After “Dead Money,†Fallout fans would have accepted a 2D side-scroller as an acceptable expansion pack- as long as it didn’t feature the beeping collars and shoddy level design.
Luckily for them, there isn’t anything around your neck in Fallout: New Vegas’ newest DLC, “Honest Hearts.â€
Before you get too happy though, you should know that the level design here is far from stellar, but unlike the annoyance the terrain provided in “Dead Money,†the level design here is simply bizarre.
Unlike the casinos and vaults most of New Vegas takes place in, “Honest Hearts†is set in the middle of a National Park in Utah, which takes the game back to its roots in a way. Wide open, it’s fun to navigate through.
Well, at first.
Even after the way the story begins, with a plethora of bloodshed and instant drama, it goes sour fast. After a few minutes, you’ll find yourself on top of huge mountain ranges and will be forced to find a way down to order to get to where you need to be.
Not quite.
In a not so shocking turn of events, if you happen to walk down these incredibly steep mountains slowly, more often than not, you can get to the bottom without killing your character. If you find this out early, this expansion pack will take you about five hours to finish. If not, you’ll find yourself walking, running, sneaking and swimming in circles, until frustration becomes your master and you’ll desire to play something else.
The amount of action in this DLC ends up making up mostly for the clunky level design though. With Yao Guai, Giant Geckos, the whole family of assorted mutated insects as well as whatever Indian tribes you’re fighting constantly down your throat, you’ll find yourself shooting a ton of bullets here. However, the fact that many of the enemies carry high quality melee weapons such as Shishkebab and flaming axes, you may want to go “Rambo†in this one too.
At times though, the action feels all for naught. In the beginning, the “return†of a pivotal character from the main game makes things interesting, but overall, these characters don’t make us care. There’s no emotion in this story. It feels like our dumb courier just stuck his head into a bad situation at the wrong time.
It feels exactly like the stories presented “New Vegas†and “Dead Money†and is completely void of the accountability and concern you felt while playing through “Fallout 3.â€
At this point, complaining about the bad story in “New Vegas†is a complete and utter waste of time.
It’s not all bad though. The new weapons in the expansion, including several shotguns and melee weapons are strong enough that you’ll most likely want to use them when you travel back to the Mohave. All though there are a few nasty bugs, such as the game locking up in VATS mode and computer-controlled characters and hidden items acting erratically, the tired and true action that Fallout fans expect is here.
You walk around, you shoot things, you make your character cool; if this is all you want from a Fallout expansion,-you’ll enjoy this title. Everyone else may end up a bit disappointed though.
Aside from the usual gameplay experience, there are some other reasons to purchase this as well. The fact that the level cap goes up to 40 after the purchase of this DLC will make veteran players drool. If you thought your character was strong beforehand, add another 80 or so skill points and see what happens. With the added level cap also comes new perks, which again, is more than enough to induce a purchase for hardcore fans.
All in all, if you played through “New Vegas†and “Dead Money,†part of the fun of the series is the exploration and development of relationships and character. While “Honest Hearts†is a nice way to beef your character up some, meet new faces and explore, don’t expect to have too much fun with it.
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