I never really got around to this DLC and I was not missing out on anything. The DLC is about 1 hour long and you play as a Replica soldier who gets called to Paxton Fettel (I’m not sure if it’s a prison cell or just his soul in the epicenter of the nuclear blast from the first game) and have to blow through your own kind to get to him.
The game mainly consists of the large firefights that are actually quite tough (I died a few times here) with tons of enemies, mechs, and even a turret sequence is thrown in. The game starts you out in a mech and you go from there. It’s a short rollercoaster of every element created for F.E.A.R. 2 and it’s fun while it lasts, but a disappointing DLC as it adds nothing new to the game, even playing as a Replica doesn’t change the gameplay one bit.
As it stands, play this just for the heck of it because you own it, but otherwise you can pass if you missed out all these years.
The splashing of waves, the grass between your toes, the ash in your eyes, and Dunmer at your feet. Ah, it’s nice to be back in Morrowind! I was surprised when I found out Dragonborn took place in Solstheim which is a volcanic island just off the coast of Morrowind. You arrive there due to a strange occult thing happening. People are building relics in their sleep, basically, sleepwalking and building. You ask around about a guy named Miraak and people say he sounds familiar, but they can’t quite remember. As you ask around in the main city Raven Rock, you will be greeted by Devin Mallory’s brother and various other people who are very interesting to talk to.
I first have to mention that Dragonborn has some of the best art in any Elder Scrolls game. When you start getting the Black Books and travel to Apocrypha (Hermaes Mora’s territory) you will be stunned. It’s very Lovecraftian with the Lurker and Seeker enemies. There are strange tunnels that move, walls made of sticks, floors covered in paper with arcane writing, and strange magic and objects. I loved these areas and enjoyed them immensely. However, the main quest line is super short, there are more side quests here which is good I guess. The final fight with Miraak (not a spoiler, it’s obvious) is very challenging and you get to ride freaking dragons! This is probably the most powerful thing added to an Elder Scrolls game. I love the new shouts such as Bend Will. This will make enemies fight alongside you. The new Bonemold and Chitin armor looks awesome, as well as some new weapons. There’s quite a bit here and is a nice chunk of the game and a great final goodbye to Skyrim.
Many of the quests are more puzzle-related and quite challenging. It was nice to be really challenged in exploration in Dragonborn. One final quest has you finding cubes in an old Dwemer ruin. You have to place them in a certain order and run around finding them to open new parts up. The enemies are challenging and I found it all quite fun. There’s plenty of Morrowind lore here for longtime fans and newcomers who don’t know much about it.
I warn you though, that you need to be at least level 20 to start this. I came in at level 7 and got my butt handed to me by the Ash Spawn, the first enemies you will encounter. I died in just one hit, so be careful. I also hated how there was no place to train for smithing, and there was only one major town. At least you can fast travel to and from Skyrim via the map and not by boat every time. I was also upset that you didn’t get to ride dragons until the final quest and it’s very brief. Also, be warned, Miraak will steal all your dragon souls if you kill dragons in Solstheim. He’s a real bastard.
Overall, Dragonborn is a solid and final DLC to Skyrim. It is much better than Dawnguard in the sense that the story is more interesting, but there aren’t two sides to play. Being able to ride dragons is a major addition to the game, the enemies are interesting and challenging, the art looks fantastic, and the lore is great.
The best downloadable game goes to a game that you can only download via a service such as Xbox LIVE Arcade or Steam. Usually, this is download only with no disc-based version available. This category is slowly getting phased out because almost every PC game, and most console and handheld games, are becoming download only. This category usually only applies to downloadable console games, but PC ones get thrown in every so often.
The Walking Dead mainly gets the award because it is not only gripping and thrilling, but I anticipated every single episode throughout the entire year. Telltale really made people watch their calendar because they wanted the next piece of the story to this amazing adventure game. If you can make players chomping at the bit for an entire year for each episode, you were successful. The other games were great, but nothing captures the atmosphere and heart-wrenching tale of TWD.
Not much can be said about this DLC for Renegade Ops. This closes off the story with just 3 levels and a couple of new enemies, but everything is the same, and that’s not really good or bad. If you couldn’t take any more after the end of the main game then 3 extra levels may or may not kill you. The biggest change is the ice-cold scenery, but the overall design of the levels runs the same.
The final boss fight with Coldstrike is very challenging and even harder than Inferno was. The same problems consist of the repetitive nature of the game. The objectives are not any different from the main game, but if you really like the structure of this game then this DLC is a must-buy for you.
The new enemies consist of a new huge bad boy called a Golem (replaces the Juggernauts) as well as turrets that fall from the sky, and just “re-texturing” of old enemies. There are a few scenes where you are running from missile drops that will break the ice for you, but that’s as exciting as it gets.
For the low price, you get an hour’s worth of fun activities, but you can go back with friends to experience it all again. With just 3 levels and barely anything new it doesn’t add up to a “campaign” and more like well…DLC.
