Fallout 3 Operation: Anchorage Review

By Will Porter Published 27 January, 2009

Half-baked Alaska.

Version tested:

We all learn lessons in life. Three years ago, the lesson was that when you release highly anticipated downloadable content for your blockbuster RPG, it should never, never ever, be an Oblivion horse wrapped in foil. Bethesda has learned this lesson, and that's why Operation Anchorage is a holographic encounter detailing the Chinese occupation of Alaska. So good, so far. Now let's saunter off to Anchorage to blow the heads off oriental futuro-gentlemen in slow-motion and glorious technicolour.

Following your download (and if you're playing on PC bear in mind that you'll be dealing with Microsoft's ever slack-jawed Games for Windows Live system), while you're wandering through the wasteland you'll pick up a distress call from a group of Brotherhood of Steel outcasts - those chaps with the rusty armour. They're calling for reinforcements in an area found in the South West of DC, just near the Red Racer factory, and are a bit grumpy at you when you turn up unannounced ready to chip in with a running battle against a cohort of Super Mutants.

In the aftermath of said battle, you're advised to take a lift down into the vaults below you, since your wrist-mounted PipBoy companion means you may be able to help them out with a spot of technology pilfering/securing. You alone, through the magic of Pip, can enter a military training program (with safety parameters decidedly switched off), complete a variety of missions in the snowy virtual tundra and rout the Chinese invaders - thereby unlocking the wasteland installation's loot container.

As soon as you enter virtua-Alaska it's evident that this is an action-heavy piece of content - and due to the nature of the simulation it's very much role-play lite. Holographic corpses flicker and disappear before they can be looted, health and ammo is administered through abundant terminals placed along your firmly linear path, and the multi-layered decision-making so brilliantly executed in the full game is put out on its ear. This is a content pack of the snipe, the grenade toss and of multiple Chinese Assault Rifle unloads direct to the head. Subtle it is not.

'Fallout 3 Operation: Anchorage' Screenshot 1

The Crimson Dragoon are thought to be a distant relation of the Panzer Dragoon. Not a blood relation though, clearly.

The game's first section is essentially where Guns of Navarone meets the opening of GoldenEye (you know, the bit before Sean Bean goes bad). You and a friendly commando plough your way along icy cliff paths and through occupied military installations; your objective being to knock out the three giant cannons that are causing a nuisance to the US troops.

It's in this section that you're introduced to Operation Anchorage's best addition, enemies wearing a slinky Chinese brand of stealth armour - whether they're the crack Chinese commandos called the Crimson Dragoon that run at you with swords, or the snipers that hide in the least convenient corners possible and try to make your life a misery. They're presented and introduced a lot like the lady assassins in the original Half-Life, and undoubtedly add an extra slice of tension and surprise to the accustomed Fallout gunplay template.

The problem, however, is that for the seasoned wasteland warrior everything is just far too easy. True, my character is maxed out at level twenty and is a dab hand at small guns - but surely most people paying for this download will be an established part of the '30 hour+' Fallout 3 faithful? It's possible to spray your way through Operation Anchorage without ever truly breaking a sweat. Overall the number of enemies on-screen at any time is probably higher than the norm, but you nearly always have an ally or two, and health recharge points pepper the level to a degree that goes beyond Bethesda hand-holding and moves into full-blown spooning.

I won't spoil the three missions that follow, but in all honesty there's little to taint. There are three prongs to the second half of Operation Anchorage: you can go left or go right with orders to blow further things up, and when you've done both of them there's a final assault that has you charge straight ahead through a variety of trenches, gun emplacements and worried Chinese folk. It's made fun by the fact you're allowed to pick a specific weapon load-out and take along a set of companions and/or robots, and the pyrotechnics are as impressive as ever, yet the whole experience feels simple and heavy-handed.

Sad to say, but remove the role-play dynamics from Fallout 3 and you're left with a slightly duff shooter (hey, even Todd Howard agrees). Operation Anchorage could have got away with it if it had been clever and more knowing, like the Tranquillity Lane simulation in the full game, but as it is it just feels shallow. For example, expositional holotapes are found in dull, obvious closets directly on your path and behind the easiest of locks; hacking into computers never really goes beyond redirecting the attention of a gun turret; hardly anything can be picked up or ferreted around in. Just so much of what makes the Fallout 3 experience such a complete and all-encompassing one is stripped away, and if you've already spent a fair proportion of the past four months in the DC wasteland you'll feel like you're only playing half the game you love.

