It’s getting dark outside as I use the last few shots of my laser rifle to dispatch some rad scorpions. It’s time to save my game and head to bed. But out in the distance, I see what looks like a factory.

I can’t fast travel back to this location because I haven’t plotted it on my map…so to quit now would mean I might not see this factory again anytime soon. But I want to check it out. My health isn’t great, my ammo low, but I still push forward, my curiosity getting the better of me. I run away from some robots before getting through the double doors.

Apparently the ruins were once home to a car factory, and as I look around for parts to scavenge I find out more details about this little area, which holds a few secrets of it’s own. The building doesn’t have much to do with the main game, or at least it didn’t at the time I discovered it, yet the exploration triggered a sense of adventure in me. It wasn’t about saving enough health and ammo to get to the next game. It was about my own initiative to want to learn about that building in the far out distance. How many games can do that?

I have a lot of fond memories of Oblivion and Fallout 3, and I’d imagine Fallout New Vegas will be more of the same, which is terrific. It’s the type of game that I can’t make on my own (adventure/exploration), yet I spend too much time thinking about how I’d do it. What a great genre that has so much untapped potential with today’s next gen systems.

Anyways, I thought it’d be fun to discuss some exploration games that you’d recommend or remember fondly. And anyone else jumping on the New Vegas train this week?