Those who follow the
scribblings in these pages
know I’m a diehard fan of all
things Fallout. So imagine my
orgasmic surprise this week
(or on second thought, don’t
imagine it) when we learned
there’s a new installment in the
post-apocalyptic role-playing
game series in the works.
Fallout: New Vegas, landing on
the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and
PC sometime next year, won’t be
a direct sequel to the blockbuster
Fallout 3, and it won’t be
developed by that game’s
creators at Bethesda Softworks.
Instead, it’ll be a stand-
alone experience crafted by
Obsidian Entertainment, the
folks who handled the very solid
sequels to Edmonton-based
BioWare Corp.’s Star Wars:
Knights of the Old Republic
and Neverwinter Nights.
As the title suggests, the game
will be set in post-apocalyptic
Las Vegas — a stark contrast
to the now-familiar irradiated
ruins of Washington, D.C. —
and Bethesda says it will look
and feel very similar to its own
Fallout 3. Other than that, details
are scarce for the time being.
So in lieu of more hard
facts, we’re rolling the dice
and coming up with a lucky
seven things we’d love to
see in Fallout: New Vegas.
Retro-Vegas chic: The world of
Fallout is bathed in the culture
and optimism of the 1950s (at
least, until the atomic bombs
dropped), and as such it would
make no sense for Fallout: New
Vegas to be full of ultra-modern
skyscraper hotels. Hopefully the
city of New Vegas will look like a
nuked-out version of Rat Pack-
era Sin City, with art deco sci-fi
flourishes.
References to New Reno: To
truly gain favour with old-school
Fallout fans, there should be
references (or even a visit)
to New Reno, a memorable
location from Fallout 2.
Interestingly, Fallout: New
Vegas developer Obsidian
Entertainment is made up of
some of the same people who
worked on Fallout 2. So that
one’s likely a no-brainer.
No Alice, Jill or zombies: The
only other creature-infested,
post-apocalyptic vision of Las
Vegas that comes to mind is the
one from the movie Resident
Evil: Extinction. The less Fallout:
New Vegas reminds of us of that
crapfest, the better.
A big, juicy level cap: For those
not down with role-playing
game jargon, a “level cap” is the
maximum experience level a
player’s character can reach in a
game. Many players hit
Fallout 3’s 20th level cap long
before finishing the main
storyline, so Fallout: New Vegas
will absolutely need to pump
the cap up much higher.
Siegfried and Roy’s mutant white
tigers: In the Fallout timeline,
the Third World War starts in
2077. But maybe in that alternate
version of history there were
still a pair of Teutonic magicians
with signature white tigers doing
a splashy stage show in Las
Vegas. If so, we can’t wait to do
battle with the tigers’ irradiated,
mutated descendants.
Gambling: Slot machines that
accept bottlecaps (the currency
of the Fallout world) might
be too much to ask for, but
surely some form of betting will
have survived the apocalypse.
Gambling mini-games in RPGs
don’t always fare well (we’re
looking at you, Fable II), but
we’re hopeful Obsidian can
come up with some cool,
Fallout-y ways of wagering cash.
A Super Mutant Elvis
impersonator: Come on. You
know it would be cheesy, horrific
... and awesome. Just like Fat
Elvis himself.
