User:Kastera1000/Fallout: New Vegas add-on reviews

Introduction
After the success of the add-on packs released for Fallout 3, it's no wonder that Bethesda and Obsidian did the same for Fallout: New Vegas. However, were these add-ons as successful as their predecessors or did they instead fall short, making an already lacking game even more lacking? For what it's worth, I'm going to delve into the Fallout: New Vegas add-ons, pick them apart and determine if they truly did add on to Fallout: New Vegas.

Dead Money
Dead Money was first rate and outmatched all the rest. Its unique take on a horror-survival based theme mixed with motifs of greed and an extravagant world left to be forgotten made for a sincere and resolute gaming experience. Only adding on to this was a developed back story and characters that made it a very gripping add-on both to play and experience and an adventure I look forward to starting every time I embark on my adventure through the Mojave Desert.

The most discernible feature of this add-on was the unique difficulty it had. Often times, games are either too easy or too difficult, and few tread the line in between; Dead Money is one of these games. The add-on strongly focuses on making you feel helpless and like there's nothing you can do. You were stripped of everything: your weapons and ammo, your armor, even your bobby pins, which I'd bet many take for granted. How can life get any worse? I'll tell you how: all you're given is a jumpsuit that offers no protection, a half-broken makeshift grenade launcher turned hologram hurler, some two dozen rounds of inefficient ammunition... and your wits, of course. Dead Money really takes it tagline "Begin Again" seriously, am I right? Because of this, it was absolutely crucial that you thought of a strategy and used your resources (or rather lack thereof) wisely and efficiently; otherwise you would fall prey to the Sierra Madre. This is a common tactic in games of the survival-horror genre, but it is rarely employed in role-playing games. Personally, I loved this feature, but from what I've heard, not many people were too keen on this aspect of the RPG; God forbid you stop and think once in your life and actually assess a situation. They would rather have brought their anti-materiel rifle or minigun and mowed down anything in their line of sight. "Who cares if it defeats the purpose of the game? I want to be done within the hour! Screw taking the time to admire something developers collectively spent hundreds of hours working on!" But I digress. Honestly, it's obvious you are undersupplied. This does make it more difficult, but it adds a much needed cerebral element to the game. It is, however, balanced by a prominent theme in the add-on that is most primal – greed. Given your situation, you generally take things you normally wouldn’t give a second thought about taking. Anything and everything becomes useful: ammo, weapons you're not skilled in, Sierra Madre chips, hell - packs of cigarettes, whatever. If it's there, you take it, even if it means potentially putting yourself in harms way. The idea is all about weighing the use over the sacrifice of getting it. It's survive or die out here, so nothing can be overlooked.

Another major aspect that led to the overall difficulty was the traps and hazards spread throughout the villa. Whether it was a bear trap, a rigged shotgun, or a grenade bouquet, if you were in the villa, you were not safe. Right about now your saying, "But wait Kastera, all you have to do is look where you step and you'll be fine"; if only it were that simple. While it's easy to avoid traps you're looking for, the Sierra Madre captivates and intrigues you; it makes you wonder what's around the corner and makes you pay no mind to the tripwire waiting at your feet. So even if we are extremely cautious, the Sierra Madre is still three steps ahead of us. It uses the Cloud as a distraction, making you anxious to get out as soon as possible, as your health dwindles rapidly. The Sierra Madre then tricks you by placing the bear traps or trip wires directly at the end of the Cloud so your blurred vision gets the better of you. And it doesn’t help to have a beep-inducing radio placed strategically around every corner after you exit the Cloud. The Sierra Madre gives the term "tourist trap" a whole new meaning.

The Sierra Madre's environment was an excellent pairing with its atmosphere. In the pre-War resort left seemingly in a trance of permanent dusk, a dilapidated villa is soaked in the light of a rusted auburn sky, choking underneath the swirling red Cloud. The eerie silence is only broken by a distant thunder clap, jarring train bell or guttural chuckle, mocking the prisoner trapped within. The villa juxtaposes the extravagant and nearly-angelic Sierra Madre Casino upon a hilltop overlooking the havoc that rests below. Small tokens that were carelessly cast away shimmer and gild the trashed pavement, leaving wanderers small gifts... or deadly traps depending on the circumstance. Instead of lively music and the bustle of people echoing through a pristine and bright new villa, all that remains are the skeletal remains of a resort; cracked cobblestone, boarded up walls, grimy windows and long expired inhabitants scuffling through the streets... and they're not happy about you entreating into their home.

