Before I begin, I confess I am a fan of the Fallout series dating back to when Fallout first came out in 1997. I have played through Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel, and Fallout 3 at least a half a dozen times each. I am currently on my 2nd playthrough of New Vegas. Lets begin:
I. Graphics
Both games are based off the same engine. At the time Fallout 3 was released in November 2008, the "it" moment for me was when I first exited the vault. Fallout 3's graphics were top notch for the time, but definitely a few levels below Crysis in sheer beauty. Both Fallout 3 and New Vegas are a little bit rough around the edges, The edges on buildings are bit grainy and the if you look down at the ground long enough you will really notice the ugliness in the engine.
New Vegas freshens it up a bit with sand storms, wind effects and beautiful sunrises and sunsets. However, it is still fundamentally the same engine. Not enough was improved upon to make me feel as if I was playing in an entirely new game for 2010.
Edge: Fallout 3. The foundation (Fallout 3) is more important than the roof (Fallout: New Vegas)
II. Sound
A. Music
Fallout 3's musical score was great. The Ink Spots, patriotic music, and other jazz classics fit the mood just right for a post-apocalyptic urban setting. However, the songs did get repetitive with three of the rotation in each radio station playing well over 50% of the time. I just finished my 8th playthrough of Fallout 3 two days before Fallout: New Vegas came out and I cannot remember a single song beyond The Ink Spots "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire."
Fallout: New Vegas's music suffers from the same redundancy of Fallout 3's where you have any 3 given songs playing more than you would like to hear. The boldness in including country tracks most would never know about and who most would turn the radio station in their commute to work is something else entirely. Kay Kyser's "Jingle Jangle Jingle," Peggy Lee's "Johnny Guitar," Frank Sinatra's "Blue Moon," and Marty Robbin's "Big Iron" are more memorable than anything I heard in Fallout 3.
B. Sound Effects
The difference in sound effects between Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas is similar to the difference in sound between Modern Warfare 2 and Bad Company 2. When I shot a 10mm pistol in Fallout 3, I felt as if I was shooting a paintball gun. Shooting a 10mm pistol in New Vegas feels as if I am shooting a gun owned by Dirty Harry. Enemies approaching and ambience in Fallout 3 were lacking compared to New Vegas. Never in Fallout 3 did I hear rarely more than my footsteps while traversing the Capital Wasteland. In New Vegas, if I go under a water tower I can hear it creaking; same sound when under power line towers. Furthermore, the echos in New Vegas when you are fighting in a canyon are very apparent.
C. Voice Acting
The single most memorable voice in Fallout 3 was that of the eternally, annoying nasal voiced Moira Brown. Alistair Tenpenny, Elder Lyons, and Sarah Lyons stood out. Of the followers, Butch, Jericho, Clover, and Charon each had a unique voice and were quite memorable especially Clover's "Can I do something for you?..or to you?" Classic.
From Goodsprings to Novac to Primm to Freeside to the Strip to Jacobstown to Camp Golf you will encounter one or more NPCs who has such a distinct voice that you may want to create a save when first entering the town to hear their introductions all over again repeatedly. Of the followers, each time I meet Lily in Jacobstown I just grin knowing then, I am playing a Fallout game when a potential companion of mine confuses me as one of her grandkids "Jimmy" and wants me to "give grandma some sugar."Mr. House is Andrew Ryan from Bioshock in a Fallout game, I have a suspicion it may be the same voice actor, but I have not done my homework just yet.
I became quite enamored with Cass from her introduction. Her dry wit, cynicism and enduring hope beneath her criticism of her country reminds me of a lot of Americans I know who hate the policies of our country, but will still die for it if duty calls. Get Cass talking about Big Dick Johnson and have "Confirmed Bachelor" as a perk and you will LOL because of how the mood just drops once she starts the sexual insinuation on you.
Veronica, Boone and Raul are all very well written, but they are more caricatures where some players will love them and some players will hate them. Veronica is sarcasm epitomized with a few quirky lines. Raul (voiced by Danny Trejo) is bascially Cheech and Chong in ghoul form. As for Boone, I didn't really dig his style as he was written for those "BOOM HEADSHOT" FPS types who want a God-like follower who will do all your killing for you. If there is a Chuck Norris in the Fallout universe, it is Boone.
Finally, Arcade Gannon is awful. In game, Arcade Gannon is gay and has this "I am gay with a chip on my shoulder" personality which comes off quite bad. I don't mind a gay male companion, but to stereotype one so much is a disservice to the gay family members in my life who are nothing at all like Arcade.
Edge: Fallout: New Vegas. More ambience, better voice acting, and a better musical score.