Even Operation Anchorage's best and most subtle moment, which again I won't sully through explanation, is ruined by a nearby tongue-between-teeth character hammering home a comment that's along the lines of, "Coo! Just imagine that might have an effect on the geographical design of the future. Nudge, nudge! Is she a go-er? Wink, wink!" Oh, and the ending shares a lot of the problems that beset the full game's finale to boot - it's abrupt in the extreme.

'Fallout 3 Operation: Anchorage' Screenshot 2

This is the way you dress to wrap up warm in Alaska. Take it off indoors though won't you, else you won't feel the benefit.

Operation Anchorage, then, through the simple fact that it is not as much fun as it the game it leeches upon, is not a resounding success. Of course, it could be argued that it's not supposed to feel like the full game and that all of my complaints are to do with its 'simulation' setting; but this is before we get round to the pricing. After all, 800 Microsoft Points (despite the best efforts of a turbulent economy) still comes in at the best part of seven quid. I played through the download, at my own pace and in no particular hurry, and completed it in a smidge over two and a half hours. Now, it's not up to me to decide what you can or cannot afford - you're the one that knows your secret internet banking code, not me. But I will say that if my girlfriend were ever to find out that I'd spent seven quid out of our joint account on 150 minutes of gameplay that I only half-enjoyed, she'd kick me in the face. She wouldn't even hesitate. This is why I shred the statements.

I love Fallout 3. I love it to an almost indecent extent. It was far and away my game of 2008, and doesn't look like being knocked out of my personal top spot for a good while yet. But when you sift out its role-play, the ammo-box inspection and the exploration and draft in a fleet of health and ammo regeneration points to compensate... well, affairs just feel shallow and somewhat naked. Hopefully a lesson has been learnt at Bethesda towers. Business as usual next time please.

5 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Will.

About Will Porter

Will ‘Velvet Owl’ Porter is a roaming freelance writer who occasionally appears at EG’s back door asking for scraps. You can find out how cold/hungry he is by following @Batsphinx on Twitter.

Read more articles from Will by visiting the Will Porter archive page.

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Comments (93) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • NakedSnake #1 3 years ago

    FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
    Edited by 1 at 27/01/09 @ 13:55

  • coolbritannia #2 3 years ago

    Oh dear, epic fail.

  • Benno #3 3 years ago

    Whens this coming out for the PS3?

  • PearOfAnguish #4 3 years ago

    Whoops. Sounds like a lazy rush job.

  • ps3owner #5 3 years ago

    no wonder it's not due for release on the PS3 yet...

    ah well, back to the original FO3 on PC for me, no half-baked Alaska then. Although. It's supposed to be warming up there

  • mkreku #6 3 years ago

    It doesn't matter. I wasn't interested in this anyhow. I want the part where you get to continue after the end missions and the one where you get to continue levelling up to 30 instead of 20. I'm replaying Fallout 3 now (god, there was so much I missed!) and Three Dog has just told me to go to Rivet City.. but playing on Hard so I'm level 20 already and that's really not a good incentive to keep playing.

  • Dizzy #7 3 years ago

    >Whoops. Sounds like a lazy rush job.

    Don't think so. I think this was a conscious decision to make and expansion pack like this to highlight some of the "lore" of the pre-war era. Sadly it seems like it doesn't play well on the strengths of the original game. TBH Bethesda DLCs have alway offered a variety of gameplay ideas so I am not to fuzzed about the 5/10. I am going to try it out. I am not max level yet (about level 10) so maybe the experience will be a bit harder ;)
    Edited by 1 at 27/01/09 @ 13:40

  • TriggerHippie #8 3 years ago

    Oh....

  • TheComedian #9 3 years ago

    Ouch

  • Lexx87 #10 3 years ago

    ps3ownerlol

  • anomagnus #11 3 years ago

    very disappointed in fallout, just gave up on really

    fallout is half as good as oblivion which was half as good as morrowwind

    Nothing will ever touch morrowind, goddamn, what a game

  • kinky_mong #12 3 years ago

    Oh bugger. Was looking forward to this tonight, even bought more points especially.

  • Doctor_What #13 3 years ago

    I bought the PS3 version and I don't feel so bad about missing out on that now. Thanks for making me feel better EG!

    But more seriously, 'shame this isn't much good. Fallout 3 is a great game and really deserves top-notch DLC. Maybe the next shot at this will be better.

