Fallout: New Vegas
For: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
From: Bethesda
There is a style versus substance argument that hangs over many video games and invariably gets debated when something like Fallout: New Vegas is released.
A sequel to the massive 2008 success Fallout 3, it's another post-apocalyptic first-person role-player with big ambitions.
You play a courier who - early spoiler alert - has been shot and left for dead in the postnuclear wasteland near a certain famous city with lots of neon lights and adult attractions.
Caught between warring factions, you embark on a looooong series of quests to find out more about the people who "killed" you.
Seriously, I can't emphasise the scale of the game enough.
The setting and story are huge.
I've played for a few hours and feel like I've done nothing.
Other reviewers suggest the main story plus quests could take 80 hours-plus to complete, and who has that sort of time?People generally rave about games that have huge areas to explore, but New Vegas almost takes it a step too far.
You will spend big chunks of time just roaming - on foot - around the bleak landscape, and it gets a little boring.
And while the game does look beautiful - if desolation can ever be considered beautiful - there are regular and frustrating glitches that can spoil the experience.
Happily, the role-playing elements are superb, from the interactions with characters, to the quest chains, to the levelling-up of your character and his or her weapons.
Combat gameplay is a little clunky but the VATS system, sort of a slow-motion targeting device, works really well, and you can also craft your own modified weapons for the first time in the series.
I found the early quests were reasonably easy, but I also found the first few weapons frustratingly weak.
And, even though the map tool has been upgraded, I still got lost a lot.
For the devoted gamer, a new hardcore mode promises the recreation of a genuine fallout experience by forcing you to think about eating, drinking and healing, as you would in real life.
Needless to say, I am avoiding this mode.
For fans of epic games, Fallout: New Vegas will be a welcome companion.
But it will likely be just a little intimidating for gamers hoping to get the new Harry Potter game for Christmas.
