The fine people of Bethesda have been cranking out DLC since the early days of Oblivion. Now, before you scream out Horse Armor, they also made many other fine pieces of DLC, including the Shivering Isles, the Wizard’s Tower, Knights of the Nine and other pieces of the Elder Scroll’s world to keep you playing that game long into your twilight years.
Fallout 3 is no exception and with three scheduled DLC packs coming out over the next three months, it’s time to dive, head first into the Operation: Anchorage expansion. Full review, full of whiny remarks and snarky put downs, after the jump.
The DLC starts of innocuously enough. You’ll receive a distress signal from the Outcast sect of the Brotherhood of Steel, you know, the dudes in the red power armor. Anyway, when you show up, they’re in a full on battle with at least 6 or so Super Mutants. After progressing through the battle, you’ll come upon an Outcast Outpost built around the entrance to an underground laboratory. That’s just within the first ten minutes.
Inside the compound you’ll discover a Virtual Reality training pod, similar to what you used in the Tranquility Lane quest. The VR pod will take you to a simulation of the Liberation of Anchorage, one of the focal points of the fictional war between China and the U.S. that lead to the nuclear war.
Once in the simulation you’ll notice just how different the environment is. There’s a lot of white and blue, as opposed to the brown and grays of the Capital Wasteland. It’s a nice change of pace. Ultimately you’ll be tasked first with infiltrating a base and after meeting up with the main army, you’ll get three different missions, which is the full extent of the DLC.
You don’t take anything into the simulation except for your level and perks. No weapons or power armor. Everything you’ll need for the missions will be provided for you at various checkpoints throughout the DLC content. That includes ammo and “healing stations” which is a bit different than what you were used to in the main Fallout 3 game.
Read on for what’s different about this DLC and what’s so great about spending ten bucks on 3.5 hours worth of game time, on page 2.
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I downloaded it when it first came out, but haven’t had a chance to play it left. I figured I love Fallout 3 and I’m from Anchorage, so the least I could do was attempt to eliminate my home town.
Wow, I meant to type liberate. Someone has some issues.
So it’s a case of what happens in anchorage stays in anchorage? I would have liked to take that cool black ninja armour with me….
@Dan: Well, the reason that you’re tasked to go into the VR simulator is to unlock the weapon armory… So, I’d be that there are a few cool ninja suits left over at the end …. maybe?
@ Dan:
Yeah, you get one of everything after completing the simulation: a Gauss Rifle, some cool ninja armor, Winterized T51-b armor, a nice electric Chinese sword…
As for the DLC itself… combat was never Fo3’s strongest asset, so if you’re not going to buy ALL the DLCs, I’d suggest passing this one up and going for The Pitt and Broken Steel. But, if you’ve got the MS points, Op: Anchorage a fun little diversion that pays off in the end. Mainly in the form of cool ninja armor!
The missions are nice and fun to play. A little challenging at the beginning, when on your own. But after completing, the rewards definitely worth it. On p.c you get a mod that allows you to repair armour with scrap metal…that mixed with the ninja suit will have you infiltrating everything you can get near.
My only issue is that there was no helmet for the ninja suit, which isn’t too bad considering I use the ghoul mask most the time but still. There is, i suppose one built into the suit, but a seperate helmet always offers that little bit more bonus. So maybe find a helmet with a +stealth if there is one.