  • bodypopper #14 3 years ago

    £7 is roughly the price of a cinema ticket. When you go and see a two and a half hour movie, there's no guarantee you'll come out feeling you've got your money's worth either.
    Thems the breaks.
    Edited by 1 at 27/01/09 @ 13:54

  • dryden555 #15 3 years ago

    OK but arent MOST add-on DLC for action games like this? Either they add a new area but its super short and nothing great, or you get new weapons which make the game too easy, etc.

  • Masarin #16 3 years ago

    Ditch your girlfriend and you've got the double amount of points to spend on your account. Temporarely at least.

  • michaelius #17 3 years ago

    5/10 should be the score for whole game instead of only DLC

  • muscleblade #18 3 years ago

    @bodypopper

    Good point.

  • metalangel #19 3 years ago

    Not playing any more Fallout 3 until Broken Steel comes out. And that it is coming out last is just proof that Bethesda hate us.

  • glaeken #20 3 years ago

    I see Fallout3 is good enough to have gained a small posse of haters. Way to go Fallout3 \0/

  • coomber #21 3 years ago

    Glad to read this is a load of crap. Maybe we can go back to including the full game in the £40 version I buy in the shops from now on, rather than whoring yourselves out to MS.

  • menage #22 3 years ago

    Yeah, screw them, I want to go to level 30 now. Stupid decision. Just do it the other way around so you need to be level 30 to beat this and there would be a point maybe.

    And screw the this should have been in the full game comments, F3 was freaking huge.
    Edited by 1 at 27/01/09 @ 14:19

  • darc #23 3 years ago

    Sold Fallout 3 back after completing it, then felt stupid that I hadn't waited for the DLC. Now glad I didn't rush out to buy a second copy!

  • systems #24 3 years ago

    Oh well. So it's the Mass Effect DLC all over again. Short and crappy. I'll keep at the game optional missions instead. There's always L4D content to look forward to. I'm not paying £7 for a shooting mission in a game where the shooting is crap.

  • glaeken #25 3 years ago

    @The_One_True_Rich So what weapons are in the cache? You might want to spoiler tag the answer

  • Monkey_Puncher #26 3 years ago

    Futher evidence that no matter how big your game is, people will still bitch if you have the audacity to bring out DLC.

    Coomber, are you fucking serious? Fallout 3 is a massive game, easily 6 times bigger than most games. How the hell can you complain about them charging for extra DLC to add to what already is a massive game?

    Anyway, this always looked to me like being the weakest of the 3 packs. I'll most likely pick it up eventually though as the guns in it do look kinda fun.

  • jellyhead #27 3 years ago

    I'll wait until March for the 3rd DLC pack and patches and then get all 3 DLC packs i reckon. Shame, i was hoping this would get me itching to get back to the wastelands but after reading this i can wait a while. I'll still get it but not until they're all out.

  • dazrichards #28 3 years ago

    Out of interest, how much was this legendary horse armour? I take it nothing else was included in the DLC?

  • Moribundman #29 3 years ago

    Still getting it.

    I completed the game and realised there were still vast chunks of it I'd missed by allowing myself to be led along by the plot thrust. Going back to the main game you can play through the whole quest to find the old lady's violin or complete the Nuka Cola challenge and not really benefit other than a few hours entertainment and (on the 360) an acheivement. That seems to be what this DLC is aiming for, and that's fine by me. Even if I will comically be leaving Liberty Prime to his own merry, lasery devices, and Colonel Autumn sitting patiently inside the Jefferson Memorial until I've popped over to Pittsburgh and Broken some Steel :-)

  • Evolution #30 3 years ago

    "the multi-layered decision-making so brilliantly executed in the full game"

    Did I miss this? I'm struggling to remember that many moments that were well executed, nevermind brilliantly. As the game had no kind of epilogue, I felt like any choices I'd made were meaningless overall. I missed the look back at locations from the original fallout games.

  • glaeken #31 3 years ago

    @The_One_True_Rich. Thanks for that. So no Chinese Stealth armour then?
    Edited by 1 at 27/01/09 @ 14:31

  • PlugMonkey #32 3 years ago

    I got about three paragraphs in and realised that for seven quid, I was definitely going to give this a whirl anyway, so I might as well not spoil things by reading about it before hand.