Normally I would remark on the lack of creatures in this add-on, but the two enemies met in the husk of the Madre were so intriguing that I can get past the deficiency. The ghost people were fascinating, to say the least. When I began the add-on and started to head west from the fountain, I saw a hunched over, figure shrouded in brown with glowing green eyes shamble across the corridor; I was instantly terrified... yet enthralled. I rounded the corner only to find out that the creature had scuffled off to disappear into the Cloud of the Sierra Madre. This captivated me even more. What's even better is the Sierra Madre catered to my captivation and explained the ghost people's past, going into grave detail concerning the villa's construction and the poisonous gas that would soon be the Cloud. Now there's dry terminal entries and then there's experience you can only learn about from confronting them. You usually go into a small panic when being attacked by these shambling and bounding hazmat suits; the fact that you had to dismember them gave them a further element of horror. The other "creatures" that caught my eye were the holograms. They too had a fascinating background, problem was: we didn't get to find out much of it until Old World Blues. From what our captor tells us, the holograms were the brainchild of a think tank, but it proved impossible for them to make the holograms anything beyond walking greeters, like Frederick Sinclair wanted. As such, another contractor stepped in and made them walking weapons. However, the programming was a bit faulty. On the night of the Great War, during the Sierra Madre Gala Event, the doors and windows were hermetically sealed closed. Because of this faulty programming, the holograms slaughtered every last man, woman and child in the casino, as evident from skeletons sitting in a puddle of their own blood or skeletons thrown upon their loved ones in futile attempt to save their lives. Adding on to their intrigue, they were difficult as hell to get past. They could not be hurt by any weapon (not even by the holorifle, despite its name), they had a highly damaging energy beam and were all over the casino. So when it came down to it, you once again had to think and assess the situation. It always made you feel great when you studied the holograms' path and then exploited it, allowing you to sneak past it with little effort.

Along with great creatures, Dead Money also had a great cast of colorful characters, and I do mean "characters". These people weren't just ordinary NPC's; they had well developed back stories and plenty of thought provoking dialogue. But not only were these the only friendly faces in the Sierra Madre, your very life was tied to them; "One of you dies, you all die." This significantly urged you to talk to them and uncover their own story. The first among this unique trio was Dog (or God as he sometimes likes to be referred to). Dead Money kept to the lore of nightkin with their psychological issues but, in this case, developing Dog's into a full blown case of multiple personality disorder. The entendre of contrasting personalities bouncing off one another was really fun to see unfold. Dog also displayed a very childlike demeanor, constantly needing some form of an authority figure. Whether it was Elijah or God, I'm not quite sure. His pleas of, "Master? Where is Master?", for a reason I can't put my finger on, made him feel more "real" and developed. This childish behavior was further contrasted by God's authoritative, yet nurturing voice. The second person in this captive group is Christine Royce, a soldier in a splinter cell of the Brotherhood of Steel. After the titillating tragedy of being thrown in an Auto-Doc and having her vocal cords ripped out, though challenging, it was an unexpected turn to try to decipher her mannerisms. Unless you paid close attention to her, you were going to miss out on back story; something usually pertaining to either Elijah, your captor; the man she's been hunting down for years or the wretched world surrounding you. Either way, she gave you more history and lore to the Fallout universe which I really appreciated. In addition, she talks of the Mojave chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel and a familiar face: Veronica, her lover. This made Christine more relatable to the player, discussing aspects of the player’s adventures to that of her own. The last person in our little captive entourage is the King of Swing himself, Mister Dean Domino. Domino's narcissistic and egotistical attitude greatly developed his character, albeit it's well deserved; he survived the bombs, and has lived longer than any stage performer ever did or ever will. He's got the right to think himself better than everyone else. His attitude was complimented by his dark sense of humor, such as complimenting the villa's trees during this time of year: "all blooming and green". Dean also had a pivotal role in the understanding of ghost people. Because the pre-War terminals are... well, pre-War, they don't go into much detail on the end result of The Cloud and the construction workers, but Dean discloses lots of information concerning their behavior, saying there are thousands milling underneath the Sierra Madre, which added more mystique to the resort than it already had. Dean also witnessed the corruption and sordid 'behind the scenes' of the Madre further expanding the role of Vera Keyes and Frederick Sinclair of the Madre's past.

Now, while all of these characters were interesting in their own rite, they all pale in comparison to the mastermind who orchestrated the entire Sierra Madre Casino heist: Father Elijah. Elijah is one of the most developed characters in Fallout: New Vegas, even if he does only appear in Dead Money. You learn lots about his Mojave experiences from Brotherhood of Steel scribes and paladins in Hidden Valley Bunker, countless NCR personnel in HELIOS One, and even more than both of them combined from Veronica and her companion quest. From what we hear, we find that Elijah resided as Elder prior to McNamara and tried to run the Brotherhood slightly different; instead of amassing energy weapons and pre-War technology, he encouraged the Brotherhood to seek outt farming equipment or other beneficial pre-War tech, attempting to help the wasteland by creating tech, rather than hoarding it in an old bunker. However, other members of the Brotherhood disagreed and when the NCR executed Operation: Sunburst and sieged HELIOS One, Elijah took this as an excuse to terrorize the wasteland in order to get his message and philosophy across to its denizens, demonstrating that they needed the technology he encouraged the Brotherhood to salvage. Elijah is a complicated character: he seems like an evil overlord at first, what with him kidnapping you and forcing you to play the role of a pawn in the heist of the centuries, but in truth, he seems to be more of an altruist and wants to enhance modern life for the people of the wastes no matter the means. His motives behind harnessing the Cloud and the Sierra Madre's holograms may be devious, but his life as Elder has him convinced the only time people will listen to him is when he's in command. All these experiences shaped his personality into a domineering, cunning and manipulative evil genius which made for a very compelling main add-on antagonist.

