Fallout 3 was my favourite game of 2008 and I’ve also been enjoying the recent DLC of The Pitt and Operation Anchorage. One thing that’s marred my enjoyment slightly is that I reached level 20 about 30 hours into the game and since then haven’t been able to grow and develop like any good RPGer shoud. Thankfully, Broken Steel not only removes the level cap and increases it to level 30, it also adds some new perks, some new ultra-tough enemies and lets you continue to play the game once you’ve finished the main story.
Once you’ve finished the main quest you now wake up a couple of weeks later and are informed by the Brotherhood that the Enclave are still active in a few areas around DC. So off you go to hunt them down, earn all that lovely new XP and use a few new weapons into the bargain.
At first it feels like more of the same. You’ll be wandering the wasteland and exploring underground areas full of ghouls as before. It’s only when you reach top side and get to the Adams Air Force base that you get your true reward of something very new with some great set pieces and some very tough Enclave Hellfire soldiers to do away with.
The game gets really tough here and you may even feel like you did at the start of the game when you were set upon by Raiders when you only had a little pop gun and a stick of wood with a nail in it to defend yourself, the difference in toughness is that great.
Luckily, I haven’t got round to entering The Pitt so I’ve got all that lovely XP to gain on that quest. But it’s a shame I wasted the extra XP I could have got because I played Operation Anchorage before installing Broken Steel and the level increase that goes with it. Still, I know there’s plenty more to do and see after Broken Steel and it’s definitely another worthwhile chapter in the Fallout 3 saga. Broken Steel gets 8 out of 10.
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