Now that you’ve traversed Bethesda’s vast wasteland, conquered Super Mutant Behemoths, braved the treacherous Deathclaw Caves, and kept yourself from spewing at the sight of those grotesquely deformed ghouls, what’s next? Assuming you chose to activate Project Purity, regardless of who you send to do the deed (Sarah Lyons, Fawkes, Sergeant RL-3, yourself…), the Broken Steel downloadable content will allow you to continue on your moral adventures. Thankfully, Bethesda adhered to fans who were disappointed to find out that the end of the main quest meant the end of the fun. Apart from fixing that major issue, the character level cap has been increased to 30, which means all the hard questing you do during and post-Broken Steel won’t go unrewarded.

It’s awesome to see more and more developers taking advantage of harddrive equipped
consoles, providing extensive downloadable content to prolong your favorite gaming
experiences. The downside, of course, is that these additions cost a hot buck or two. Some call it greedy, and others say it’s a necessary evil. I think it depends on the game, or in this case, the universe you’re expanding. Fallout 3′s Broken Steel add-on packs three new quests to the main plotline of Fallout 3, ultimately creating a story of nearly perfect length.

Fallout 3′s massive wasteland can be conquered quite easily, provided you don’t deviate focus from finding dear old dad. Undoubtedly the game wasn’t intended to be played in such a way, but even so, a lot of Oblivian veterans were hoping for a lengthier epic. Broken Steel fills in the missing pieces, tacks on a few new enemies, introduces exotic new weaponry, raises the maximum character statistics, and finally resolves the tense conflict between The Enclave and The Brotherhood of Steel.

The disappointment I felt from Broken Steel’s relatively linear path was outweighed by my appreciation of the meaty gameplay content. Sure, my options may be limited to blowing up either the Enclave or the Citadel, ruling out any possibility for a neutral outcome. That’s acceptable though, because it’s doubtful you’d mow down hoards of Enclave only to reach the payload-firing terminal to say “Eh, nevermind.” On the opposite side of the coin, you do have the option of destroying the Enclave, then returning to the Citadel for a celebratory slaughtering. No matter what your decision is, the struggle between Enclave and Brotherhood members is at its peak, and you’ll find yourself in several encounters with deadly Hellfire troopers, Sigma leaders, and if you’re unfortunate enough, Feral Ghoul Reavers. The challenge of defeating these new foes is balanced out by the plethora of guns and first aid, especially towards Broken Steel’s end, by which time you’ll be literally tripping over supplies. Be sure to acquisition some kind of follower to carry the heavy stuff.

I’d be perfectly fine with Bethesda calling it quits on Fallout 3 after rounding things out with Broken Steel, but there are rumors of future DLC to be released prior to Fallout: New Vegas. Even so, no past DLC is comparable in quality or worth to Broken Steel, which offers everything fans have been asking for from the beginning. The Pitt may have allowed for some entertaining side quests, and Operation Anchorage was an interesting history lesson (at best), but the third time truly is the charm. 800 Microsoft points from now, you’ll understand why.