The largest aspect and developed theme encompassing Dead Money was the Sierra Madre's established history and legend going back to before the War. From numerous notes and terminal entries, as well as Dean Domino and Elijah's accounts, you discover everything that could ever be known about the Sierra Madre; it seems like it's a real city the way they describe it in such detail. Because of my overwhelming love for history, this was my favorite thing about Dead Money; the fact that they put so much effort into making a fictional game so lifelike. This history was further solidified when you find Vera Keyes' lifeless skeleton slumped in a chair in her executive suite, surrounded by empty syringes of Med-X with the chilling words "LET GO" sprawled across the wall in lipstick as well as "The Founder" Frederick Sinclair's skeleton lost between two pipes in the Sierra Madre's vault, victim to the poisonous Cloud. It was all very surreal and unnerving to me.

Additionally, Dead Money did a great job in keeping true to its other theme of "Let go". You have to let go of your equipment; you must let go of your comfort zone in order to survive; you must let go of your greed, leaving a fortune of gold behind in order to make it out with your life. And of course, you must let go of the Sierra Madre in all her glory. That would be my only problem with the add-on; leaving her to painfully never return again. I guess Elijah said it best: "finding it... that's not the hard part. It's letting go..."

Honest Hearts
Although Honest Hearts ranked the lowest to my liking, it was altogether a halfway-decent add-on. In fact, it was the first add-on I bought for New Vegas and I thought nothing would be better than this. Obviously I needed more experience to make that decision.

The basic premise of the add-on was simple, yet admirable; go along with a caravan group, guard it and help map out the territory for them with your Pip-Boy. Honest Hearts attempted to do something similar to Dead Money whereby they got rid of your equipment (not all, but still a considerable amount of it), which added a slight challenge to the game. The explanation given dealing with narrow slot canyons was actually logical; I thought the developers would limit your equipment just because. It's not really of relevance to the add-on, but I liked Masterson's "super mutant caught in a drainage pipe" analogy.

When you finally do reach Zion Canyon after two weeks, you find yourself under attack by a hostile raiding tribe, the White Legs and unfortunately, the group gets slaughtered by these tribals. I felt that the developers did a decently good job giving the player at least some connection to the caravaneers, despite the small amount of time you know them before their untimely demise. I actually felt something when Stella got shot down, followed by Jed's head splattering onto the ground, making me want to exact some kind of revenge, which drove the story further.

Shortly after dispatching the welcoming committee, I headed across the bridge only to see another tribal running towards me. Luckily, V.A.T.S. told me this tribal had a name, so I didn't immediately shoot his head off. Is it just me or is it crazy that the developers would send an NPC toward you that, in the event of his death, could instantly derail the entire add-on right after you've killed other tribals that, from a distance, look remarkably similar to him? Not only was Follows-Chalk potentially placed in the line of fire, but in addition the developers made him unconventionally irritating (though it was likely unintentional). It's like the developers wanted you to waste your money by derailing the add-on. The thing I really don't care for about him is his accent. It's oh-so-ignorantly Native American to the point of mockery. Native Americans don't talk haltingly, pronounce every syllable or deliberate on every word that comes out of their mouth; in fact, they talk essentially the same as white folks. Now I would be fine with this if only Follows-Chalk did this; his voice actor was probably just trying to be funny – no big deal – but every tribal does this. Just because you have dark skin and live in a forest doesn't mean you dance with the bears and listen to the spirit of the wind!

Anyway, after talking to Chief Dancing Bear, he leads me to the Dead Horses camp to meet their war chief, who Follows-Chalk calls "Joshua". Little did I know that this Joshua would be the infamous Burned Man, Joshua Graham, the first legate of Caesar's Legion. As I listened to this man's awesome voice while I watched him inspect pistols ad infinitum, I hoped he would actually matter. While you do learn quite a bit about Graham and go deeper into the history of Caesar's Legion and the ideology of Caesar himself, after add-on completion, he plays no role; he could have helped you strategize for the Second Battle of Hoover Dam and use his knowledge in warfare to help lead you to a stunning victory; he could have given you additional post-story side quests; hell – he could have stayed in Zion Canyon! Another illogical thing that grinds my gears is that everyone leaves Zion after the add-on. Why would every named NPC leave? It would make sense if Daniel and Waking Cloud left if you evacuated Zion, but if you crushed the White Legs, there's no reason for anyone to depart paradise. The Dead Horses and Sorrows suddenly don't need leaders after the White Legs are out of the picture? Another thing that's terribly illogical: the footlocker of equipment you find at the northern passage. Evidently, while the characters were leaving Zion, they decided that they should repay the Courier by stripping down to their underwear, disarming themselves and taking the high road. I know I'm nitpicking (I'm glad they did it; Honest Hearts had some of the best loot in all the add-ons), but honestly, they would have been dead before they got to Pine Creek Tunnel!

