I just finished playing through the fourth DLC expansion for Fallout 3.
Point Lookout takes place in on a new map area accessible from a ferry that leaves near from the Capitol Wasteland. It’s a swampy area that has the remains of an old tourist boardwalk, some old southern mansions, and thick swamps filled with mutated ‘natives.’
As a loyal Fallout fan I have and will continue to play pretty much everything they put out, but this expansion is easily the best of the bunch.
To give a quick summary: the first expansion was Operation: Anchorage. It had some neat scenery, but it was extremely linear, had relatively little plot, and provided almost no backstory. The attempt was to put the player in sort of this invasion cinamatic, but it didn’t come together well. The Fallout Engine, as great as it is, is just not big enough to really set that kind of a scene. Fallout will never be Call of Duty (or Vice Versa). If they had put in some more color it might have worked better, but it was just too short and too straightforward to be that great.
The second expansion was The Pitt. It had a new area beyond the main map. (An old ruined Pittsburgh.) The area was very cool looking and the story was interesting, but it was also too short for the world they had setup. I wanted to explore pittsburgh and really immerse myself in this new area. Instead, two or three missions and I had wiped out the bad guys. There was nothing to keep me there and, once again, no story to follow. It was a better expansion than anchorage, but still lacking.
Broken Steel had a small map expansion, but it was mostly a story expansion. It continued the Lone Wanderers war against the Enclave. Mission wise it was pretty cool and the new weapons were very fun. (Heavy Incinerator…best!). The final battle is pretty great and almost captured that epic feel that they attempted with Operation Anchorage. It still felt a bit tacked on, the lone wanderer doesn’t launch wars, that’s not what fallout is about, but it was a welcome addition to the universe. As always, I kept hoping they would flesh out the back story more even if it was the near-past. Still, I enjoyed Broken Steel a lot.
This latest one, well, it’s hit the spot. It starts off with a boat ride on an old Steamboat, which is great.
From there, it drops you off into a new map area and lets you go to town. There’s a full wilderness to explore, a half a dozen side quests, a short but fairly satisfying main quest, and a whole load of little touches that make the world fun to be in. I don’t want to drop too much, but going into the different hotel rooms was a blast. That alone was worth the price of admission. As always, I keep wishing they’d explore the history of the world or even the present. The various stories are all one-offs with no lingering consequence or relation. I keep hoping to find a town as big as Balmora in Morrowind, or Cheydinhal in Oblivion, something big enough that I get to interact with nearly everyone and actually figure out the town.
Alas, that’s not be yet, but this expansion got close. As always the visuals are nearly perfect. The sea side resort town has a sort of freshly abandoned vibe that quickly deteriorates as you near the desolate (and decidedly spooky swamp area). Add in the swamp folk and a pair of old abandoned southern mansions and there’s plenty to work with.
Mothership Zeta (the 5th expansion) comes out in another month. I’m not sure how I feel about aliens in the universe, but if they can keep up the good work of Point Lookout it should be fun to play.
