I got Fallout 3 some time ago and loved it. To me it felt just like Oblivion but with guns. Not surprising really since they’re made by the same developers. I played it and completed it and was disappointed like most that you couldn’t continue to play after you completed it. Time passed I played other games and a five expansion packs for the game came out. Just before Christmas a game of the year addition was released which contained the game itself and all five expansions. Christmas day I tore open a present to find it was Fallout 3 GOTY. Expansions installed to my hard-drive I put in the game disc and sat down to continue the story my character.
I’ll do them in the order I played them:
Broken Steel:
The first expansion I played. It continues on from the end of the main game, upping the max level cap from 20 to 30 and adding some new perks to learn. Also added were some new enemies and weapons to go with the new, higher level cap. The story follows the Brotherhood of Steel who you helped activate Project Purity, a device used to clean a large body water of radiation in the main game. After taking back the project from the Enclave, the remains of the US government, the Brotherhood are set to wipe them out of DC for good. You help raid a base for intel, go find a tesla coil for a new weapon and blow up a giant moving Enclave base with a giant laser cannon in space. Good times. The story was pretty standard to the game but that’s fine, it felt like a proper conclusion to the games main story.
Operation: Anchorage
You stumble across a group of Outcasts from the Brotherhood who’ve discovered a sealed vault containing old weapons and equipment. They want in. Unfortunately the only way in is to complete a computer simulation of Operation Anchorage, a engagement by the US government to fight off a Chinese invasion of Anchorage in Alaska in 2066. You enter the VR simulation and take the roll of an unnamed trooper, parachuted into a mountain to take out some artillery cannons. Once that’s done you’re given a team and told to blow some more shit up. Unlike the rest of Fallout 3 you’re unable to loot dead enemies, you can’t pick up random items and you can’t sleep or wait. The devs went out of their way to make the expansion feel like you’re playing a simulation within the game. This expansion was one of my favourites, it went more for the shooter feel than the usual rpg feel. It’s a shame you can’t go through the simulation again.
Mothership Zeta
You’re abducted by aliens. You bust out your cell and then start putting your foot up some little green men’s arses. The story is fairly meh and the missions are simple “go here, blow up this generator, kills some aliens along the way”. The weapons though are great and you get some series healing items, gems for selling and some goop stuff that fixes your weapons. The whole affair is a great big shoot them up leading up to taking control of the ship and having a big laser battle with another alien ship. The expansion was worth it for the experience points and items found. The great thing is once you’ve finished you become captain of the ship, you’re able to return and pick up new alien supplies, something I find very useful.
The Pitt
This is the most meh of the expansion. Some guy asks you to help him over throw the man in charge of the Pitt, a giant slave camp. The story was meh, the new enemies were a walk in the park to fight and there just wasn’t any challenge to it at all. There’s new weapons and armor but most of it is out classed by equipment you get in the other expansions. The Pitts one saving grace however is an ammo press where you can turn scrap metal or ammo into other types of ammo, very useful for getting the hard to find .44 magnum rounds.
Point Lookout
The best of the expansions. New weapons, equipment, general items and enemies who who pose a threat. You take a boat ride to Point Lookout to find riches and fame only to stumble across a man holed up in a mansion being attacked by members of a nearby cult. You help out and agree to infiltrate the cult to find out why they’re attacking, getting stoned out of your mind and having a chunk of your brain cut out along the way. Unlike the other expansions Point Lookout has a number of quests and random things to do other than the main story. It has a fairly large new area which you’re able to explore freely unlike the other expansions. Point Lookout itself is swampland and adds more colour to the distopian browns of the main game. This was easily the most fun to play out of the five expansions.
I’m glad I got to play these expansions. They enriched an already great game. I can’t wait to see what Fallout 4 or the rumoured Fallout: New Vegas will be like. Especially with word that developers Bethesda are building a new improved game engine, capable of handling world far far bigger and the current one can.