Fallout 3: Broken Steel Impressions

By Alex Sassoon Coby, GameSpot UKPosted Apr 21, 2009 7:27 am PT

We got a sneak peek at the third set of DLC for the postapocalyptic role-playing game.

While Operation Anchorage and The Pitt provided several hours of fun for fans of Fallout, it is Broken Steel that looks to be the most interesting of the game's first wave of downloadable content. It will raise the level cap from 20 to 30 and follow on from the main storyline. Bethesda has confirmed that it will be coming out on May 5, will cost 800 points, and will contain a new set of achievements. It should take four to five hours to complete if you just plug away at the main storyline, but there are also numerous new side quests that should extend the playtime significantly beyond that.

While the entirety of the previous two packs happened away from the Capital Wasteland, much of the action in Broken Steel will take place around known locations, with only the apparent climax of the main plotline happening elsewhere. We saw a few snippets of what you can expect from the new content at a recent Bethesda event in London and are pleased to report that it looks to be shaping up quite nicely. We can only hope that the release comes with fewer hiccoughs than accompanied the launch of The Pitt.

The first and most important thing to note with Broken Steel is that it will tweak the game's much-maligned ending. This means that much of the rest of this preview will contain spoilers to said ending, so if you haven't finished Fallout 3 yet and wish to maintain the suspense, look away now.

Sometimes, you just need a bigger gun.

Broken Steel will pick up two weeks after the incidents in Project Purity--which you find yourself to have survived. The way this plays out will depend on your choices earlier in Fallout 3--whether you chose to spike the water supply, for instance, will have a significant effect on the way that people react to you over and above the karmic changes, as will your reaction to the issues surrounding the activation of the purifier.

However that turns out, when you come to, you'll find that Project Purity is now operational, and the tidal basin is slowly filling with pure, clean water. Getting this water to people is proving trickier than first thought, with problems coming from the ubiquitous raiders, from what remains of the Enclave forces, as well as from ghouls and super mutants--all of whom are now tougher than ever before to provide a challenge as you progress.

As well as wandering around the Capital Wasteland doing new side quests and mopping up what may have been left of the original game's multiple quests, many of which will still be available, the main quest will take you across the wasteland too. This will take the form of attacking Enclave bases and attempting to give the Brotherhood of Steel an even greater tactical advantage to wipe out the Enclave problem once and for all. One such mission that was briefly showcased was a quest to find a tesla coil in an effort to construct a new weapon--the tesla cannon.

Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to...oh, hang on.

This weapon came in handy in the next section we saw a bit of: Adams Air Force Base. This is a fairly large new area set a short distance away from the wasteland and accessible only by metro tunnel. This appears to be the final stronghold of the Enclave and is protected by a new kind of Enclave warrior: the hellfire trooper. These guys carry mean-looking weapons that launch massive gobbets of flaming napalm and need to be taken down rather swiftly. The tesla cannon, thankfully, does this job rather effectively. It's a massive shoulder-mounted rocket-launcher-type affair, only with the rocket-firing chamber seemingly replaced by a glass jar filled with arcing electricity. When you fire it, ball lightning hurtles towards your foes, dealing serious damage both in and out of VATS.

There are other new weapons, enemies, and armour promised throughout Broken Steel, though we didn't get to see them or their capabilities during our brief demo--but they are promised to crop up from level 18 onwards. We also didn't get to see any of the new perks that have been promised to ease the path to level 30, but we were told that one, called "puppies," will ensure you're never without a trusty canine companion for too long.

Finally, Bethesda promised that it had "got the message" as far as how the ending of Fallout 3 went and that Broken Steel would not have an ending as terminal as the one in the main storyline that it replaced. Keep it tuned to GameSpot for more news on the next set of DLC for Fallout 3, as well as Fallout: New Vegas, as the year progresses.

254 Comments

  • Smoothy08

    Posted May 17, 2009 1:46 pm PT

    Broken Steel DLC was amazing far better than my expections if you loved Fallout 3 then this is a purchase for you. I loved every second of it yes it is slow to start off with but when it gets going, you cannot put the joy pad down it lasted me about 9 hours plus.

  • nomailx

    Posted May 5, 2009 7:35 am PT

    Fallout 3's ending does not reflect the density of the game itself. Bethesta always had been weak concerning "In game videos". They should perhaps hire someone from Blizzard to cover this lack of theirs.

  • Blue_Tomato

    Posted May 5, 2009 4:16 am PT

    Actually the ending is kind of funny. You kill and see people die like flies through the whole game, but at that last part it was suddenly so so important that this one NPC that you had no emotional ties to whatsoever would not get irradiated after you just stepped over hundreds of dead bodies from the final fight. So not epic.

