• 27Jun 09

  The Down Low on DLC Part II

  So it's been a while since my last look at DLC but the wait has given me time to expand on more...Here's the rundown on some latest DLC packs.

  Saint's Row 2: Corporate Warfare DLC: 560 MS Points, $7 on PSN:

  Once again Volition drops the DLC ball by offering a meager amount of content. At least this time they lowered the price of their scraps. In this pack, we're treated to a few new MP maps, a few new missions, some achievements, a few new oldies cars that are fun to look at, and some more customization options for the player character.

  The three missions that come with this DLC are standard fare and do very little to expand the story any further from the main game. They almost feel like there's no point to them at all because pretty much nothing big is accomplished. I did mention the cars being cool because they have some old vehicles from around the 50's or maybe earlier, I'm not much of a car buff. However, playing co-op and seeing a guy doing drive-bys in an antique car dressed like Jesus is a sight to behold.

  Overall if you're a fan and you have some money to toss away, would like some new cars, MP maps and achievements it still feels like a bit of a waste but it does supply some entertainment.

  Fallout 3: Operation Anchorage DLC: 800 MS Points

  The first set of DLC for Fallout 3 doesn't really capture the feel of Fallout 3 at all and in my opinion is the weakest of the DLC released for this game. In OA, you receive a message from the BoS Outcasts that they need help with something and upon arrival to their location; you find that they have happened on a weapons cache that can only be unlocked by people who pass a test in a virtual simulation.

  The simulation as you must know by now has to do with the Chinese Assault on Anchorage, Alaska and involves the player character going on a mission to stop the Chinese occupation of Alaska. Unfortunately all Role Playing is tossed out the window in favor of squad based shooter missions. There's very little exploration of the frozen landscape, no dialogue choices and in fact, the only choices in this DLC are the squad member types and if you want to leave the simulation.

  This DLC really feels like it doesn't belong and it was kind of painful to play through but the rewards are kind of worth it in the end. Some achievements are unlocked and there is winterized power armor and some new weapons to be had at the finish. I did have one strange thing happen at the very and I hope someone can explain this to me...

  SPOILERS~~~~~~~~~~~

  Are the Outcasts supposed to murder each other in the end? I was going through the vault, collecting ammo when all hell broke loose and everyone killed each other in a hail of minigun rounds and rocket fire. No one was left alive.

  SPOILERS~~~~~~~~~~~

  Fallout 3: The Pitt DLC: 800 MS Points

  So far, and plotwise I must say, This DLC is the best in my book. The setting is incredible, the story is pretty good and the characters are pretty memorable. In this DLC the player character has to infiltrate a slaver colony in Pittsburg and eventuallyassist with the rebellion or side with the slavers. Either choice, the player character should walk away wondering if they made the right decision.

  This DLC has a few new perks, some new weapons, armor,achievements and one of the better atmospheres of the game. In the slave pens there is a feeling of hopelessness, in the steel yard where the player is sent to scavenge ore while killer diseased maniacs and bandits roam, there's an ever lurking sense of danger and finally when the player character gets to uptown where the important slavers live, there's almost a feeling of disgust.

  This DLC is pretty much a compact version of all the best parts of Fallout 3: foreboding environment, some good items, crazy creatures, some nice rewards and a tough decision in the end. The most interesting part is definitely the scavenging portion where the player character is put in a map and tasked tofind 10 ~ 100 pieces of ore. The more ore found, the better the rewards. I usually hate hunting for items but the map is small and the rewards are good so I didn't mind at all.

  In the end, this DLC really makes up for Operation Anchorage and if it had more changes to the game like the next DLC has, it would be on the top of my list as THE DLC to get for Fallout 3.

  Fallout 3: Broken Steel DLC: 800 MS Points:

  The reason this has is the best DLC to get for Fallout 3 is that it ups the level cap, gives the game a much better ending, supplies new perks, tougher enemies and some new items all in one pack. I don't know about anyone else but while playing Fallout 3, I was done leveling up way before I was actually done with the game, and to me, once the leveling up aspect was gone, I had all the best equipment and pretty much killed everything there was to be killed, the game felt more like a standard FPS.

  Now I'm level 30 and there are creatures that can and have kicked my ass and the game feels great again. Albino Radscorpions, Feral Ghoul Reavers and Super Mutant Overlords all make sure to bring any wanderer back down off of their high horse as these creatures are fast, durable and deadly. My first meeting with a reaver started with me mistaking the creature for a normal ghoul and attempting to shoot it in the face with my silenced pistol, the mistake was quickly rectified as I was killed by a Glowing One and two Reavers who just soaked up shells from my Terrible Shotgun.