  • jellyhead #33 3 years ago

    Apparently the new perk has no status changing effects, the Gauss Rifle is now an energy weapon and the new stealth armour is worse than a Stealthboy :(

    I'll play it but i'm not rushing home to get it.
    Edited by 1 at 27/01/09 @ 14:37

  • glaeken #34 3 years ago

    Thanks for that The_One_True_Rich . I think that is the bit of kit I wanted as it sounds like it could change the way the game plays quite a bit.

  • RedSparrows #35 3 years ago

    OMG DAMN YOU MOLYNEUX

    oh wait

  • EzyRyder #36 3 years ago

    My f3 character is only Level 9. Can I still play this without being completely outgunned?

  • MasterNameless #37 3 years ago

    @jellyhead

    Surely the new stealth armour is supposed to be worse than a stealth boy? I used stealth boys as an occassional stealth use as I didn't want to level my stealth skill itself all the way up. If the new armour was better than the stealth boys, then it would render the entire stealth skill absolutely useless.

  • SFG_Clan #38 3 years ago

    I played the DLC and everything in the article is true, its a bit shallow. I could cope with that if I could replay it but you can't even do that and they could have added more items at the end to give to you. Also what you left out is that the sqaud tactics it boasted were crap. It was more like tactic, you couldn't tell them to stealth, sneak attack, or set up a trap. All they could do was attack, run up, shoot, get shot at, and finally die. It's up to you to put in tactical work while they run around like headless chickens. I am not impressed.
    I liked it while it lasted though and if I could I would buy it again.
    Edited by 1 at 27/01/09 @ 15:10

  • kangarootoo #39 3 years ago

    Shite.

    Thats the worst news I've had all day.

  • dr_faulk #40 3 years ago

    "if my girlfriend were ever to find out that I'd spent seven quid out of our joint account on 150 minutes of gameplay that I only half-enjoyed, she'd kick me in the face. She wouldn't even hesitate."

    Wow. Are you me? Did I write this and forgot about it?

    I will say, my wife was so pleased when I told her I picked up Mass Effect and PGR4 for €10 each. Absolute bargains of the century. "Good for you," says she.

    So, no, 800 points for this is not happening.

  • miiiguel #41 3 years ago

    Well, we humans tend to remember bad things and forget good ones. Will, didn't forget the "horse armour fiasco", as a matter of fact it was the first thing he mentions, but didn't mention the wonderfull Shivering Islands.

  • ronuds #42 3 years ago

    Obligatory "Fallout 3 sucks, XBOX 360 is the worst, MSLOL, unplayable due to fan noiseLOL" comment.

    Can we move on now and talk about the game?

  • MasterNameless #43 3 years ago

    "Can we move on now and talk about the game? "

    Depressingly, as is demonstrated again and again, it seems we can't move on, and I somehow doubt we ever will. /sigh

  • autogunner #44 3 years ago

    slow clap for bethesda, making a linear shooting addon for their game that was lauded for being openworld and multipathed...

  • Xerx3s #45 3 years ago

    Paying to change var_levelCap from 20 to 30 months after the game was released lol.

  • ronuds #46 3 years ago

    Does the cap increase only come with the DLC?

  • MasterNameless #47 3 years ago

    "Does the cap increase only come with the DLC?"

    Yeah... the third installment too, in March. Gah! Which, like most of us, I want to wait until March for the level cap increase, then start playing all three expansions. Pretty damn annoying... Will still buy 'em all though, as I did love the game.

  • tomnol #48 3 years ago

    Can we move on now and talk about the game?

    Your comment was pretty much the first in this thread that didn't talk about the game.

  • miiiguel #49 3 years ago

    ""Can we move on now and talk about the game? "

    Depressingly, as is demonstrated again and again, it seems we can't move on, and I somehow doubt we ever will. /sigh "

    You are not being fair, among all the comments you only have some "mslol bloke" called "goat" and the "evil" buddy who are in the gaming scene to protect us from the evil money dudes. So kudos to them, I feel safer.

    Now..., I still not sure what's an example of a good DLC ? I liked "Shivering Islands" a lot, "Knothole Island" (what's with the Islands thing anyway?) is okish (liked the chaging the wether thingy), and I was very, very disappointed with "Bring Down the Sky". What else there is? Good examples?

  • Yossarian #50 3 years ago

    Shitty game gets shittier...

  • dazrichards #51 3 years ago

    I liked the idea of a simulator and thought it would be a little like the Tranquility Lane thing - sadly not. I spent £6 on Savage Moon yesterday and I think that will be much better value than this

  • ronuds #52 3 years ago

    That sucks about the level cap. I thought it was just going to be patched in.