One aspect I can appreciate about Honest Hearts however is its involved integration of post-War religion. Though the add-on wasn't "in your face" and constantly badgering you with theology, many characters, particularly Graham and Daniel, created a motif in which they explain their motives for how they conduct their lives in order to help others. Their interpretation of the Bible and God's will being transferred to their current struggles is kind of inspiring and heartfelt. With nothing left in the world to have faith in, they turn to God for help and try to make the best of what they can in times of uncertainty and doubt. Daniel's devotion to his religion really builds him up as a character and allows us to understand his gentle approach to the outrageous circumstances currently at hand. Graham's interpretation of God's will is more radical than Daniel’s, toeing the line between black and white. He's clearly devout to God, but is conflicted in having to kill God's children in order to ensure the safety of those closest to him. His religious rebirth in the form of a blazing baptism renewed his faith and keeps him motivated to do God's work, but he also expresses his doubts of what he is doing as right and just. The religion angle is one most games don't tackle, but Honest Hearts managed to do so with grace and understanding.

However, this theme of theology stopped at the questline; the vast majority of the story quests were simple fetch quests: the bane of every RPG gamer. We all know fetch quests are the most uninspired, plain quests that a developer can make, made solely to artificially elongate the experience, which leads to dry quests with no substance; no content; just blind objectives. However, there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this lack of insightful quests. Arguably the most noticeable facet of this add-on was it's out of the ordinary environment. Because Zion Canyon had remained untouched by the nuclear warheads of the Great War, it still looks like something out of a postcard, rather than a dingy little spit of wasteland. This modification of usual scenery was a welcome change. If you remember my Mothership Zeta review, I mentioned that the contrast of the usual grungy Fallout world seemed off because there were none of the earth tones that so characterize the series. Zion had the similar dilemma of Mothership Zeta, one of not looking helpless and disease ridden as is classic in the series. However, Zion Canyon regained those points with an environment that sported a much wider spectrum of colors so it wasn't insufferable like in Mothership Zeta. Mothership Zeta has bright whites, gleaming platinum, and dazzling silvers, but Zion has lively greens, popping oranges, calming blues, and fierce yellows that all intermingle into a pleasing canvas of eye candy.

Zion Canyon also differs greatly from any other game world. Most of the environments are pretty uniform; the Mojave is mostly just flat and sandy, the Sierra Madre is decrepit and claustrophobic, et cetera. But Zion Canyon is so remarkably diverse in its landscape. The low lying Virgin River cuts through towering red rock cliffs punched with caves that are begging to be explored. The river slices into narrow box canyons with cascading waterfalls scattered above the cliffs, severely contrasting to the open landscapes and abandoned roads. The wilderness was further accentuated by periodic rainfall, something that had never before seen in a Fallout title. When it began to rain, the sky turned overcast and grey, darkening the valley and lulling it into a momentary slumber. The muffled pitter-patter of rain droplets spread throughout Zion, calming the otherwise wild environment. If nothing else, Zion Canyon remains first-rate for the curious explorer.

However, all of this uncharted wilderness would be awfully dull if not for its full stock of wild animals, no matter how mutated. Zion was filled to the brim with wildlife making it actually appear like a life-like forest, buzzing with activity. There were bighorner herds, new green gecko families, swarms of cazador and giant ants, but best of all: dens of yao guai. As one of my favorite creatures from Fallout 3, I was dumbfounded and gleeful when I heard the uproar of a yao guai moments before I witnessed it shred a green gecko near the southern passage in my first playthrough.

Going along with the forest scenery and wildness aspect, the add-on also introduced tons of new crafting opportunities. It's usually customary for an add-on to add three or four new consumables, but Honest Hearts took it to the next level, adding literally dozens of new craftables, ranging from medicines to food and drink to even craftable armors, something never seen before. While Dead Money emphasized helplessness, Honest Hearts emphasized resourcefulness. There was only one place you could buy from, which forced you to go out and pick plants, hunt animals and make your own medicine. To a Hardcore Mode player, this add-on was dream come true.

Speaking of survival, the secondary storyline with Randal Clark (a.k.a. The Survivalist and The Father in the Cave) had a well developed plot and story that intrigued me when I read his journal entries. His tales kept me motivated to explore more of Zion in search of his caves and more of his story. His story was, to say the least, depressing at first, but then it had a very hopeful and touching ending in which he gives supplies to the children, and later gives them personalized notes letting them know that he would "be silent but still watching and still caring". The story once again became surreal and reaffirmed when you discover his skeletal remains atop the Red Gate, watching over the valley, gazing at the clouds lull by.

As I played more add-ons, I realized that Honest Hearts wasn't the exactly the greatest. For all intents and purposes, it seemed to be more like an item pack that came with a bonus game world. It wasn't very strong in the quests department, but made up for it in environment, characters, and loot.

Old World Blues
In June of 2011, along with four others, I won a giveaway The Vault was sponsoring. The giveaway provided me with Old World Blues for free, but I can safely say as one of the better add-ons, I would have gladly paid the ten dollars myself to experience it.

