Saturday, September 26, 2009

Fallout 3: Broken Steel DLC Review

As I'm sure many of you know, the Fallout 3 DLC, Broken Steel, came out on Thursday. I, after much anticipation, downloaded and played it as soon as it came out. So, I finished it last night and decided to review it, so here goes my first review.

Broken Steel is basically the way that Fallout 3 should have ended... or really, not ended. After you get Broken Steel, you need to do the last quest of the game. After you activate Project Purity, you fall over unconscious, but with Broken Steel, you wake up two weeks later at the Citadel. You are then informed that the Enclave is still somewhat strong, with several communication posts still set up. You go and assault the first one with Liberty Prime by your side, but he is sadly blown to pieces by an orbital strike. You get some info from the base, telling where the sattelite launch was triggered. You bring it back to the Citadel and are given your next quest: go to Olney Powerworks and get a Tesla Coil. You work your way through Old Olney, fighting off Enclave Soldiers and Deathclaws. You get the Tesla Coil and bring it back to the Citadel so they can make you a Tesla Cannon. You are then ordered to perform a one man assault on the Enclave base. You go there, Tesla Cannon in hand and kill everyone, launch an orbital strike at their own base and fly back to the Citadel. 

It is a much better ending in my opinion, but it is still definitely worth the ten bucks. A few of the other additions to the game are: Enclave Hellfire Troopers, Hellfire Armor, Heavy Incinerator, and the Feral Ghoul Reaver, along with the raised level cap.

Gameplay: 9/10
The gameplay is still relatively the same, a few harder enemies are out in the wasteland, but it still plays the same way. It would get a 10/10, but VATS takes some of the fun away. Don't get me wrong, I love VATS, but when you get to level 30 and have all the good perks, VATS makes it almost too easy.

Playabilty: 10/10
Almost anyone that has ever played a game before, can pick up Fallout 3 and play it. Great game physics and easily navigable menus really do make this game better.

Story: 7/10
The Broken Steel story is very... bland. Ya, there are three more quests, but they seem very long for what you are doing. First quest: assault an enemy base. Second quest: retrieve a Tesla Coil. Third quest: take out the enemy base. Its very fun, but it really doesn't add much to the story.

Graphics: 9/10
Same as the game. Very good, but too grey sometimes. Along with the occational glitches in both animation and the game itself.

Sound: 10/10
Voiceovers are just as beautifully done in Broken Steel. Everything sounds the same, and the new powerful hiss of the Heavy Incinerator is amazing.

Overall: 45/50
Basically, the quests needed a little more depth, but the finish up the story in a great way. Also, with Broken Steel, the game doesn't end and you can get to level 30. The new enemies and weapons are great as well, so this is very much worth the ten bucks.