    Oh well, still have hundreds of hours to go before I have to worry about that! :)

    "Your comment was pretty much the first in this thread that didn't talk about the game."

    ^^LOL - yeah right

  • GamesConnoisseur #53 3 years ago

    Disappointing, hoping that Bethesda takes note from the reviews and improve their efforts for the next two DLC. PS3 version owners rightly have nothing to be concerned about with this first DLC.

    I wont bother purchasing it.

    /doubts self due to completionist obsessive impluses

  • EzyRyder #54 3 years ago

    so, anyone that know can actually answer my question please?

    The author mentions that he played the expansion as a Level 20 character. What if I play it with a level 9 char?

  • Widge #55 3 years ago

    Well, at least the GTA4 DLC sounds more promising eh?

  • menage #56 3 years ago

    @Miliguel

    My GF loved the new Puzzlequest stuff, mainly because of the new chara's. Kept her going for a month or so (again)

    But yeah, Shivering Isles was amazing. Most of the DLC stuff is either blatant cash-in (Bandai Namco shame on you, that really should have been on the disc ) or tiny bits of fanservice which nobody really needs but the hardcore. That's why I can't get mad over DLC anymore. Nobody needs to buy it, and if it sucks there's enough resources on the internet that tell you so. But sometimes stuff like this or Isles comes along which really does offer something fans can dive into. I mean one mans 5 is another mans 8, just look at Mirrors Edge.

    I read these pieces for an opinion or to know what I'm getting. The actual fun factor I can only experience for myself. So I'm buying this in march with the rest of it.
    Edited by 1 at 27/01/09 @ 15:55

  • Nithron #57 3 years ago

    They should've released a free DLC that changed that utterly godawful ending.

  • miiiguel #58 3 years ago

    @menage
    Exactly my views on DLC as we know it. They seem to be the "Digital Collectors Edition" or something like that. Is not absolutly necessary, it's like a geeky add-on. I like it. Can and should improve though.

  • ronuds #59 3 years ago

    "The author mentions that he played the expansion as a Level 20 character. What if I play it with a level 9 char?"

    I'm fairly certain you can take on the DLC whenever you please.

    Can anyone confirm?

  • menage #60 3 years ago

    @Mili

    Yeah, just how many gamers out there shell out 80 bucks or so for a collectors edition steelbook with a useless artbook and then complain about paying for DLC and yell "you are part of the problem" I wonder. I never hear complaints about that when it's the same thing.

  • Omroth #61 3 years ago

    Your girlfriend sounds like a dick.

  • EzyRyder #62 3 years ago

    ""The author mentions that he played the expansion as a Level 20 character. What if I play it with a level 9 char?"

    I'm fairly certain you can take on the DLC whenever you please.

    Can anyone confirm? "

    more so when the author mentions it was really easy for him to finish it up ... may be it won't be so easy as a Level 9?

  • Widge #63 3 years ago

    Nah, the game scales encounters to the level you are currently at. When you enter a new area, everything in that area is then fixed to that level for the duration of the game. It means that as you progress through, there is always a challenge, but there is also scope to go away and level if you're getting spannered. Unlike on Obv when you'd go away, level, and come back to face something even nastier.

  • LPXO #64 3 years ago

    joint account == fail

  • teabagger #65 3 years ago

    "Shitty game gets shittier..."

    How well reasoned. How insightful. Well done indeed!

  • -Hex- #66 3 years ago

    It'd be nice if the ending was that you and your team try to disarm the Chinese nukes and end up setting them off, thus creating the start of the nuclear holocaust that you play the aftermath of in the main game. Then again, I have the PS3 copy so it wouldn't make a difference to me :/

  • menage #67 3 years ago

    @Brombeer

    I didn't think that was overpriced. Same as PC add ons I think. And it did have a shitload of content.
    Edited by 1 at 27/01/09 @ 16:46

  • mikeck #68 3 years ago

    "Shitty game gets shittier..."

    "How well reasoned. How insightful. Well done indeed! "

    Don't hope for reason and insight with him teabagger, each and every Fallout 3 article has one of these wonderful comments, I think most of us get the fact you don't like the game Yossarian...I've moved on from the upsetting news you don't like the game, now please can you too. Thanks.

