A decent piece of DLC, but it's very short, heavy on the action, and not really worth the $10 it costs.
Do you have a large bank account and don't mind spending $10 on DLC that will only take you a few hours to complete? And was the action portions of 'Fallout 3' your favorite part of the original game?
If you answered "yes" to those questions, then by all means, give this a try. If you answered "no", then it may be a good idea to let this one pass. That's not to say it's not worth playing at all, but this DLC is all about combat and it completely strips away most of the RPG elements and NPC interaction of the original game.
The story has you meeting up with a band of Brootherhood Outcasts. You then enter a simulation, where if you complete it, it unlocks a vault containing weapons, armor, etc. The simulation is set in Anchorage, Alaska and you take on the Chinese as they try to invade the area.
As I mentioned, this is all about combat. And that creates a couple of problems. By the time most players get around to playing this content, you will probably be at the level cap or very close to it. This makes the battles extremely easy for any characters that are strong at combat. My character, in particular, was a character built around combat so I breezed through this batch of missions quite quickly and easily.
A big difference from the original game is that you can't bring any of your items into the simulation with you. There is also zero item looting so you rely on health & ammo dispensers that are littered throughout the levels. That also leads to the game being solely about killing enemies. You do get a couple of nice pieces of armor to keep afterwards. And if you are an 'energy weapons' character, you will LOVE the 'Gauss Rifle', which is a much better sniper gun than the original one in 'Fallout 3'.
The best part of the DLC has to be the change of scenery from the dreary look of the wasteland to the icy world of Alaska. I spent over 60 hrs. seeing nothing but browns, grays, blacks, etc. in the original game. It was a nice change of pace, when you are outdoors, to see the winter of Alaska. Any interior part of the levels, still look like they do in the original game, however.
For big time fans of 'Fallout 3', like myself, this will probably be a no-brainer to download this no matter what. For fans on the fence, or with smaller pocketbooks, I would save your money and try one of the other batches of DLC for the game. 'Broken Steel' is the same price and a much better deal, considering it raises the level cap to 30. At any rate, this isn't a bad DLC. It's just that it may not be what fans were looking for, especially from the first set of DLC missions.