Not very often does one get the chance to save the world as a mailman after being shot in the dome piece with a 9mm pistol.  Only in the world of Fallout New Vegas can gamers help to preserve the existence of a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas with the help of a depressed sniper, a cyberdog, and a robot named ED-E.  Fallout New Vegas, amongst other fantastic qualities, has one of the best videogame settings ever created.

Fallout New Vegas, or just New Vegas for short, was first published by Bethesda Studios in October of 2010 for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.  While this game should be played by any means available, however, it’s best when played on the PC.  As is with most of Bethesda’s role playing single player games, loading times on the console versions clock in at an abysmal ten to thirty seconds. The PC versions however, take no more than three to four seconds to load any given area.  Loading times aside, New Vegas is a great game for numerous reasons.

Players searching for a game with an amazing atmosphere may look no further.  The setting for New Vegas is best described as the post-nuclear future that many people expected following the events ending WWII.  And along with this apocalyptic alternate reality, there is also a strong undertone of 1960’s cowboy and big band Americana. This unique setting can partially be credited to the amazing soundtrack of the in game radio stations. Strolling through the Mojave Wastelands, players can expect to hear classic American songs like Big Iron, Heartaches by the Number, and Blue Moon by Frank Sinatra.

Great setting and soundtrack aside, New Vegas is simply fun to play. Anyone who has played the Elder Scrolls series would also find this game very enjoyable. The best advice one could give for playing this game would be to have patience and listen to the dialog in the game rather than just skipping through it all just so you can go off and shoot some bad guys. After all, this game does hold the world record for most recorded lines of speech and all that dialog reveals some very interesting backstory to every location in the game. In addition to soaking up all the fantastic character dialog, it is also advisable to get the Ultimate Edition of this game which includes all of the DLC.

Fallout New Vegas is a true gem amongst other role playing adventure games on the market.  And since this game is now five years old, it can be obtained for fairly cheap.  Great adventures as a dystopian era mailman await for anyone who purchases this quirky yet awesome game.