Fallout: New Vegas is undoubtedly one of the most interesting prospects currently on the horizon for gamers. Not only is it based on one of the most respected franchises in gaming history, but it is also being developed by a number of the individuals that were involved in the early Fallout games which are now considered classics.
Until now, Obsidian Entertainment and Bethesda have kept the game held close to their chests, revealing very little information. Last night they shared a few new screen shots, as well as some information on the “Companion Wheel.”
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Players will have companions in Fallout: New Vegas; AI controlled characters who will support you through the game. “One of the things that we’re trying to do is make sure that the companions feel like they’re helpful without basically replacing the player,” said the game’s Project Director Josh Sawer at a media conference.
“We don’t want to make it so that if you give them a weapon, suddenly they’re as good as you. We want the player to feel like, “Hey, I’m really glad I have this companion” but they shouldn’t feel like they have to constantly babysit them. You shouldn’t be able to kind of sit back and be like “Oh, I’m so glad that Boone and Raoul are just murdering everything for me.”
The Companion wheel is the primary interface with which the player controls his companions, accessing their inventory, and giving commands as they see fit.
Fallout: New Vegas is not a sequel to Fallout 3, but rather a “spinoff.” Obsidian is looking to make some fairly significant tweaks to the gameplay, as is evident with the companion system. Combat is also getting a makeover, and Obsidian wants to give us more distinct weapons.
“There’s a lot of different combination of weapons and ammo and things like that so you have a lot of choices, a little bit more than you rather focusing on one single weapon during a long portion of the game,” said Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart.
Some weapons will not be effective against certain enemies at all, and this will be indicated in the Assisted Targeting System (Used in Fallout 3, when the game is paused and players are able to line up targets before having them automatically executed in real time). Players will be given more depth with things like ammo subtypes, and different weapons will even be more effective against different body parts.
Obsidian has also stated that they aim to make the basic FPS component of the game more robust and responsive. While Fallout 3 was really an RPG first and an FPS second, it seems that New Vegas will address this balance, while still retaining, and possibly even enriching the RPG aspect.
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