Fallout: New Vegas is both a great game, but also a ridiculously overrated one. It has become a focal point for Bethesda haters, and Obsidian lovers, and I honestly think it's a load of BS. It's good, no doubts, but it isn't only because it had Obsidian's grubby mitts on it. Read more and watch gameplay here.
Basically, I think that Obisidan gets too much credit for Fallout: New Vegas being good and Bethesda doesn't get enough. The only improvement I give Obsidian credit for is that the writing is marginally better and the side quests are better than in Fallout 3. I only say the writing is marginally better because the main quest is still dumb and bad. All of the other improvements - mainly the shooting / gameplay improvements - would have happened regardless because they were obvious ways to move the game forward from Fallout 3. The ratio of why New Vegas is good is like 85% because of Bethesda and 15% because of Obsidian.
New Vegas also has loads of problems too, although most of them have more to do with Bethesda's use of the garbage Gamebryo engine than anything else. It's glitchy. It's ugly. It's awkward to do stuff. It has long load times.
Here's the thing, though. New Vegas is absolutely more glitchy and broken and busted than Fallout 3 was. If you look at Obsidian's track record, they have a history of making games with loads of issues. Somehow, it's never their fault, though. Well, I'm calling Obsidian out - they make glitchy busted games. Hopefully they'll have the time and budget to not make glitchy busted crap now that they're under Microsoft, but I don't have super high expectations.
Unrelated to Bethesda vs. Obsidian, but something that grinds my gears about Fallout: New Vegas is that the map is just not nearly as fun to explore as Fallout 3, or even Fallout 4, are. New Vegas doesn't really feel like a real place. It's just brown and gray desert with few memorable landmarks. It's also covered with impassable boundaries - either invisible walls or deathclaws / cazadors / giant radscorpions - that make huge chunks of the map either impossible, or just a pain in the ass, to explore. Exploration is my favorite part of these games, and New Vegas easily has the least fun exploration.
All in all, New Vegas is fine, but I would rather play Fallout 3. Or Fallout 4 with mods. Also, Obsidian kinda sucks.