  • Yossarian #69 3 years ago

    I will not rest until the gaming world comes to terms with how thoroughly they have been duped by this piece of shit game.

  • darkphoenix #70 3 years ago

    Thanks Eurogamer!
    This is public service.

  • Kujata #71 3 years ago

    Ah well, that saves me 800 points.

    Still i reckon that both The Pitt and The Brotherhood of Steel expansions will be great. That plus GTA: The Lost and the Dammed will burn up enough MS points as it is...

  • Nithron #72 3 years ago

    Yossarian: Are you deliberately talking nonsense, as per your namesake?

  • menage #73 3 years ago

    @NithronL

    Has to be, cause otherwise I've been duped for 70 hours already.

  • dominalien #74 3 years ago

    So, MS pays to have this exclusive to MS and then Sony pays to make it crap? Bethesda must be laughing hard. ;-)

  • theodg #75 3 years ago

    I'm a PC gamer, so I have to ask, why do I have to buy this with imaginary space dollars and not real money????

  • dominalien #76 3 years ago

    @theodg

    Because MS decided you would.

  • espy #77 3 years ago

    @theodg So Microsoft can make more money off the stuff. It may cost 800 points, but you can only buy 500 or 1000 points at a time. So there will always be some unused MS points lying around with everyone who buys stuff on GFW and Live. And these points have cost them real money, yet they can't buy anything with them unless they buy more points, which is highly likely to leave them in the same situation as before. In other words: a scam.

    I suppose that adds up nicely with all those subscribers.

  • Marshall2008 #78 3 years ago

    What a bunch of moaning skinflints you lot are. If you enjoyed the game and want more then for the cost of a couple of pints you get more.

  • SixFootHalfling #79 3 years ago

    Yes the expansion is 800 msp, but I entered this at level 18 1/2, and it was just enough XP in what amounts to about 4 quests to get me to lvl 20. When I came out, there was so much good stuff in the amoury I was 400 pounds of weight over the limit, so I had to go back twice and dump some stuff into my apartment at Tenpenny Tower. If I found a merchant with enough caps, I'd now have around 4000 caps, up from arond 2000 before.
    Oh and I now have 2 suits of T51-b armour, and a guass rifle that does 127 DMG fully repaired, as well as a fully repaired minigun, missle launcher, 2 fully repaired laser rifles, and 3 fully repaired outcast power armours (they turned on me for no reason, so I killed and looted them)

    The quest was interesting, and whilst combat heavy, helped to fill in the stroy for those, like me, who haven't read the Fallout bible, or played the previous games. Now I'm at level max, I'll probably start again, and play this quest on the new character, whereas with some quests I won't (yes I'm looking at you, survival guide)

    Basically I'm saying if you like the game, and want new quests, with new items, then it is easily worth 800MSP, if you don't want new content for Fallout, then don't buy it, and stop complaining about something you haven't played.

  • Daikon #80 3 years ago

    Gamers with the Asian version of Fallout 3 can buy Operation Anchorage but they can't play it!
    No patch has been released for the Asian version of Fallout 3, and you can't play the DLC without the patch.
    Way to go Bethesda...

  • davisorle #81 3 years ago

    @ps3owner
    "no wonder it's not due for release on the PS3 yet...
    ah well, back to the original FO3 on PC for me, no half-baked Alaska then. Although. It's supposed to be warming up there ""

    Dude... Do you also have a sign hanging on your back while you walk saying " I would suck cock for Sony" or you just do it randomly?

    Back to the original FO3 on then, Havent started it yet. I might as well avoid the expansion though i know ill be getting it too.if I love the original. Sab but most likely true

  • nedgip #82 3 years ago

    Does anybody else read reviews backwards? I tend to start at the last paragraph and work my way back until I'm bored.

  • theodg #83 3 years ago

    What I don't understand is why xbox gamers have stood for the whole microsoft space dollar thing (or wii gamers. I don't know how the PS3 does stuff like this) and why the gaming press haven't kicked up more of a fuss about it.

    I don't really see it working on the pc as people are much more used to paying with real money using a pc (if you could never do it like with the xbox you might be a bit more accepting), you have access to user created mods, the whole process for getting the dam thing seems broken (see http://ww w.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/01/... and piracy is easier.

