Point Lookout: Fallout 3 DLC

If you haven't watched the movie Deliverance, first, consider yourself lucky. But if you have, this may be the retribution you need. And for those of you who don't get that, just move on, and forget the name of that movie. This DLC puts you in the state of Maryland, and gives you piles of new goodies, all very well worth the money.

So, like many of the other DLC for Fallout 3 you are suddenly given new information after you download the content and restart the game. This time, you get a message saying that there is a Riverboat name The Duchess Gambit available to take you to a new land full of treasure and adventure. After meeting the odd and unsettling grifter who runs the tub, you have the option to purchase tickets (and other goods) at will. After doing so, you simply waltz into the cabin, select the bed, and choose to travel to Point Lookout. Now, it should be noted that you can travel between the new region and the Capital Wasteland at will, but you must purchase new tickets each time. This can rack up some hard earned caps quickly, so be prepared before you go, getting all your best armor and weapons first. Also, I can't really recommend this DLC for players with characters under level 25 due to the difficulty of the new enemies. The amount of damage some of them can take is simply staggering, and many times you will find yourself asking "How did that not kill him?!"

The new goodies I spoke earlier of are plentiful here. New weapons, enemies and obviously locations as well as quests. Why did I bother mentioning the last two? Because they are outstanding. Let me repeat that. OUTSTANDING! On the downside, the level cap remains locked at 30, and there are no new perks reflected by leveling. Though, there are a few new perks you will acquire later through the quests themselves.

Whats so great about the new quests? Variety is a part of it, as there are a great deal of difference between many of them. Ever wanted to sink a Chinese submarine? Check. Wanted to infiltrate a cult only to tear it down from the inside out? Double check. Brew moonshine? You get the picture. These quests sometimes string together, and fit amazingly well into the surroundings. I know it sounds like that should be a give-in, but its been so well done here, it must be mentioned.

The locations in Point Lookout are amazing. Not just graphically, but aesthetically. The land transforms from one type of theme to another seamlessly. More than once Ive walked from dense forest to swampy bog and looked back and realized that there were very subtle levels of change going on. The trees change type, the grass changes height, everything slowly morphs around you as you walk, and makes the task of traveling by foot feel very real. And be ready to do quite a lot of walking, as this DLCs area size is HUGE. Certainly one of the largest yet, and will keep you exploring long after the quests are over.

Weaponry has also been added, though, not a large amount. First is the full length double barrel shotgun. This is actually a very hefty weapon, many of them causing more than 75 DAM. Next is the Lever Action Rifle. This is essentially a clone of Lincoln's Repeater from the core game, save for it shoots 10mm ammo. Its effective for some of the lower level enemies, but keep it stowed when you come across the swamp-folk as it does really nothing but anger them. Another new one would the the Microwave Emitter. It causes a hefty 70-80 DAM, but slow rate of fire, and a small magazine hampers what could be a fun weapon. Lastly, the new throwable. Its a gas canister that sports amazingly underwhelming stats. It does 6 DAM. What the PipBoy doesn't tell you is that out of this cloud of gas comes a field of radiation. This will be useless against many enemies in the Capital Wasteland because many of them are actually healed by radiation. Unlike the Perforator and Infiltrator from The Pitt, many of these weapons can actually be used to great success, as they are targeted at higher level enemies, and will continue to be useful all the way until 30.

The new enemies are quite nasty. Nasty in a good way, that is, as they will present a strong challenge to any character. Don't count on that Alien Blaster to get you through this, as some of them shrug off those energy blasts like confetti at Marti Gras. The most dangerous of the new badies would be the swamp-folk. They come in five styles, the Creeper, Bruiser, Tracker, Brawler, and Scrapper. They all resemble some sort of backwoods hillbillies combined with mutants from 'The Hills Have Eyes'. Their hunger for blood is matched only by their love for destroying the English language. And drinking moonshine. They will level their scatter-guns towards you at any unintelligible distance, but they will also race towards you with axes and take you down from close range. There is also a new type of large beast resembling the Yao Guai called the Ruzka. Its very nearly the same, though takes more damage. The Swamplurk and Swamplurk Queen are new variations on the Mirelurks and Kings. Another addition would be the Smugglers. They resemble the Talon company Mercs, though they take far less damage, but at higher levels they come in groups of five and six, but pack decent weapons.

As with the other DLCs the sound is very much the same, save for the incoherent rants of the swamp-people. Its a complete package as far as that goes, but know that everything has a great heavy sound to it, and fits nicely.

And lastly, the unpolished points of this add-on pack. What would a Fallout DLC be without a few bugs here or there? Ive only seen a few, and so far Ive heard nothing of damaged downloads, or an inability to actually play the DLC. Though I have run into some strange graphical artifacts here or there. One example would be the water right outside the riverboat as you first get to Point Lookout at Pilgrim's Landing. For some reason the water right at the shoreline gets a white sheen over it, and continues as long as I walk a single direction, though if I turn around, it disappears, strange... Next would be the bad save the game created after I exited the People's Bank of Point Lookout. After raiding the place and blasting some rad roaches, I exited only to get a black screen. The system itself wouldn't respond so I had to administer a hard-reset. After getting the game running again, I looked for my save that would have happened upon the exit, but, it was corrupt. This means you delete it, and forget it ever happened. This only happened once, though its hard not to get a little miffed at the fact that I had to retrace my steps from my last save fifteen minutes ago.

Other than these few problems, I haven't experienced anything that should keep anyone from enjoying this content. Its far superior in quality to the Anchorage add-on, and even manages to top Broken Steel and at many times, the core game in terms of storyline. This is very simply the highest quality DLC anyone could have asked for. It will last somewhere between 4-8 hours if you take your time. Explore and have fun, thats what its there for. Talk to everyone, and search everywhere. This area has a ton of hidden loot begging to be found. This is one place you wont be sorry you spent your 800 caps, err...I mean MS points.

9.5/10 (my score)