Obviously, the thing that I absolutely have to discuss is the humorous content presented throughout the add-on. J.E. Sawyer himself remarked before release that Old World Blues would be "the most LOL!!! of the DLCs." and I must agree. Whenever you're in one of Big MT's facilities or the Think Tank in particular, you can always expect to hear quips of sarcasm, satire or zingers. There's also the fact that most of the humor is unintentional, adding irony into the mix as well.

Although the entire add-on was a huge spoof inspired by 1950's sci-fi B-movies, the main source of these shenanigans are the Think Tank (who aren't as well put together as they let on). Arguably the most irrational of the lot, Dr. Klein is an overconfident loudmouth (literally) with little knowledge outside of his so called field of idea-ology and as such his manic behavior makes him quite memorable. Dr. Borous being bullied in his adolescent years at American High left him with crippled self-esteem and gave him a unique voice tone; one that makes everything sound BOLD and IMPORTANT in order to combat the PINKO COMMIES that threaten our very way of LIFE at AMERICAN HIGH. His relationship with his dog, Gabe, and stories of exploitation were enough to churn my biomed gel... er, tear ducts. Dr. Dala on the other hand has a rather unhealthy fascination with the human body and loves to examine subjects (or rather her "teddy bears"), while plugging in some unintended innuendo whenever possible. Dr. O (or Ø) is arguably the least insane of the Think Tank, yet still maintains an unwholesome hatred for Robert House and RobCo. Dr. 8... really, there's no comment for him (except "@@[=$<_--*]@@?@@[<$((*#8#%]@@.@@[$((*&^#%]@@"). And finally, we come to Dr. Mobius who is unanimously agreed to be completely cuckoo, mentally deranged, loony-tunes, off his rocker, loopy-as-a-loon, bat-shit crazy, etc. Whichever phrase you use, this chem- addled brain is insane beyond a doubt... although the true raisins of his maniacal threats are seeded in ethically sound intentions out of concern for the world outside the crater. It's the humanitarian twist not many expected. Being able to visit all of their houses in Higg's Village also gave us a chance to inspect their research and quirky lifestyles in greater depth.

But the Think Tanks are not the only inhabitants of Big MT; nearly a dozen other appliances live above The Think Tank, each with their own little quirks. The highlights of these include a tiny neurotic Securitron (big fucking laugh), a maniacal toaster hell-bent on setting the world ablaze... again, a communist-hating, sedition-mulching book chute, a jukebox with the blues, your own personal electronic valet and a biological research station who is dedicated to making sexual innuendos... er, grow plants... as much as possible. And in the end, you can speak with your own brain, in addition to the already present automated personalities which, of course, is very surreal. Speaking of these personalities above the Think Tank, the Sink was a great addition to the game. As the peripheral of the Dome, it becomes a hub of usefulness during and after the add-on; in fact, many people use it as their house. I can't say I blame them; it provides everything you need in a house, plus more. It has ample storage space, every crafting medium (a reloading and workbench and an electric hotplate), its own Auto-Doc with a built in hair/face changer and it even has a repairman/merchant. In addition to these necessities, the automated personalities that are set up around the Sink can help you with various tasks like breaking down items into base components; elevate your stats; give you implants; but most of all, add Old World Blues' trademark dialogical humor.

However, a large part of Old World Blues was discovering the unknown, a rather serious task that required an open mind. Parts unknown you discover include the origins of Dead Money. This reinforcement of the previous add-on somewhat solidified and connected the two, thus making them feel more real and immersed in one another. Some of these references to Dead Money were blatantly obvious, like holotapes found around the crater recording Christine Royce's voice and her mission to take out Father Elijah, along with finding her armor and rifle as a testament to her dedication to the assassination. Also, you had the chance to find Elijah's bases of operation in Big MT, detailing his stay with torn journal pages and commentary by Christine and the mysterious and as-of-yet unseen Ulysses. The Think Tank also mention they had "visitors" shortly before the Courier arrived, and they recount the run-in vaguely, but with enough detail to solidify that the woman, another courier and the old man were all figures from the Courier's past.

Although, some of these are more subtle and can easily be missed if you are not painfully observant. Such an example is Saturnite, the space age ceramic used in the Saturnite fists of Big MT is also used in the cosmic knives in from the Sierra Madre's Cantina Madrid. Another subtle, but noticeable reference to Dead Money lies in the hazmat suit. Like many others, when I saw the hazmat suit floating in blue stasis, I backed off fearing it was a ghost person. However, as I investigated closer, I realized this must be the suits sent to the Sierra Madre villa workers after exposure to the Cloud (which I might add is also a Big MT creation). This further cemented the role of the Sierra Madre as a Big MT testing ground. Furthermore, Frederick Sinclair also contracted Big MT to create his coveted Sierra Madre vending machines, which were forged in the Y-0 research facility (that was sadly destroyed by a Think Tank experiment gone awry; all that's left now is a terminal in the rubble). Moreover, Sinclair also wanted holograms to serve as greeters and walking cameras at his resort; thus the Z-38 lightwave dynamics research facility was founded. This facility details the creation of holograms with terminal entries and photos of Ms. Keyes (to make the perfect starlet hologram), but also has genuine holograms walking about the facility (which I'm sure many tried to avoid being seen by at first after the encounter they had with them in the Sierra Madre). I've left the most unnoticeable for last; the speakers in Little Yangtze. When you come across this lovely little internment camp, you cross through the chain link fence with some speakers above. Only if you listen very carefully can you hear something faint coming from them; then you realize, "That broadcast is the same as the speakers in the Sierra Madre... whoa." It's kind of haunting and chilling if you think about it long enough.