III. Story
Fallout 3's story was one of epic "save the world" proportions. You faced drastic choices which had a lasting impact on quite a few towns in the Capital Wasteland. I loved Fallout 3's story.
Fallout: New Vegas does not have a "save the world" story. You start out as a courier (read mailman) with no backstory; how you play through the game becomes your story. To compensate for no epic story, Fallout: New Vegas gives you choices in each town you visit, where how you conclude the quests in them will determine the fate of that particular location.
Edge: Fallout 3. The epicness in Fallout 3's story captivates one from the get go, while the lack of a character backstory and a tale of revenge has been done many a time with New Vegas being the latest and greatest.
IV. Gameplay
A. Setting
Both Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas are what one would picture of a post-apocalyptic Washington DC Metro or Southern Nevada/California (Nipton is a real life town on the California/Nevada border). Each is executed masterfully. Neither has a definite edge over the other because both meet expectations.
B. Combat
The combat in Fallout 3 was very VATS intense for a ranged DPS player. No aiming-down-sight (ADS) on any gun besides the scope of a sniper rifle. The bad aside, I loved every kill in Fallout 3 and my love for it translated into half a dozen playthroughs. So the "no ADS" argument does not hold water with me because I played through all but 2 of my playthroughs as either small guns or energy weapons at endgame.
In New Vegas, I realized how much better the combat was when I went gecko hunting with Sunny Smiles. I killed every single gecko in the tutorial using no VATS whatsoever. The addition of ADS has made combat much more fluid. That being said, there are creatures I just will not face unless I am in VATS such as Cazadores, Deathclaws, and Nightstalkers.
C. Mechanics/Stability
I never encountered a corrupted save game file in Fallout 3. I did see odd glitches where the Followers of Atom fell through ground, but I never once encountered a game breaker. Fast forward, in New Vegas I have had my game freeze up when I am in combat in VATS, I could not enter the Strip after completing Wang Dang Atomic Tango without a corrupted save game file occurring (I found a workaround to this by wearing the "Old Cowboy Hat" when in the Strip) and I have had companions disappear on me. If Fallout 3 could do it almost flawlessly, then why is New Vegas so unstable?
Edge: Fallout 3. Fallout: New Vegas refined the combat, but it is effectively neutralized by not knowing if I hit the VATs button whether my game will freeze. Likewise, corrupted save game files, blatantly obvious glitches and long load times detract it even further.
V. Replayability
A. Choices
Fallout: New Vegas is the clear winner here. You have 4 different endings for the main quest and at least 2 to 3 for each town you come across leading to any number of possible endings, not to mention your karma. The choices in Fallout 3 are either to save the wasteland or purify it of all non genetically perfect humanoids. Everything you do in between is filler and may not be conveyed in the ending.
B. Morality
Both games have a good, neutral, bad karma system for your character. In Fallout 3, the morality was more black/white with little room for grey. New Vegas is all grey where even the supposed "good" factions employ evil means (sniping hostages who are members of their own military) to meet their ends. Likewise, a couple of the "bad" factions employ evil means (slavery and crucifixion) to meet their good ends, hell even one of them can be redeemed and become good in the end. The morality you are confronted with is not as simple in New Vegas as it was in Fallout 3. You will be surprised that even the neutral choice in any given scenario will turn out to be the worse of the worst choices in the end.
Edge: Fallout: New Vegas. No single playthrough in New Vegas is going to be like your last. Furthermore, the morality system is more complex with close to a dozen factions, reputation with each faction, and very few black/white situations.
I am done. This is just my opinion, you will think differently than I do. You can interpret the number of edges how you want to. Sports fans like me will give it to Fallout 3 because it scored 3 out of 5, while New Vegas was better in 2 out of the 5 areas.
Personally, in Fallout games I place a lot of stock on sound, specifically voice acting. Graphics from Fallout on was never the selling factor in the games. If you compare Fallout to Fallout 2 side-by-side you could come to same conclusion many players are saying of New Vegas compared to Fallout 3, Fallout 2 is just an expansion pack for Fallout. This is unfair and conveys an ignorance of the role of graphics in Fallout games starting with Fallout back in 1997.
Finally, replay value and a complex morality system where there is little black/white and a ton of grey is very important to me because it reflects the wisdom and intelligence of those who created the game. Fallout 3 compared to Fallout: New Vegas is like World War 2 compared to the Vietnam War. In World War 2, it was all black/white where each side thought they were on the side of God. In the Vietnam War, the US soldiers became the enemies and many were greeted with protest when arriving back in the States.
So lining up your experience with both side-by-side, which one do you think is the more memorable, replayable and enjoyable experience? Why?
