The fourth instalment of Fallout 3 has finally landed. ‘Point Lookout’ comes in at 800 MS points and promises around 3 to 4 hours of additional gameplay. As with ‘The Pitt’, you will be taken outside of the Capital Wasteland, this time into an area that is reminiscent of Point Lookout State Park. The area is between one sixth and one fifth of the Capital Wasteland, which is pretty impressive considering the price point and amount of content contained throughout.
Those that have yet to complete the game (shame on you) will be able to jump right into the new content at any point, yet if you have a follower he will have to stay behind; something which has become expected with DLC additions. As with previous DLC you will be notified of the new quest via a message, allowing you to go hop on the boat right away, for a few hundred caps of course.
Something which is noticeable from the very first encounter is the fantastic level of detail on the new swampfolk enemies. Whilst Fallout 3 is running on a fairly dated engine, it is nice to see that they are trying to push the game graphically with new higher detailed models than simply sticking with the easily generated human kits. As expected there is also a wealth of new enemies, characters, weapons and armour to be had.
The quest content in Point Lookout is certainly one of the better chains in the game, with some memorable characters and great use of moral choice. Starting off defending a nearby mansion for a complete stranger, you will soon be infiltrating his enemy and learning the secret of their religion – all in a typical day in the Wastelands Point Lookout.
A large misfortune of the DLC, and likely all future DLC, is that if you have hit the level cap of 30, or are already close, you will be getting little reward for all that questing and killing – something which feels strange in an RPG. This teamed with the high difficulty; it seems strange that the player is limited in levels at this point. For low level players, or players lacking the overpowered items found in previous DLC, you may find that the game is frustratingly difficult.
For achievement fans out there looking for their latest fix, the achievements are all highly obtainable and enjoyable to do so. Bringing the game up to 1450 points, you will earn all but one of the achievements simply playing through the main storyline. The last achievement is earned by discovering all key locations, something which can be frustrating given the large area size – but helpful none the less in finding all the available content.
If you have yet to take the plunge into Fallout 3 DLC, you should probably hold off until you have reaped some of the rewards from alternate DLC packs, particularly ‘Broken Steel’ for the level cap increase. Point Lookout is certainly one of the better content packs available, something which fans of Fallout 3 are bound to enjoy.
