I've thought about how to write this review, this is my favorite game of all time and I don't want to misrepresent it. Suffice it to say that all the praise you've heard about this game is true. Obsidian captured lightning in a bottle with this game, and it's something that Bethesda hasn't even attempted to replicate since. It was rushed, and as such has a decent amount of bugs that I've fortunately run into very few times. I'm not going to say the 18-month development time helped the game, but pressure makes diamonds, and Fallout New Vegas is the Hope Diamond of video games.

The world of New Vegas is rich with characters and lore, less so with environments. If you were a massive fan of Fallout 3 due to the exploration, you might not like New Vegas. If you were a massive fan of Fallout 3, but found the story to be lacking, you'll love this game. The amount of choice is incredible. I've played this game for 6 years and still don't think I've seen everything it has to offer. For the endings, each faction you side with will have unique effects on the Mojave. Additionally, every minor faction will have slides added to the end depending on if you interacted with them, and those slides will change based on how you completed their quests.

Gameplay has been given a massive facelift from Fallout 3. You have less skill points to allocate between levels, encouraging roleplaying. Perks have been expanded to give actual effects, rather than most of them giving +5 in two skills as in Fallout 3. To counteract all of the perks being useful, you can only choose a perk every two levels.

There are about double the quests as in Fallout 3, with the overwhelming majority having multiple ways of completion.

The Big Guns and Small Guns skills have been replaced by Guns, and all weapons now have multiple ammo types with different effects. Weapons additionally now have mods, which may give them buffs such as greater damage, less weight, or better accuracy.

Speech checks have been overhauled to a much better system. Instead of a percentage chance to succeed as in Fallout 3, the player now needs a certain amount of points in Speech for a guaranteed success, failing otherwise. In addition to this, there are now checks for multiple other skills. Can't talk a guy into giving you some ammo? Maybe a high Guns skill can help you convince him you'll use it well.

Karma is still present in the game, but rarely comes into play. It's mostly been phased out by the new Faction system, which tracks your actions toward each faction in the game, affecting your reputation. Want to do quests for the NCR? Better stay on their good side.

There are six humanoid companions and two non-humanoid companions in the base game. You can have one of each type in your party at all times. The companion wheel has been introduced to more efficiently give them commands. Rather than have their recruitablility affected by Karma, the game now uses skill checks, quests, and faction reputation.

Disguises have been added, allowing you to dress as a member of a faction to avoid being attacked on sight if you're vilified. I find this to be rarely useful, but in some specific cases it can come in handy.

On the factions, they're all fantastic. Gone are the days of siding with the Brotherhood or siding with the Enclave (but they still attack you). There are four major factions in the game: Mr. House, a business tycoon trying to restore Vegas to its former glory using his robot army; The NCR, a republic modeled after WWII-era America; Caesar's Legion, an empire of conquered tribes modeled after the Roman Empire; and the Independent faction, wherein you rid the Mojave of the other factions and create a Vegas free of major influences. All of these factions have their upsides and downsides, ensuring that the story is much deeper, with the player having to weigh their choices for the good of Vegas.

The actual worldspace of New Vegas though, is not quite as deep. As the game was rushed, there are multiple areas with absolutely nothing going on in them. There are very few "dungeons" in comparison to Fallout 3. You're not going to find something interesting in every single area of the map. The game balances this, I believe, with the uniqueness of the areas and the loot found in them. You can visit a rocket testing site, a solar power plant, a vault covered in vegetation, a military base owned by a reclusive tribe, multiple casinos, a former prison, and many more memorable locations. The unique weapons are also much better than in Fallout 3, with unique appearances and effects.

Every DLC for this game is great. Dead Money is a survival horror casino heist within a dead city. Honest Hearts is an adventure into a national park full of tribals and dangerous wildlife. Old World Blues is a 50s-style science fiction romp through a giant research facility, with some of the funniest writing in any game. Lonesome Road is the conclusive end to your journey, taking place in a city that you once helped build, then later helped destroy. All of the DLC are rich with lore, characters in one will tell you about another and there's evidence of multiple characters having been at the different locations at different times.

Now for the last aspect, the modding community. You can get a lot of mileage from this game without mods. I myself played through it about 11 times on the PS3 before I ever even got it on PC. That said, mods introduce entirely new ways to play this game that will give you endless content. I'll highlight a few here that I personally recommend for a second or third playthrough, not including the unofficial patches and engine improvement mods, because you'll want those as soon as you install the game. Furthermore, the Viva New Vegas modding guide lets you add a ton of mods for a fantastic vanilla plus experience.

FPGE
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/66726
Unlike in Fallout 3's Broken Steel, you can't continue after the end of the game in New Vegas. This mod fixes that by not only allowing you to roam the world after the final quest, but adding your story decisions to the post-game world as well. If a faction took over a certain area after your playthrough, they'll be there now. If your decisions led to less policing of the Mojave, there will be more raiders.

Classic Fallout Weapons Remastered
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/73805
Adds over 32 weapons from the original 2 games.

Clarity
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/62481
Removes the orange tint from the game. Doesn't seem like a big deal but it beautifies the worldspace immensely.

Simple Open Strip and Simple Open Freeside
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/73127
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/73128
Removes annoying loading screens to two main areas that were added due to console limitations, making them much more fluid to traverse.

Just Assorted Mods
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/66666
Any gameplay complaint you had will be rectified by this mod. Adds sprint, reactive crosshair, Fallout 4-style looting, and a host of other features.

The Living Desert
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/64623
Adds a ton of NPCs to the world, patrols, travelers, you name it. Makes the emptier areas feel much more alive. Also adds consequences (good and bad) to your actions, such as less enemy spawns in an area if you choose to clear it out for a quest.

JSawyer Ultimate
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/61592
Updated version of a mod made by New Vegas' director. Overhauls a large part of the mechanics, making the game harder but more satisfying.

Score: 9.5/10. New Vegas isn't a completely perfect game, but it is a completely perfect RPG. It has flaws, but it's given me endless enjoyment over the years that no game has yet to match.