Fallout: 10 Reasons New Vegas Is The Best One
9. Missions You Can Fail
Bethesda has fallen into the trap of having rather... repetitive quests. It is very easy to reduce a lot of their quest design to: Go here, get/kill/escort thing, return and get the reward. It is because of this cycle that New Vegas stands out. And usually, it is through a very simple way. Allowing you to mess up missions and fail.
Usually, the only thing standing in your way of completing a quest in a Fallout game is whether or not you can be bothered doing it. But in New Vegas, you have to be on the ball. Characters can die, things can explode and you can very easily fail a quest.
That's on top of quests having a more present feel. You have to actively engage in them and ultimately decide to do something. And this can result in failure.
It's strange that having the option to fail in a game makes that game better, but in the case of New Vegas, it works wonders.