A seemingly small part of the add-on was vital in creating the appropriate mood when exploring the crater; this aspect was the mysterious radio signal being broadcast from the satellite at the Mojave Drive-in. The calmness of the smooth jazz compliments the crater's aged and relatively monotone landscape and its atmosphere. Its atmosphere is almost like it's been forgotten for too long; when the rest of the region is trying to rebuild, it instead shut down and became derelict, being forgotten to the world around it. The inclusion of Vera Keyes' melody Begin Again only amplified this tone, giving the notion that this once-great institution had its day in the sun, but now it has to let go of its scientific advancement and retire for the better of mankind. If it doesn't, its advancements will only lead to the downfall and collapse the rebuilt societies.

The mystery behind this immense crater was also amplified by its reserved nature to the outside. Dead Money was foreshadowed by Veronica reminiscing about Father Elijah and the many Sierra Madre advertisements pasted onto walls. Honest Hearts was nodded to with legends of the Burned Man and Lonesome Road was hinted at with the rumors of the original Courier Six. However, the Big Empty had no mention unless you visited the Sierra Madre, Zion, or the Divide beforehand; Old World Blues threw you into an entirely new landscape, one that had never been heard of before and was a special opportunity for anybody to be inside its walls.

The last aspect that Old World Blues masterfully executed was its attention to detail and bringing the crater to life. The add-on achieved this by adding 22 new facilities (and several other locales) to explore, each with their unique back-story and purpose. The array of facilities dedicated to every bit of Science! out there by the ironically named Big "Empty" is unparalleled; from lively botany to lifeless robotics; deadly artillery research to humanitarian medical sciences; sickly chemical research to refreshing botanicals. There's nothing the Big Empty has to offer that doesn't further our understanding in every field of Science! In addition to the diverse facilities covering anything and everything, we are also immersed into a world chock full of creatures and robots; some of them new, some of them run rampant in the Mojave (particularly night stalkers, cazadors, and spore carriers). Many of these creatures were quite unique and aren't valued as much as they should be. Each creature from the savage lobotomites and chilling Y-17 trauma override harnesses to the spore carriers that plague V22 and Securitrons that patrol both the Strip and the crater gave Big MT more depth while also explaining some of the origins of these adversaries. I can't appreciate enough that the add-on gave thorough explanations to the creatures/robots origins other than, "lol it was radiation". Radiation doesn't make a coyote grow scales and venomous fangs!

Now, I hate to end on a sour note, but this just needs to be mentioned. The main quests in Old World Blues were satisfactory; pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. However, there are some quests in particular that I never have fun doing. This is not because they are too difficult (if that were the case, I could just set the gameplay difficulty down), or they're too long (quests are usually a half hour long) but rather they are much too repetitive. These quests cross the line between being just plain monotonous and being absolutely grind-tastic. These mystery quests are "Project X-13" and "X-8 Data Retrieval Test" (X-8 is the greater offender of the two). After finding the psychoanalytic cardiac-dampening sneaky stealth suit, you're given the opportunity to try it out and then further upgrade it. What you aren't told is in order to get the best stealth suit, you need to run the same course over and over four times. But I can overlook this since you're rewarded with an extremely good suit of armor. It wasn't going to just give you the suit, was it? However, X-8 was the one that was truly grind-tastic. You are required to go through American High and retrieve the same three student records four times for a perk. A single perk. A perk whose effect can be mimicked by using chems that affect all enemies and not just night stalkers. So really, a replaceable and useless perk. I've spent many an hour in American High (because I'm a masochistic perfectionist) collecting records over and over and over and over again, as my brain pours out my ears from the mind numbing repetition.

While I'm still on the topic of quests, there were also too many "meet the scientist" quests for my liking. While they did expand upon the scientists, three of the five quests Dala, 0 and 8 are involved with require no skill and can be completed in literally two minutes (if that) in the same location in which you receive them. Maybe it's just me, but I like quests to involve doing something; going somewhere, finding something, anything that literally give you an actual experience (for which experience points are named). Here, you're rewarded with tons of experience points for doing practically nothing and could easily be interpreted as the designers having the unquenchable desire to throw in a lot of quests. I'd rather play the quests in Honest Hearts than these. The only redeemable quality that saves these quests is the dialogue that comes with them.

Despite the aforementioned unpleasantries, this add-on was a mystifying and incredibly amusing, yet eerie add-on. The Big Empty was brought to life by its numerous characters, facilities and Sciences. It taught us the importance of not obsessing about what was and instead look to what is and what can be. But hey: that's Old World Blues.

Lonesome Road
As the final installment to the Fallout: New Vegas story, Lonesome Road fulfilled its purpose in being a memorable experience to wrap up the Courier's adventures through the Mojave and its surrounding environs. The Courier's unexplained past was finally brought into the light by another equally mysterious figure from their past.