  As with the Fallout games before this, this DLC makes sure the player character is involved in wiping out the Enclave once and for all. The quest takes part at some familiar locations and ends up with a battle aboard a huge mobile command center where the character has another decision to make at the end. I found this decision much easier to make than the one found in the end of the game or in The Pitt expansion and that was it.

  In the game there is a monster of a new gun called the Tesla Cannon and my favorite new armor in the game called the Hellfire Power Armor.

  Fallout 3: Point Lookout DLC: 800MS Points.

  Gone is the urban or rocky wasteland of the metro DC area and in its place is a swamp littered with cultists and deformed inbred mutants. I've always liked swamp settings in games and I was hoping for a more, deep south, Louisiana marshland feeling from the environment but Point Lookout does a decent enough job in atmosphere without it. Found in this DLC are a new map about 1/5 the size of Fallout 3's main map, new quests, armor, weapons, items, creatures and achievements.

  I have to say that this is close to being my second favorite DLC for Fallout 3 slightly behind The Pitt but far above Operation Anchorage. There's a quest in this DLC that blew me away with the insanity behind it. Pretty much the main quest involves a rivalry between a couple of century old enemies with the player character getting stuck in the middle between these two maniacs. Along the way you'll run into a bunch of inbred, tribal warriors, ghouls and if you're lucky enough you'll come across some interesting side quests also.

  The player character is free to go back and forth from point lookout to the DC metro area whenever they wish by use of a ferryboat which is a good thing if one wishes to stuck up items to repair armor or weapons that probably won't be found in this backwoods locale, or just to offload all the strange new loot that can be found.

  The landscape is finely crafted and a lot of detail is put into certain places. I came across a giant tree with a parachute stuck in it and a skeleton nearby. Littered about the skeleton was a helmet, an assault rifle and an axe in the tree which, while this scene has no real importance, had me stop in my tracks an think about what may have happened to this poor guy. There are little scenes like that mixed all over the place lending some charm to the area.

  There's really no new powerful armor but there is a new Double Barreled Shotgun which trumps that damage caused by almost all of the other shotguns except The Terrible Shotgun. I was a fan of shotguns in the previous Fallouts so in this game it was no different. All in all this quest takes about a handful of hours to see and do almost everything and thankfully, with a new character, this quest can be completed at any time which should be a nice distraction to anyone starting the game over again or beginning for the first time.

  • Posted Jun 27, 2009 8:06 am PT
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• 18May 09

  The Down low on DLC.

  Ever since I got my internet back about 2 months ago, I've been on an almost weekly DLC download or playing spree. I've downloaded and played Fable 2's DLCs, the GTA IV DLC, The Saint's Row 2 DLC and all three Fallout 3 DLCs. The price range on these items range from 800-1600 Microsoft points and the quality does vary between some of them. I'll start off with the biggest waste of money:

  Saint's Row 2: Ultor Exposed DLC: 800 MS points, $9.99 on PSN

  For about the cost of $10.00, Ultor Exposed adds three main missions, some new clothing and character options, a handful of new vehicles that are automatically added to the garage, a new co-op mod, some achievements and 4 multiplayer maps. Is it all worth it?

  No

  I played through the missions and although they nicely link the Saint's Row universe to that of Red Faction's world a little tighter, having porn star Tera Patrick in a speaking role is going way beyond her talents. It would be like strapping shoulder pads on Rachel Ray and tossing her into a Monday night football game. Some laughs are to be had at the poor dialogue and crappy delivery (such as the fact that Ms. Patrick plays a microbiologist) but they're not laughing with the game funny, more along the lines of laughing at it. These three new missions should take all of 20 - 30 minutes to play through

  The new vehicles are nothing like the previous vehicles in the game and are nice to mess around with. There's an old fashioned race car, a backwards tricycle type motorcar, a tank ripped straight from Red Faction equipped with a rocket launcher and a new attack chopper. Also there are new hair **** and a few new clothing items to further expand the great create a character mode. I'm finally able to make a piece of overweight white trash with the balding mullet I've always wanted to put on him.

  Didn't touch the MP maps because let's face it, SR 2's MP was never anything to write home about however the new co-op mode would have been nice if it was included while the launch of the game. Now instead of just playing through the game co-op, they've included a Meta game in which both players compete for kills and destruction while going through regular missions. It's not to say you couldn't crap talk with a friend about who killed more before but now it would be official.

