the same as the first game.  It's not all bad.  For example you can choose different radio stations to listen to while you traipse through the post-apocalyptic desert wastes and hearing Rat Pack crooners in the background is a nice touch considering the game takes place in or near Vegas. 

In the context of Fallout 3 and New Vegas, the world that supposedly ended was eternally stuck in 1962. Technological advances look like a cross between "Lost in Space" and late 50's episodes of "The Twilight Zone". 

Most NPC's you run in to look like escapees from a Mad Max film but only a few of them have anything interesting to say.  If you remember those classic text based adventures like Zork then the conversation interface will be familiar.  It pretty much goes like this..

Howdy! What can I do for you...blah blah blah

Then comes the list of your available responses..

1. Tell me about the bad guys
2. Tell me about where the hell I am cause it all looks the same and I keep getting shot at..
3. Tell me why I shouldn't beat you up..
4. Tell me about your bad hygiene or some other pointless thing that will make you offer up another stupid side quest.
5. Goodbye

Choose the right text from the list of available responses and that can trigger different available responses that if chosen may reveal pertinent information.  This is also how you end up on pointless side quests like harvesting flowers that only grow around some mutant infested dwelling.  Complete this important quest and you gain 1 whole Hit point...yay...

I may have a Part 2 of this post coming as I progress but so far I'm feeling a bit disappointed.  I'm hopeful it will be like the last Fast and Furious movie, "Fast 5"  I spent half of that movie waiting for someone to do something interesting.  Once they got in the cars it was good.  Maybe Fallout: New Vegas will be the same.