With Fallout: New Vegas, the series returns to the hands of veterans of Black Isle Studios, and they’re bringing guns with them – a whole lotta guns.
When Black Isle Studios went under in 2003, taking with it Van Buren – its planned third Fallout – the series found its way over to Bethesda Softworks. There, it turned into a decidedly different Fallout 3; it may have been different, but it was still awesome.
With Fallout: New Vegas, a game developed by Obsidian Entertainment – founded by veterans of Black Isle – it seems we’ve come full circle. The Escapist Editor-in-Chief Russ Pitts got a chance to see New Vegas in action recently, and one of the new shinies that caught his eye was the game’s expanded arsenal.
In the words of Keanu “The Wooden Plank” Reeves, Fallout: New Vegas delivers “guns … lots of guns.” The game will feature twice as many guns as there were in Fallout 3, from some old favorites to some new beauties to … a golf club. The game includes – but isn’t limited to – such new killing implements as:
9-Iron (Fore!)
Grenade Machine Gun (It is what it sounds like.)
Dynamite (In stick form.)
Trail Carbine (A lever-action, rifle.)
Varmint Gun (A small caliber, semi-auto rifle.)
.357 Cowboy Rifle (A Winchester-style lever action gun.)
Plasma Caster (A Fallout 1 & 2 favorite returns.)
9mm Pistol
Grenade Launcher (Death from afar.)
Single-Shot Shotgun (A powerful new scatter gun.)
Caravan Gun (An over-under short barrel, double scatter gun.)
Let’s face it, the apocalypse isn’t ever going to be a happy place. But even after The End, a place like Las Vegas is still all about shameless gaudiness and freedom to do whatever the hell you feel like doing (remember, what happens in New Vegas stays in New Vegas), and that freedom of expression carries on to your weapons. New Vegas implements the popular Fallout 3 community add-on that let you modify your guns as a core part of the game.
Not only will the modifications – that you can buy from factions like the Gun Runners – affect the performance of your weaponry from energy weapons to explosives, they’ll also change how they look. Obsidian may not be going all the way to Army of Two extremes where you can paint your gun in shiny gold and chrome, but there ain’t nothing wrong with a little self-expression on your weaponry to set yourself apart from the pack.
All this is just the very tip of the iceberg – New Vegas is a huge game, and we’re barely scraping the surface. Head on over to the full preview of New Vegas to see more of what’s to come!