  All in all, the DLC for SR 2 really isn't worth it. When you have games like Fable 2, GTA IV and Fallout 3 adding loads of extra content for more reasonable prices, this DLC didn't last long and also alienated me from friends that don't have$10.00 to throw away on weak content. Oh well.

  Fable II: Knothole Island DLC: 800 Microsoft points.

  The Fable II DLC's aren't around to win over new customers, they're to draw back fans of the game and entertain them with new quests, items, achievements and more of the beautiful world of Albion and this is what it does wonderfully.

  Knothole Island includes three new quests, a new area and some new armor, weapons and potions and runs approximately 2 and ½ for 4 hours depends on what one wants to get out of this DLC. Everything the missions can be finished in roughly two hours while finding all of the Knothole Island books and getting all of the Trader's items might lengthen the time spent with this game a bit.

  The quests meld wonderfully with the side quests that are already available and involve fixing the weather problems for this small island one mishap at a time. At first it is too cold, then too hot and dry and finally it's too rainy. After some dungeon crawling, the problem works itself out and it's up to the character to make one final choice of who gets to control the weather on the island.

  Along the way there are wonderful new potions to acquire that magically change the appearance of the main character. My hero was Evil, powerful but unfortunately had packed on quite a few pounds throughout the course of his career. Amazingly though there was a potion to solve that in Knothole Isle that returned him back to his lean evilness.

  There are also a few new unique weapons but unfortunately I had better ones, it's the clothing options that came through as there is a new set of knight armor and a funny 1960's greaser gang set of clothing which includes some glasses and a slicked back wig.

  Even though this DLC pack costs more than the larger See the Future DLC pack for Fable II, the cost of this DLC is much easier to swallow than the junky SR 2 one. Lastly there is a free version that let's one get a taste of some of the items while also enabling the person to tag along with someone that has paid for the content. A nice touch I'd say.

  Fable II: See the Future DLC: 560 Microsoft Points

  For a lower amount than Knothole Island, you get a bit more content that involves two longer missions, a hunt for statues, a bunch of new achievements, a couple new creatures and some new weapons/costumes to play around with.

  Once again the finely crafted world of Albion is expanded by a few new worlds that revolve around some cursed items. The first one, a town trapped in a snow globe, involves putting the color back into this cursed town by fighting off some foes that are only vulnerable to certain attacks. The next mission involves helping out a trapped night with the use of costumes fashioned after Balverine's, the Undead and the goblin type creatures. The third quest gives a cryptic view into what could be the next Fable or even the next DLC and the final item is another gladiator type arena in which wave after wave of foes are decimated for gold and items.

  This DLC lasts roughly as long as Knothole Islands but the new arena offers much more replayability. There are also new potions that turn the friendly canine companion into a Dalmatian, a husky or a blood hound.

  The best part of this game is the strange view to future that raises some questions. Maybe the answers will be revealed at this upcoming E3. I doubt we've seen the last of Fable's world.

  I'll save the DLC for Fallout and the mother of all DLC for GTA IV for another entry. Until then, I hope these impressions either help people to enjoy more of their favorite game or save someone some cash.

  • Posted May 18, 2009 4:06 pm PT
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• 7May 09

  RPG overload.

  SO the other day I buy Drakensang because I've heard nothing but good things about it from most gamers that give it a try and although it feels pretty generic, I'm really liking a lot of the things the game does right. I believe this is the first game where I acually try to craft items because, while not making the crafting process too easy, this game has made it simple enough in thought and execution that I actually don't mind doing it. So far I'm enjoying my party and I'm melding them all to specialize in certain things and I've really had no troubles so far.

  But I've also just downloaded the next Neverwinter Nights 2 expansion: Mysteries of Westgate. People say it's 15 hours of play for about $10 so that's not a bad deal at all. Looking to see how that little expansion plays out.

  And finally Broken Steel for Fallout 3 is fixed for PC and I'm currently downloading that and getting ready to start it up so I can continue that game with my old character and hopefully in the future I'll start an evil play through with The Pitt and Operation Anchorage expansions to change the pace of that playthrough.

  Finally Demon's Souls came in the mail today and I'm looking forward to playing this. I bet it will take me a while to figure things out in tht game since the booklet is in another language and the only thing Ihave to guide me without spoiling anything is this little fold out guide that came with the game in english.

  I think I have enough RPG's to last me well beyond Dragon's Age or Alpha Protocol's release.

  • Posted May 7, 2009 10:12 pm PT
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