  • Damnation_6

    Posted May 5, 2009 3:56 am PT

    I was actually planning to wait until some new Fallout 3 edition came out that carries all the expansions.

    But this one seems to interesting, I'm itching to do more Brotherhood missions and get rid of that ending the game currently has....so I might end up getting this expansion

  • StarlightHunter

    Posted May 5, 2009 1:54 am PT

    its usually miday or just after 9 am.

  • Darth_Xavier

    Posted May 4, 2009 7:45 pm PT

    Wonder what time they are going to put it up on marketplace. Personally Im hoping for a midnight release but its probably going to be early in the morning like the pitt. Gonna have to download it after I take my final tomorrow, but its okay because that means I have the whole day to dedicate to radiated goodness.

  • Mr_Alexander

    Posted May 4, 2009 12:34 pm PT

    Can't wait for Broken Steel. Oh, btw, if you'd look through the original Fallout 3 data files you'd would see that there is technically another main quest that's not ingame, the only thing you can see about it is that it's called "Last Rites" =P

  • xxRJxx

    Posted May 4, 2009 11:57 am PT

    damn it all. im still playing the story before all the dlc

  • percuvius2

    Posted May 4, 2009 6:03 am PT

    I never died at the end, I let the chick go in and get irradiated. After all, I'm the hero of the wateland, the last best hope of humanity, no sense in me dying when she could.

  • surfshark

    Posted May 4, 2009 5:29 am PT

    I'm going to wait until all are out, then download them all and have another 20 hours or so of a game that I love. I think the wait will be worth it.

  • WalkerLawerence

    Posted May 2, 2009 3:10 pm PT

    I just loved how cool the Chinese Stealth Suit was. And the Perforator is pretty sweet too.

  • Boom-Cheese

    Posted May 1, 2009 10:01 pm PT

    Monkogamer said: "Anchorage was well worth it (I bought the Pitt but haven't played it yet). I loved how you get T-51b armor at the end and you get a bunch of new weapons (GAUSS RIFLE IS THE SHI*), I can't wait for Broken Steel."
    Sorry, can't agree with you mate. Anchorage was boring, completely linear, and the simple facts that you couldn't loot or make choices was annoying. Not always bad to try something new, and I did have some amount of fun with the DLC, but overall it wasn't great.
    Also, I think (despite the DMG it inflicts), that the Gauss Rifle was overrated and isn't a very cool weapon. Prefer the ol' sniper rifle, looks and just... feels MUCH better.

  • Boom-Cheese

    Posted May 1, 2009 9:53 pm PT

    Operation Anchorage was pretty bad, the Pitt was pretty good, Broken Steel should be pretty awesome.
    One thing I think is worth wondering is if you spike the water with the FEV virus, will all the ghouls be killed?
    Will be a major part of Fallout 3, and I think you'll have to think about your decisions very carefully in Broken Steel.

  • Tiger017

    Posted May 1, 2009 4:45 pm PT

    "Now, I love DLC, but I was one of those 'games are art' people who liked the original ending, anyone else with me?"
    Cant agree OmegaHunter9,I was EXTREMELY dissapointed when the game ended now who's with me??

  • ando2k7

    Posted May 1, 2009 8:52 am PT

    I know this is maybe a little off topic, but has anyone ever tried to just fight your way into 'The Pitt'? I don't know if you can or not but it would make things a bit different, especially with Chinease Stealth Armour and a Gauss Rifle.

  • StarlightHunter

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 9:16 am PT

    the pitt was far better than anchorage, be we all know the real prize from OA. im gonna start a new game once this dlc come out and play them all back to back.

  • thenephariouson

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 10:29 am PT

    gizzy82,

    LOL, exellent, i'm defo gonna try that : )

    Regarding the DLC, it really wouldnt suprise me if theres more to come, as i think theres something strange about having a max level of just 30, this means that there scope for potentialy alot more DLC, which could increase the XP by 10 each time. Suppose we'll just have to wait and see.

  • gizzy82

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 5:03 am PT

    Oh and btw i found something very amusing last night. I expect you all know this already but i will share anyway. I forgot the kids name but it is the son of the sherrif of megaton, i pick pocketed him and gave him Telsa power armour and helmet. Went back after leaving Megaton (to allow for loading etc) and sure enough when going back into his house i was greeted by the sight of a wee Enclave Umpa Lumper....i LOL'D

  • gizzy82

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 5:00 am PT

    Really looking forward to this . A question for you all: Do we know if this is the final dlc? or will there be yet more to get our radiation corroded teeth into? Personally i never want this game to end lol. Some more Schematics would be awsome imo. Also i would love some remote explosives, purely to put in Moira's pockets XD

  • andyclass50

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 3:32 am PT

    Great! Something else to look forward to.

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