Fallout 3: Broken Steel

Review: Dave Kozicki

Giddy up you irradiated fans of mutants, metal men and mayhem. This is the add-on you’ve been waiting for! Taking place directly after the conclusion of the main story arc, Broken Steel is a cut above the previous downloadable packs, giving you an extra 6-7 hours of gameplay, a slew of new devastating weapons, the return of an steely companion, new perks, but most importantly, let’s you jump back in and complete many previously abandoned side quests by raising the level cap.

This DLC fixes many gripes with the original game, most significantly, by increasing the level cap to 30, not 20 as was previously available. To be frank we’re surprised they put a cap on at all, and think if they wished to limit a players abilities, to cap the game until the main story arc is finished, and then let completionists go hell for leather to knock out any remaining side missions or quests. For those of you who have yet to reach Fallout 3’s dramatic conclusion, cease and desist from reading this article immediately, as spoilers abound ahead.

Two weeks after the end of the main storyline you wake up in a medical bay and find out that the purifier is working to a “T”, but there’s still a little bit of life left in the pesky old Enclave, so it’s up to you to wipe out any remaining pockets of resistance. As you begin your assault, Liberty Prime is back for another piece of the action y’all, and after it’s short and destructive cameo you’re off to retrieve data from a satellite uplink to help pinpoint their new headquarters.

Something decidedly nasty happens to old Prime, taking him out of the picture and instantly redistributes the balance of power. It immediately puts you on the back foot. It’s great concept and sets up a series of bracing of counter attacks against The Enclave.

Without spoiling the entire plot, later missions lead to the uncovering of the Tesla Coil, a source of immense power with some weird experimentation associated around it, leading you eventually to Adam’s Air Force Base, introduced as the Enclave’s second base of operation. A limited amount of side missions crop up, such as one to commandeer Deathclaws and let them do the dirty work for you against the Enclave, as they follow you around like lovesick puppy dogs, but the majority of the DLC centres around eliminating The Enclave.

New weapons and enemies include the Hellfire Trooper using a Heavy Incinerator (and sporting new Hellfire armour, not surprisingly, resistant to anything hot and fiery), which has a mortar type delivery system that lobbing projectile arcs of flaming death on anything in the general region, be it friend or foe, there’s the Super Mutant Overlord, usually armed with a Tri-Beam Laser Rifle, good for non VATS use if you just want to run and gun, but the best of the bunch is the Tesla Cannon. This beast is like a rocket launcher working the same way the Gauss Rifle does, and is by far the coolest and most powerful weapon in the game.

We couldn’t leave you without mentioning the Medic prototype armour, located in the sewers below Old Olney. Many of you may have already found it in the course of your travels, but for those who haven’t, this armour is the bomb, baby! It gives you automatic Med-X shots to boost damage defence when your health drops below 20% telling you to ”suck it up”, plus it acts as an early warning system, mouthing off encouragement like a drill sergeant before skirmishes along the lines of “gear up soldier”, “let’s kick some ass” or “let them eat lead!”…oh yeah…did we neglect to mention it talks to you? It’s hard to go past it for comedic value alone, and it’s one of the coolest bits of kit in the game.

Many new perks have been included to accompany the higher level cap, with the best of the bunch Nuclear Anomaly, where if your health is reduced to below 20% you erupt in a nuclear explosion decimating all in your wake. Puppies lets you have a litter of four legged little bitches to use as Dogmeat replacements if he dies on your travels, for those of you who’ve grown attached to the ankle-biter, you can also instantly change your karma to very evil, very good or neutral, and Almost Perfect lets you raise all of your S.P.E.C.I.A.L.S to 9.

As far as DLC goes, this is pretty decent value for money, however we still feel you shouldn’t have to pay for the right to complete sections found in the original game, or for the privilege of levelling up your character. We think they should just eliminate the cap entirely. When all’s said and done, however, Fallout fans will happily split the difference, gladly paying for the extra gameplay, and it certainly is worth the monetary inconvenience.