When venturing into the ruins of the ironically-named Hopeville and appropriately named Ashton, the Divide felt different than all the other regions explored in the add-ons. For the longest time, I didn't know what it was but them it hit me like the payload of a warhead: the Divide is what remains of a metropolitan area, which is arguably becoming a more common sight around the world. It got back to the basics with the wreckage of hundreds of skyscrapers and reflected the norms of our current world's metropolitan areas. The other regions were realistic, yet they didn't have many of the things you would expect; they avoided the ordinary and instead focused on the extraordinary. But this lack of intrigue didn't take away from the experience; it strangely only added to it. The architecture and use of land in the Divide brought a sense of connection and immersion to me and made me want to explore more of defunct missile silos and the surrounding maze of a forsaken city.

In addition to the metropolitan aspects of the Divide, I also drew parallels from the history of Hopeville and Ashton to the history of the United States (surprise, surprise). Whether intentional or not, I thought the pre-War history of the Divide greatly mimicked the U.S. The stockpiling of nuclear arms and creation of military installations near suburban towns is parallel to the Cold War's arms race between the U.S. and Soviet Union in the 1950's. Additionally, the hippie commune protesting the Sino-American War in the 20 60's and 70's is coincidentally similar as the "Flower Power" counter-revolutionist generation protesting the Vietnam War in the 19 60's and 70's.

But lying within this tapestry of history is something more important – or rather, I should say "someone". A man who made his home in the ruins of the Old World; a historian recounting tradition of times both far and near; the flag-bearer for the Old World revival and the original Courier Six: Ulysses. A splinter of the secondary storyline of the main game consists of learning more about a mysterious man who refused to carry the package that resulted in your unscheduled brain surgery. Surprisingly, Ulysses knows much more about you than you know about him and he capitalizes on this by sending you a message: a message inviting you to the Divide to see what you have supposedly done. All throughout the Divide, you witness firsthand what you are accused of having done while scrounging the ruins for hidden historical tidbits. In your search for the truth, you find a vast array of historical documentaries: New California Republic military/riot control engagement reports, pre-War terminal journals, and hippie commune diaries.

But the rarest of these documents have been swept throughout the Divide by harsh storms and unrelenting winds. Ulysses' logs, though hidden well, are invaluable to finding the truth behind the courier that knows you so well. They document Ulysses' journey through Zion and the Big Empty until reaching the Great Divide, recounting his observation of the White Legs and the incident with the Think Tank (and we finally get an answer to what he asked them). Throughout these entries, he articulately drawls on for minutes at a time, discussing Wasteland philosophy, expanding upon the warring factions, and the importance of preserving and remembering history (hurrah!). These entries make for interesting "background noise" while exploring the warrens of the Divide.

Ulysses could often be seen watching your advancement across the wind-torn landscape, high up on the cliffs before turning his back and walking away. This type of interaction between the Courier and Ulysses both symbolizes their jaded relationship and expands on what kind of person Ulysses is. He wants to check up on his "friend" and make sure they’re making their way to him, but turning his back after a few seconds suggests he isn't exactly bothered if they don't make it to his sanctuary. Upon arriving at his Temple, you finally are able to confront Ulysses and find out exactly why he bears such a grudge toward you. Conversing with him in the missile silo can last upwards of thirty to forty-five minutes, but the writers of Ulysses' dialogue were so dedicated to a serious and thought provoking interaction that the drawn out confrontation is worth it. I've found that speaking to Ulysses rather than killing him yields much more satisfaction (mostly because fighting him is surprising easy); it's nice to take a break from the usual wasteland gore-fest and speak to history – "just know the why of it."

Another "person" from your past is also rediscovered in the Divide (except you know this one a little better). I’m talking, of course, about everyone's favorite *beeping*, *blooping* heroic bucket of bolts, ED-E. Luckily, Whitely was able to program his AI before his exodus to Navarro – otherwise ED would have remained as tired as his Mojave counterpart. Unlocking data files allowed us to uncover the personality behind the circuits, wires and titanium shell – ED-E turned out to be a warm and connectable companion made the supposed "Lonesome" Road easier to walk. Exploring the Divide with him (along with his *scared beeping*, *sneaky beeping*, et cetera) and listening to his expedition logs in which he must "fly far, fly fast" alleviated the otherwise lonely journey across the Divide, which genuinely made me care about him and his wellbeing. Amazingly when worst comes to worst, I would rather save ED from encryption overload than save hundreds from a nightmare of nuclear bombardment.

Although, there were plenty of people in the Divide I wasn't exactly enthralled to see. The prime perpetrators here were the marked men that ravage anything that isn’t them. I really liked how their allegiance counts for nothing now, which gives more insight into the conditions within the Divide. Troopers and legionaries (sworn enemies) come together and drop what makes them different in order to survive. It would be heart-warming if they weren’t trying to kill you at every turn.

