Fallout 3: Operation Anchorage - If Only it Wasn't a Simulation

Operation: Anchorage is the first of several planned downloadable content add-ons for Fallout 3. Once you've purchased and installed the content, it will be added into the world of the main game where you can play through it with your time-invested character.

The DLC begins after you follow a distress signal that leads you to a military base inhabited by Brotherhood Outcasts. Once inside, you discover they've located a stash of super-technical firepower, but are unable to access it - which is where you come in. You're required to enter a virtual reality simulator and complete a re-enactment of the battle for Anchorage; fought between the US army and the invading Chinese. To give the task added weight, if you perish in the sim you'll end up dead in the real world too (probably head-shot by the Outcasts for failing the mission). As an incentive for undertaking this mission, the Outcasts promise to grant you your pick of the arsenal once it's unlocked.

Within the sim, you play as a US army grunt fighting in the freezing cold terrain of the Alaskan mountains. The high-altitude and icy environment is a refreshing change from the familiar wasteland of the main game but there's little room for exploration, as you're mostly confined to a narrow path by various blockages and an unsubtle force-field. Your character's skills and abilities still remain but all your equipment does not. However, you'll soon acquire new weaponry including the awesomely powerful gauss rifle which was a fan-favourite in Fallout 2. You're able to regenerate health and ammo at handy replenishment stations although you can't loot enemy's corpses as they disappear in an electronic haze upon expiration.

Therein lies the problem - there's something innately unsatisfying about the fact that Operation: Anchorage is only a simulation. Although it's a nice, if somewhat convenient, idea that the weapons cache must be unlocked via completion of the sim, the devs could've come up with a stronger idea. What about facing off against a mutated horde of surviving Chinese soldiers who'd begun invading a key point in the wasteland? Even a good old-fashioned time machine (previously seen in the franchise) that transported you back to the war would've been acceptable - a simulation just doesn't feel very enjoyable or important to play in-game, even if you are risking your life doing it.

Despite the intriguing idea of this DLC, it's ultimately a disappointment. The missions are repetitive (kill everyone/blow things up) and, aside from some worthy opponents in the form of the Crimson Dragoons (hardy cloaked snipers), largely unchallenging. If you're a competent player then there's only 2-3 hours gameplay to be had at most. It's telling that one of the best moments of the DLC (besides the gauss rifle) actually occurs once the simulation is over and you return back to reality...