Fallout 3: Broken Steel [360]

11 May 2009 at 11:08:16 by
Systems used to review this title: (360)

Finally the last installment of Fallout 3 DLC is here and this is the one that all Fallout 3 obsessives have been waiting for as the level cap has been lifted to level 30, but is it and has it been worth the wait? After the debacle that surrounded the last DLC from Bethesda, The Pitt and technical issues concerning the PC version of this DLC: I entered the Broken Steel code with some trepidation and unfortunately it was justified. For those of you who have completed the game you need to load up a save (hopefully you have kept), just before the end of main plot line, for those of you that have not quit reading now as there are spoilers below. This is where my issues sadly occurred. My save was in the Jefferson Memorial at the Project Purity processing plant, just before the final confrontation with that ars*hole General Autumn. For some reason the game kept crashing after the final interaction with the man, I tried all the options, killing him, talking him down etc. but to no avail it just kept freezing up. Somewhat frustrated I kept reloading and eventually (minus some hair and many expletives) it was eventually ok, and rather than sacrificing myself, I sent sentinel Lyons in my place and to her doom. All good so far... then the final cut scene cut in only to have the game to end! No continuation of the story what so ever. After some more perseverance the DLC finally kicked in and I awoke, two weeks later, in the Citadel to have a nice chat with Elder Lyons, who appeared to have taken his daughters untimely death rather well. Bethesda has assured Incgamers.com that my troubles where an isolated incident and that there has not been any major technical issues with the Xbox DLC, if anyone else has had problems please let us know. Anyway, now very relieved that things were back on track I plunged straight into Broken Steel.

As mentioned the game continues two weeks after the main quests time frame, apparently you have been asleep/in a coma for that period of time and during your absence things have been moving along in the Fallout 3 universe. Elder Lyons explains the Brotherhood of Steel had begun distributing water throughout the Capitol Wasteland and has been mopping up the final Enclave forces using Liberty Prime. He also informs you that you are now a fully paid up member of the Brotherhood, which is nice: no more annoying backchat from the boys and girls in big suits.  However as Elder Lyons and Scribe Rothschild elaborate, there is a large group of Enclave forces holding out at a satellite relay station. Your first mission is to go to said destination, which is accessed through a car park and appears off the main map on a mini map, and eliminate them. Once you have met up with some other Brotherhood of Steel forces you have to assault the relay station along side Liberty Prime and is a lot of fun.  The big guy is totally tooled up and really kicks the Enclave's ass, you only need to tag along behind him as he deals out death and destruction, massacring all before him.
However just as this is getting really fun... BOOM!...WTF?  Something takes Liberty Prime out from the sky, and so the main quest begins; you have to find out what this powerful Enclave weapon is, what they are doing with it and how to ultimately destroy it. Without wanting to give too much away the final stage of the main quest is really very enjoyable. Initially playing through I was beginning to think there is nothing new here. The game is in the Capitol Wasteland so all the usual palette of muted grays and browns are in play as are the usual trudging through bases and metro lines that all look the same, thinking that this was it I was starting to feel a little cheated, where was the snow capped mountains of Operation Anchorage or the burning heat and embers of Pittsburgh? However things do begin to get rather good, there are some memorable set pieces and the final Enclave base is awesome, literally teeming with people to kill. As ever with Fallout 3 I am yet to get bored decapitating, dismembering and blowing people to bloody pieces, it is something that gives me a warm glow inside and something that I hold dear to my heart.

Content wise it took me five hours to complete the main quest, there are also a handful of side missions that will not set you back more than an hour, plus new encounters and some unnamed missions. However the longevity of the game comes from the level cap now being set to 30 and getting to that is going to take a while, which is not a bad thing. So once you have finally defeated the Enclave what is there to do? Once back at the Citadel, Scribe Rothschild needs spare parts to rebuild Liberty Prime and a Paladin that you befriend wants you to kill super mutants and bring back their blood samples, which is pretty much it. But the fun is going to be in leveling up, I cannot tell you what a good feeling it was to finally here that drum roll again.

So if you can level up to level 30, again then you are going to need some new perks. Sadly they are a bit hit and miss, the majority not being anywhere near as useful as the original ones. There are 15 to choose from ranging from the useless Deep Sleep (you sleep deeply anywhere and gain all bonuses associated with this), the handy Puppies if like me your Dogmeat didn't last five minutes (your pooch now has a litter of pups so when he dies you get another from Vault 101), to the truly awesome sounding Nuclear Anomaly, which apparently makes you a walking nuke, when your health drops to a certain point you literally explode causing huge damage to all around you (which I am desperately working towards).

To break up the familiarity there are some new enemies to deal with: some very cool looking (just like the Tie-Fighter pilots from The Empire Strikes Back) Enclave troops, which wield the rather natty Heavy incinerators (a heavy duty flamethrower which spits large balls of napalm), Ghoul Reavers (very tough ghouls who take a lot of damage before dropping) and the best yet, the Super Mutant Overlord, evolutionarily somewhere between Super Mutant Masters and Super Mutant Behemoths, these guys are also very tough but a lot of good times can be had taking them on. There are also new weapons and armour to toy around with, of particular note is the Tesla Cannon, quite possibly the most powerful weapon yet in the game.

All in all, this is a very worthy addition to the Fallout universe, the initial missions are somewhat linear, but it all takes a turn for the better as you progress. There is plenty of Enclave to destroy, and did I mention that you get to control Deathclaw's?

The release of the level cap is a major bonus and adds dimension with the addition of new perks as you progress, whilst the new weapons, armour and enemies definitely freshen the whole experience up. If you have been holding off purchasing any of the DLC, then go and buy this now, trust me you wont regret it.

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