Fallout: New Vegas Old World Blues DLC Review

Eurogamer has put online a review for the just-released latest add-on to Fallout: New Vegas, Old World Blues, and they award it a 9/10 arguing that “it has more personality and wit than any of the previous DLC offerings”. Here’s a sampling:

It’s in the extra material that Old World Blues really makes its mark. New tools and weapons are casually dropped into the world, often so useful that you’ll wonder how you got through the game without them. The Protonic Inversal Axe carves through robotic enemies like butter. The K9000 Cyberdog is a brutal machine gun that literally barks and snarls. There’s a Sonic Emitter weapon that both plays a vital role in the story, and disintegrates force fields and fries electronic foes. In a nice touch, you can augment its abilities by finding new sound recordings, from opera singers to the screams of a giant tarantula.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. The level cap has been raised by five, and a handful of new perks, both regular and unlockable, quickly prove beneficial. Them’s Good Eatin’ is an absolute godsend for those playing in Hardcore mode, as it gives every defeated enemy a 50 per cent chance of providing free, powerful and valuable health items in the shape of Blood Sausage and Thin Red Paste.

The plot picks up pace when it needs to, but never intrudes when you decide to follow your own muse, and Obsidian’s skill at writing narrative into the scenery means that nothing is there for no reason. Whether it’s a room piled high with Mentats or a test chamber based around a high school, you’ll always understand exactly what it means for one or more of the characters. Even something as simple as picking up an old dog bowl can send you off on a side quest that deepens your understanding of the motivations and rivalries slowly bubbling to the surface.