The Crux: Both Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas takes you to a different America – a one-time phenomenal country turned into a wasteland with many stories and mysteries waiting to unfold. You travel a world that’s menacing and obscure, to say the least.

The ghouls you meet are death-dealing, and the challenges are murkier, making it difficult for you to walk through. You’re out in the wild to face every bit of threat, bringing the very sliver of life to the brink. Fight, fight until you succeed.

While everybody is entitled to an opinion and has the liberty to choose games to their interests and likings, we’ve tasked ourselves to figure out which Fallout version is better. Both the games are the best of RPGs – deep, edgy and evocative – and perhaps this is why the choice between the two is a difficult and confounding one.

Our jury has spent a big deal of time to understand where the games excel, and where not. A lot of relevant elements have been factored in, including the mechanics, storyline, characters and quests, downloadable content among more, to find out which game is one jump ahead.

And, we’ve found the answer. Read our Fallout 3 vs New Vegas comparison to know which game has aced the charts

Storyline and Gameplay

Fallout New Vegas brings more realism to the world, and takes up pretty well where it predecessor, Fallout 3, left out. The post-apocalyptic Vegas is far more sombre and intimidating, riddled with a variety of quests and encounters to offer a complex and engaging gameplay. You’re constantly uncovering the hidden truths and mysteries by overcoming the combats thrown at your face. So, there’s absolutely no moment of stagnancy in the game.

The line of characters are further riveting, and the best part is that they aren’t split into evil or godly like Fallout 3. You just have to pick out a right character, build a faction, and go for the challenges gnawing at you. The evolvement of characters with Vegas ambience is well-noted, and this is why, not even for a moment you feel that the game is lacking a personality. You’re always on the upswing unlike Fallout3, where both the storyline, character customization, weaponry feel like going absolutely nowhere after a few hours into the play.

Also, the shooting dynamics (VATS) are balanced and on-point with Fallout Vegas as compared to that of FO3. You can actually shoot your foe without the slow-mo, dramatic views of the entire scenario, and surprisingly, don’t miss the target. But in FO3, VATS is almost an indispensability, which is enough to make us weep at times.

Winner: New Vegas

Atmosphere

The gameplay could go a bit sterile with Fallout 3, but the game comes up to a notch with its world design. The game’s atmosphere is relatively fatal. The ravages of time on the capital city are well-realized, and the subsequent desolation is brilliantly put to picture. Step into FO3, and you’ll indeed feel the cries of a crumbling city.

Contrary to the finesse of FO3, the Mojave of NewVegas is quite bland and lacks the adventure of navigating across a ravaged city. We’ve actually made an unenthusiastic walk inside it, because it came off a bit uninteresting and presenting a little of unique architecture and assets one looks for. If not in Fallout 3, you’ll definitely feel that you’re on repeat visits to many places in the Vegas.

Fallout 3 gameplay isn’t just a chunk of debris and rubble to roam across. There’s a hidden ‘something’ in every building, which is worth your chance of propelling further in the game. The sense of purpose is immense. On the other hand, New Vegas is only a fluff in the name of world design. Everything is just showy. You can’t enter most of the buildings and locations only provide a navigational flexibility without any rewards. That said, if you ignore this navigational flexibility and deflect from the past, the worst of dangers are worst. Try not to go off course way too much, because you’re never knowing what’s coming your way. And in case, you’ve found the right direction by the grace of luck, you’re always at the risk of losing it again.

Long story short, while Fallout3 has a far detailed and expansive world that invites you to open explorations, New Vegas has a lopsided design, which isn’t enjoyable at times.

Winner: Fallout 3

It’s so far 1 on 1 between Fallout-3 and New Vegas. Keep reading to know which games fairly does a better job with regard to quest design and diversity.

Quest Design and Diversity

While New Vegas fails to nail the perfect score for its world design, it’s pretty impressive for its quest designs and diversity. Inside a Fallout game, you’re required to build factions to endure the gruesome challenges. As for the New-Vegas edition, each of the characters throws off an appeal and has a relevance to live for. Every character has a weight to add to the mission unlike Fallout3, whose characters have no personality and lacks imaginative thought.

New-Vegas has a leg-up for its dialogues as well. They must been written very objectively, and have a lot of substance in them. It shows. From dialects to habits of speaking, everything has been carefully mapped out, and it’s very satisfying in a way. There are many quests inside NV, which you can do merely by talking to your companions. Talk about Fallout 3, and it does a mediocre job and pretty okay-ish.

Now, there are two types of quests in both the games – one is main; another is the ones happening at the peripheries (side quests). New Vegas again takes the cake for the kind of main and side quests it brings, which are terrific. Everything, from probing into an assassination strike to using diplomacy skills to deal with White Glove Society, are conceived better than F03. The combats in NV are fair and practical, as you’re fighting with humans for most of the time, instead of deadly monsters and unrealistic giants as in Fallout-3. Even if the survival is tough, you at least feel fighting on a leveling field as that of your foes.

Winner: New Vegas

Faction Reputation and Performance

Fallout 3 has no neutral factions. You’re either on the good or the bad side. So, before venturing in the game, sort your side, because you’ll be either siding with the angels, or unleashing havoc with the evil partners. Performance wise, Fallout 3 does a good job and reports no glitches. On the other hand, New-Vegas has no moral strings to hang for. You’re simply a fighter following a cause, or rather a system. Everything you do is your job, and choice doesn’t have a say. As for the performance, New-Vegas is a slick game, except for glitches happening intermittently. Don’t worry, these aren’t of much concern.  

Winner: New Vegas

Wrapping Up

Fallout 3 or new vegas first? Although both the games – Fallout 3 and Fallout: New-Vegas – are fun and engrossing in their own right, the latter scoops better scores in our comparison and wins the face-off. New-Vegas is better.