Dead Money Review

Doc Hill · Post by **Doc Hill** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 7:26 pm

[ Community -> Review ] - More info on <a href="http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout New Vegas: Dead Money">Game: Fallout New Vegas: Dead Money</a>

 Seeing as there isn't one, and I'm bored and snowed in, I figured I'd do a review of the first DLC for Fallout: New Vegas, Dead Money.
 Lets get something out of the way first, the engine New Vegas uses is feeling old, and it has limitation, I could lament graphics or stiff animation, but frankly, if you played Fallout 3 and bout New Vegas, you knew what you were getting.
 I could also ramble on about the numerous bugs and glitches that plague New Vegas, but I think we're all aware of of them at this point. Are the excusable? Frankly, no. I've learned to live with them, but I shouldn't have to, but that is more a critique of New Vegas than the dlc.
 Anyone who played Fallout 3's numerous dlc will be familiar with the basic formula, radio calls you to a an area, you get a quest, you go to a new map area divorced from the wasteland, get your stuff taken from you, and have to fight all manner of what have you to get your stuff back and your freedom. I'ma bit disappointed by the continued inability to integrate dlc content into the parent game, something they proved they could figure out with Broken Steel, at least to some extent.
 The storyline is at least moderately interesting, and again, taking it's cue from New Vegas, the writing tends to be considerably better then previous outings. Essentially you're locked into a resort town built around a casino that never opened. It was never hit by bombs, but poor construction and chemical leakage created a specific sort of hell scape. Dense red smog hangs around decayed bungalows and silent holograms stare out into nothing. It's actually rather interesting, if a bit repetitive later.The fact that pockets of the smog can kill you also leads to some harrowing runs.They also introduce some more old world tech, vending machines that can produce almost anything for tokens...which are kind of...hokey. I understand the idea, but I feel this might be a bit of a stretch for the Fallout Universe tech base. the Holograms are something we've actually dealt with, indirectly though, so I'll let that slide.
 Also thrown into the mix are three new companions you must recruit to break into the casino. The Girl and the Mutant are well written and interesting, trying very hard to be unique characters, and more or less succeeding. The Ghoul...his story is actually somewhat interesting, but either his general writing or the actor makes him boring. And a greater issue is you don't really use them much, they feel like they were shoehorned in to give you someone to talk to. It feels like the DLC could have functioned without them, and probably had a more opressive and ominous atmosphere that way.
 Two new enemy types appear, Holograms, who are immune to damage and must be killed by destroying their emitters, end up being more enviromental hazards then actual enemies, and Ghost people. Ghost people in theory are interesting, they only die if dismembered or disintegrated...however since most headshots will decapitate, this is sorta moot.
 A new stealth armor is welcome, though by the time you play Dead Money, you should have maxed stealth already if you were going to do it. New light armor with good protection is available, so that's nice.The pistol and automatic rifle are forgettable...the new melee weapons I'm not up on, since I play guns or energy, but they seem bland. The Holorifle however, is a able successor to the never quite successfully implemented guass rifle. As a energy sniper rifle, the guass rifle always seemed too flakey and ammo intensive, the holorifle seems to address these issues, and has it's own upgrades.
 Ultimately, Dead Money lives and dies by it's ability to present something that is unique and interesting enough for us to pay for...and it succeeds...mostly. Most of the new weapons are boring, the new armor is okay at best, so really this dlcs rests on the writing and the atmosphere. Again they mostly deliver. two of the three companions are actually some of the most interesting characters I've seen in the new Fallout era, and the overall story of the dlc is great, IF you are willing to dig through terminals hidden in the poisonous fog to get the whole story.
 Atmosphere wise, it's good at creating tension and at least one sequences, with a steadily tolling bell in the distance, evoked some sense of dread.After a while though, it just gets repetitive. And once you reach the Casino itself, it just feels like another New Vegas Dungeon. As an aside, I didn't forget the exploding collar, or that random radios could set it off, I just never found this a credible threat, most of the time the terminal to turn it off is readily evident, or just tossing a grenade dealt with it. It was a nice idea, but ultimately a non starter as an enviromental hazard.
 Dead Money is a promising start, but that's all it is. It has a lot of great things to recommend it, but all of them have flaws, caveats. They hint pretty heavily at future dlc, and I'd recommend looking to those first, seeing if they can deliver worthwhile experiences. If Dead Money goes on sale, THEN snag it, otherwise, I'd let it sit for now. The story is great, but the overall experience is a bit tedious, and the extra 5 levels above the previous cap just don't do enough to warrant a purchase by themselves.

Post by **Dogmeatlives** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 4:18 am

Ok so i'll be the first to comment. Awesome review, and you pretty much made my mind up to wait til all the dlc comes out together.

"a promising start, but that's all it is. It has a lot of great things to recommend it, but all of them have flaws, caveats."

pretty much sums up all dlc in general. Even the best stuff.