14 DAY TRIAL // Fallout: New Vegas is a post apocalyptic role playing game from developer Obsidian and publisher Bethesda, taking the player to a relatively intact Vegas area and in the middle of a fight for power between Caesar's Legion, the New California Republic and the Brotherhood of Steel.
I am playing this game using the Hardcore mode, which adds more realism oriented features, like heavy ammunition and healing which takes place over time, alongside a need for food and water.
One of the toughest sections of Fallout: New Vegas, at least for a player that is in the 10 – 20 level range, is the location known as Camp Searchlight.
From afar the location seems a normal town but a team of New California Republic soldiers tells the player about how a commander from Caesar's Legion managed to sneak a radioactive explosive device to the town and blew it up, turning (almost) the entire population into feral ghouls that attack on sight.
The combination of constant radiation and big number of ghouls and radscorpions working in pairs makes the location quite a tough one to clear, especially for the purist who would rather not break into the computers which control the automated guns (or are too low level and can't do the hacking).
It also gives the player a lot of freedom related to how they tackle the quests linked to the town, which is very much in the spirit of the game.
One can simply walk away, wait for a few levels and then come back with an overpowered weapon and clear the town.
One can take it section by section, trying to sneak around and take ghouls out with critical strikes but that's tough to do because of their speed and numbers.
Or one can hook up as quickly as possible with a three man team of scavengers who are trying to loot the town and rely on them to help you, as long as you do them a little favor.
Oh, and if you decide to hit Searchlight early on do yourself a favor and make sure you have a very strong close quarters weapon to kill a Queen Radscorpion quicker than it manages to sting and kill the scavengers. Failing to do so will result in a fail state for the Wheel of Fortune quest.
PS: A nice thing about Searchlight and its maze like layout is the fact that, with the Wild Wastelander trait, players can find Holy Frag Grenades (do not use them in any sort of close quarter situation).