Fallout 3: Broken Steel

21 Apr 2009 at 14:46:38 by

You lucky people, we have all the new information there is about Bethesda’s final DLC installment for Fallout 3 right here in this preview, which was announced by Bethesda vice president, Peter Hines.

Broken Steel, out on 5 May for PC and Xbox 360, will see you back in the Fallout world almost two weeks after the main quest and, without giving too much away, the game’s ending has been altered to facilitate this new adventure. 
Immediately noticeable is that world looks very different indeed, with the filling facility you see at the end of the game now up and running, producing fresh water for consumption, thanks to the Brotherhood of Steel. Your main objective is to distribute the water across the wasteland.

You can’t have a new objective however, without some new weapons to play with and enemies to strategically dismember, and those we’ll come back to in a little while. But before we do, I want to talk a little bit about the new game space.

Not only can you revisit the wastelands to complete side quests as you try to secure water routes, but Broken Steel also introduces a whole new game space: the derelict Adam’s Air Force Base.  With the new space, comes a new and hardened group of super-mutants, the Overlords.  These are heavily-armoured and bear new weapons - the Tri-laser gun to be precise, which does exactly what it says on the tin.  And it’s not just the Overlords you’ll face as you try to get water across the wasteland.  You’ll also see a new Reaver class too, a grenadier, and the Enclave hasn’t been forgotten either.  It benefits from new weapons and armour too, making its members all the more taxing to overcome. You won’t encounter the new hardened enemies until you get to level 18 at least, so if you’ve not quite got there yet, you won’t have too much to worry about.

It’s not all about the enemy though, and Bethesda hasn’t forgotten the player when it comes to new weapons.  The Broken Steel DLC also introduces a new weapon, the Tesla Cannon, which, given the name, we expect to pack a serious electrical punch.  This isn’t available immediately, however - you’ll have to work to get it, solving puzzles and defeating those who stand in your way, but, believe me, it’s worth it.  For one thing, getting through the airbase with this new weapon makes life a hell of a lot easier.

Bethesda has also added more scope for advancing your character by bumping up the level cap. Unfortunately, it’s not removed completely, but instead is raised to 30, and there’ll be new achievements and perks to expect such as “Puppies.” This will reincarnate your faithful hound every time you pick up dog meat, which is particularly helpful for those of you who have foolishly killed your dog and miss it dearly.

So far, Broken Steel appears to be shaping up nicely. Hines made it clear that Bethesda “had got the message”, confirming that this wouldn’t be the end of the story.  Just quite what he meant, we’re not sure but what we do know is that the main quest will last between four to five hours.  As previously mentioned, there are more side quests to do, more achievements to acquire and even old achievements to pursue, but this will not be the end of the story.

Broken Steel will be available for 800 MS Points when it’s released.  If you want to know more about the game then you can check out our interview with Peter Hines here on Fallout 3, our review of Fallout 3, and reviews of the last two DLC installments, Operation Anchorage and the Pitt.

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