Get Electrified With Fallout New Vegas' Improvements

The wastelands have been silent for months now, but upon sifting through the sands, some crusaders of truth have dug up a few more nuggets of civilizations long past so that we can better our futures.

We already knew that Fallout: New Vegas was in development for release this year, and that it's in the care of Obsidian Entertainment: the studio responsible for Star Wars: KOTOR 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, and next month's Alpha Protocol. So we're already looking back at a decent track record for sequels-to-great-RPGs--to say nothing of the fact that Obsidian hosts plenty of team members from what used to be Black Isle Studios, the creators of Fallout 1+2.

What we didn't know until last week were some of the specific improvements Obsidian's bringing to the west coast this next go-round. To wit: companion commands, faction notoriety, and Hardcore mode.

The first is an extremely welcome improvement for anyone who found themselves chasing after Charon or Dogmeat in Fallout 3, only to end up shredded after a quick romp in a deathclaw camp. New Vegas will feature an easily-accessible radial menu so you can tell your wayward companion to stick close and not attack anything until your mark. The number of times I had my wasteland partner crouching in the corner just to keep them safe from the firefights is shameful, so this is a most welcome improvement.

Next, the karma system has been enhanced to run alongside a notoriety level, which is distinct for each faction. Ever wish you could do a few missions for Talon Company to get them to stop ambushing you? This opportunity would fit into the notoriety system, whereby you can choose who to help or hinder. This fluidly effects which groups, such as the California Republic or Brotherhood of Steel, will want you dead or attempt to befriend you.

And finally, those who want a greater challenge and reason to linger in the Fallout universe will be excited about the announcement of Hardcore mode. At the end of your character creation process, you'll be allowed to choose to play Hardcore, which will make surviving the wasteland a real ordeal worthy of any elitist's time. In addition to more difficult combat, this mode will also introduce hunger and dehydration as threats, make stimpaks heal you more slowly, and add weight to bullets so as to reduce the number you can effectively carry. Overall, it sounds almost like a more S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-type experience, with survival being the challenge and completing the story to require true feats of heroics.

Kotaku also has a new preview of some of the game's early areas. Without spoiling anything, the most exciting takeaways are the new gun mod system, based on one of the more popular user expansions, and a more classically Fallout dialog system wherein, say, having a high explosives skill will give you extra speech options when chatting with the local demolitions merchant, which by itself can open up new opportunities.

All these improvements are shaping up Fallout New Vegas to be one of the greatest open-world experiences this year, despite the competition. Game details look to be emerging more often, so check back to see what else our treasure-seekers unlock!