  • ps3owner #84 3 years ago

    @davisorle

    I don't understand how you've managed to get to the "suck sony's cock" conclusion. (Although, maybe it's related to my nick name, even though it's a fact that I own one, nothing more) If it makes you happy, feel free to think what you like. I could say the same about you though, just replace sony with MS. I just don't see why bth. makes little sense. I guess you've pretty much got f-all to say about anything regard FO3 anyway, since you haven't even started playing it. So why don't you keep your written diarrhea to yourself and start playing FO3.

  • FortysixterUK #85 3 years ago

    aaaahhh download content......over priced and under done........

  • theodg #86 3 years ago

    There's nothing to not understand. Buying credits or paying directly, what's the difference? It's no more or less hassle.

    Well it is really, isn't it. For example, this is 800 space dollars, but you can only buy in 500 or 1000 denominations, so you're forced to spend an additional 25% of the asking price. This is all well and good if you are regularly buying stuff, but otherwise it is simply extortion. It also confuses things, why should I have to know how much 800 space dollars is worth? Why not just say it's £7 or whatever?
    Edited by 1 at 28/01/09 @ 14:16

  • PlugMonkey #87 3 years ago

    Well, they get on my nerves too. I don't really see why I can't just pay for things in money. It's not a major ordeal, but having to do a mental currency conversion and buy points in blocks is an absolutely needless run around. PS3 and Steam manage to cope perfectly well without them, and are a much more user friendly experience for it.

  • busboy33 #88 3 years ago

    @thedog:

    Yes, the Points are a cheap way to force you into buying more points than you need, insuring you come back for more purchases or throwaway the leftover.
    Having said that, in their defense they don't expire, so you can use them years later for another purchase . . . and I know precious few people that only buy a single item. They run out of a single account, so Zune owners can use the same pool for purchasing items from the Zune marketplace (all 3 of us). And while I agree its a crock to force you to end up with change (all but guaranteeing future purchases) I also think its a crock that an $8 purchase is priced at $7.99 to subconciously suggest its not as expensive as it is, and that's been going on by every retailer for eternity.
    As to the incredibly complex conversion that bothers you -- 400 points is 5 bucks, 800 is 10, 1200 is 15, etc. If they started pricing items at "643.5 points" then yes it would be a pain in the ass, but pretty much everything follows a set pricing structure so the mental gymnastics required to follow the conversion are considerably simplified.

  • Genji #89 3 years ago

    I would get this if they made it more challenging, or lengthier.

    As it is, though, combat in Fallout 3 is a joke with VATS, and not accurate enough without it. I'm just not interested in something that's combat-focused, especially something that seems as short as this.

    Maybe future DLC will be worth 800 points, but this isn't. I won't be getting it unless the price goes down.
    Edited by 1 at 29/01/09 @ 01:34

  • davisorle #90 3 years ago

    @ps3owner

    It's not and can NOT be the same by replacing with MS instead of PS3owner simply cause for once I wouldn't do that to myself & let's just say that I wouldn't give a rat's ass on making a comment on the manner you did. Look, it's fun just check me out saying it and you'll know what i mean:

    " Well no wonder why this piece of shit didn't come out on the xbox yet. MS would go for crap like that ( let me add something for the kinks! ) Sony only does cheap shit like that all the time. When something good is on the horizon MS would go for it eitherway! ( and let's bring an example! ) Sony couldn't even afford the DLC of GTA IV which is exclusive and they can be kissing MS' sorry ass since they have no chance in hell on getting siht for games like that out on their platform!"

    Well now you tell me.. From starting the way you did till the end of it cause i do have the right to add some extra shit. How much of an MS sucker did I sound like? So like i said.. We aint and wont be the same cause YOU did feel like saying this shit lol. I wouldn't give a fuck about what MS pays for DLC or not actually.

    So I stick with my original comment. Stry rereading your fucking post. Some like you that might not wanna be sucking so badly for Sony might be helped to stop doing it subconciously. I already got the game expansion for the PC eitherway. May play it may not. I don't care for the xbox version neither the PS3. I just cared to make my fucking point on your stupid comment. Deal with it.

  • muscleblade #91 3 years ago

    I liked this review a lot.

    http://ww w.xbox360achievements.org/news/...

  • #92 3 years ago

    It's only a review.

  • Farzlepot #93 3 years ago

    Read the review, got worried.

    Loved Fallout 3 more than pizza, so bought DLC anyway.

    Played DLC, thought it was OK.

    I'd have been a bit more generous with the score, but not much. Thanks to the expectations set by this review I was pleasantly surprised, so thanks for that at least Will!