14 DAY TRIAL // There's a bit of me that cannot quite enjoy Fallout: New Vegas as much as I should.
And, make no mistake, this is a video game I thoroughly love for its sharp writing, complex faction mechanics, mostly fun characters and still fun VATS powered limb detachment action.
The thing I cannot get over when solving quests and exploring in the Mojave Wasteland is how generally ugly the game world looks, even when turning up the graphics options all the way up on my PC.
When Fallout 3 rolled around some people complained about repetitive textures and problems with the face of most NPCs, saying that a little more polish was in order to make the universe seem more lively.
Obsidian uses the same engine and the same issues jump out more this time, after about two years since the initial launch of Fallout 3.
And much of this, to me, is linked with the gameplay demo of RAGE, the new first person shooter from id Software, that I have seen at the Gamescom event in August in Cologne, Germany.
id Software is also using the post apocalypse as the setting for their game and it looks gorgeous, full of vibrant colors, sand lifting up from the road, cars killing enemies in high speed attacks, enemies moving swiftly, making full use of their environment as they try to kill the player.
The mechanics are very different for RAGE and the last two Fallout games but the fact that they share a theme leads to some comparisons that are pretty unfavorable to the Bethesda franchise.
While exploring the Wasteland one can encounter nice vistas, especially when the sun comes up or when sunset is near and when human settlements are far in the distance.
But, when entering a town or exploring an interior dungeon, I tend to think about how the world of Fallout would look with the new id Tech engine and with that the people at id would share it for the next game in the series.