Staying true to their long and painful history, the marked men are found in every stretch of the Divide... like cockroaches with military hardware. This is where the prominent danger (and difficulty) in the Divide comes from; if you can transverse the canyon sides and ruined city without falling in or clear your way of warheads without blowing yourself up (I call these occupational hazards), you still need to confront a band of marked men every mile or so. And worst of all, the men actually use group military tactics efficiently. They send in the heavy hitters while numerous snipers pick you off from a quarter mile off on a ruined building you can’t even see. Normally you would fire back when they were reloading, but they will actually hide behind cover and cover their squad mates when the time comes. If that’s not enough, they all use the top-tier weapons, like trail and assault carbines, light machine guns, Shishkebabs, 12.7mm pistols and hunting shotguns regardless of level. If that’s not intense firepower, I don’t want to know what is.

While the marked men were a considerable threat (they certainly were the most abundant), the Divide also held more creatures that tested the limits of the player. All throughout the toppled skyscrapers and artificial caverns, there are innumerable hordes of tunnelers tromping about. When alone, tunnelers are little more than a nuisance. When in packs of up to six though, these subterranean menaces can be extremely dangerous, so they really encourage you to spot them before they do you. Otherwise, you are in for a pounding. It doesn't help that they take a beating, give and even stronger one, move fast and retreat back into their holes whenever the mood strikes them. Not surprisingly, another reptilian we all know and love also makes its home in the Divide. The deathclaws that frolic through the High Road and Ashton severely cranked up the difficulty. Regardless of your level, these deathclaws pack a serious punch and are able to kill you in a number of swipes you can count on one hand. And don’t even get me started on Rawr; fuck that thing.

Of course, with this being the last add-on and everyone is so incredibly powerful, the developers saw fit to throw both of these elements into a single area just for funsies. The Courier's Mile was that extra something to finally prove how big your dick was by fighting half a dozen irradiated marked men and half a dozen irradiated deathclaws… all at the same time. But it's all worth it to find the end stash with every top-tier goody in the wasteland, along with literally thousands of rounds of ammunition. There's one minor addendum that I'd like to add on onto this that is slightly on this topic. The price of everything was far too expensive (especially weapon mods). The mods for the Red Glare and SMMG each ran for about 10,000 caps each, which is more than any tier five weapon; as a general rule, the mod should never out price the actual weapon. Regardless, this aspects was somewhat alleviated by the massive amounts of loot one can collect throughout the Divide and especially the Courier's Mile.

Another incredibly great asset to Lonesome Road were all the challenges that promoted exploration. Dead Money had no challenges to get you look around (but honestly, it didn’t need that; the maze of the Madre was gripping enough), Honest Hearts had a minimalist version of it (like "Survivalist's Bounty" or "Yao Guai Hunter") and Old World Blues was the best of the three and actually had a challenge to discover every location (MT Space). But Lonesome Road took it to the next level; this add-on encouraged much more exploration than its former add-ons. Not only did you find all locations ("Ends of the Earth"), but you were urged to explore said locations with challenges like "Feel Like A Kid Again", "Ulysses' Odyssey" and "Nostalgia". And these challenges also were twofold: they encouraged searching everywhere, but also helped unfold the history of the Divide in an immersive manner.

It may sound like I'm praising this add-on a lot (and I guess I sort of am), but there was an all encompassing aspect of the add-on that I particularly couldn't stand. I noted the entire add-on was much too linear for a role-playing game and it didn't deviate from this straight and established path. There were no side quests to help with game play immersion – it was that you finish one main quest and another starts immediately thereafter and you keep going on without any down time. One could argue that Dead Money suffered the same problem: a compilation of main quests without any side quests to separate them. While true, Dead Money maintained the element of surprise throughout its questline, which kept me wanting to play. When you were wandering around the villa, you didn't know if there would be a trap or a ghost person lurking around the confined corners and it keeps you guessing. When you were wandering around the Divide, more often than not, you can predict what's going to happen next like, "Oh, there's a marked men encampment up that way; better switch to long range" or, "I'm in a cavern, so there's probably a pack of tunnelers around this broken down semi." This took some of the fun out of the add-on because a major part of enjoyment lies in the unknown. If you know what’s going to happen before it does, it takes all the fun out of life.

Lonesome Road neatly tied up all loose ends that remained in the game. After braving the storms of the Divide alone and confronting the man from their past, all that remains for the Courier awaits at in the gathering storm of the Mojave. As the campaign for Hoover Dam draws to a close in the final act, so does their story as they mold the Mojave to fit their ideal vision and secure their place in history.

Conclusion
After thoroughly examining and picking apart these add-on like a vulture would carrion, I've found that they cannot be held at the same standard of Fallout 3's add-ons; the "FNV-4" surpass the "FO3-5" in basically all fields, from items and quests to characters and locales, with only a few exceptions. The sad part is that I enjoy playing the add-ons more than I do the entire vanilla game; I'll actually start new games just to play them over again. In the end, it's quality over quantity and Obsidian’s team of designers and developers have set the bar higher for Bethesda and Fallout 4. And of course, remember to come back for the next set of reviews.

Acknowledgements
I'd like to give credit where credit is due. The following users uploaded all the images used throughout these reviews.