With this being the final DLC in the New Vegas saga this one is about you. You finally get to meet Courier Six, and this journey is a true test of your skills leading up to this release. This lonesome road doesn’t allow you to take companions (you do find an old friend inside, however), you also get new weapons, enemies, and probably the most destroyed-looking area in any Fallout game so far. The game is very linear, but not like Dead Money where you just run around in circles completing stupid tasks. You go from point A to B, but it’s a long road (about 5 hours actually) and there are some surprises along the way.
First off you get a detonator gun along the way that allows you to blow up nuclear warheads along the way (30 in total) to kill enemies from afar or make new paths. This is exactly what I have been waiting for since Fallout 3 and we finally get to do it. Hell, you get to launch 2 different huge nukes in this DLC. The ending also makes a huge impact on the story (even if you did finish the main story). You do get new weapons that are mostly energy-based, but there are some awesome melee weapons, so there is something here for every type of player.
The new enemies are Marked Men which are NCR troops that got stuck out here in this nuclear site and turned into ghouls. These guys have many different weapons (the new Glare gun is my favorite since it acts like a semi-automatic rocket launcher). The Tunnelers are pretty tough little guys that are fast-moving, but you only run into them when you are underground. Deathclaws make an appearance and will cut you down fast if you don’t have some good armor. Overall the game will provide a great challenge, especially the final boss fight (which required several restarts and quick saves for me).
Overall Lonesome Road provides a great challenge, new weapons, and environments, but there are no real quests since you are only going in one direction. There are also only two characters in the whole DLC, so overall the DLC may feel empty to some people and too straightforward. I liked it since it really made you feel alone, and everything was up to you: Survival, the ending turns out, and saving the Mojave from mass destruction (once again). The DLC feels like the exact opposite of Old World Blues (tons of brilliant characters and quests), but not nearly as linear and hard as Dead Money.
New Vegas has been struggling in having solid DLC that stands up to the Fallout 3 releases. Old World Blues is the best of the three so far even for just the excellent dialog, great characters, and huge new world. Old World Blues has you going to a drive-in that teleports you to Big MT. Once inside you meet some strange doctors who lobotomized you and you are on a quest to stop the evil Dr. Mobius and find your brain. Old World Blues takes a whole new approach to Fallout DLC by removing your spine and heart and giving you perks at the start. There are new weapons, enemies, and a whole new world to explore.
There are also a lot of great dungeons to explore such as the X facilities which have things such as new armor, testing facilities that run you through a series of courses, as well as other hidden items like new recipes. My favorite part of the whole DLC is the excellent new characters that are inside The Sink which is your little safe hub inside the dome. All the appliances have hilarious personalities such as the evil toaster, crazy miniature robot, the perverted fertilizer, and the seductive light switches. Sound strange? That’s what makes this DLC brilliant. Even the doctors have great personalities and the whole story has some twists at the end so you really get a punchy fulfilling story and ending.
The new weapons are some of the best yet such as the K9000 Cyberdog gun which actually barks when you shoot it thanks to the dog brain attached. The Sonic Emitter pistol is probably the best thanks to the upgrades you can find for it to enhance the power. Unfortunately, this DLC is really best for people who specialize in energy weapons and melee because guns are hard to come by. Old World Blues also raises the level cap so you will have a chance to maybe dumps some XP into energy if you are weak in that area.
The new environments are great such as the canyons that have giant red crystals which are a huge change from the brown wasteland. The new enemies are challenging such as the robo-scorpions, lobotomites, and other weird creatures lurking around. I highly doubt you will be bored with this DLC due to so many things being different from the other ones. All I have to say is that the dialog and characters are probably better than the main game and are just top-notch.
There are a few problems such as the initial dialog with the doctors will take you a good hour to get in its entirety. While the characters are very interesting you’ll start getting antsy to start exploring. Most of the quests are fetch quests and this really kept the score from getting a solid 9 because I wanted some pre-scripted stuff or just more unique quests. Most of the quests consist of getting technology for The Sink and Dr. Klein. This kind of gets old after a while, but the quests drag you through most of Big MT so it’ll help you encourage exploration. The usual New Vegas glitches and bugs are still ever so present, but the dated Gamebryo engine can’t really be saved at this point. Old World Blues is a must-buy even if you skip the past two because the good 12-15 hour storyline is just brilliant.
It seems the New Vegas DLC just can’t balance itself right. First Dead Money was full of cramped environments and brutal difficulty with game designs that worked against the game. Now Honest Hearts has a very open area to explore, but the characters are pretty underwhelming as well as the overall story. You meet some travelers who are part of a caravan trying to get across the Zion National Park and they hire you to protect them. Of course, there’s more than that so when you enter you see three rival tribes fighting against each other. You have the Dead Horses, White Legs, and Sorrows. The White Legs want to prove themselves so they can work for Caesar’s Legion, but the Sorrows want to stay, and the Dead Horses are a rogue “extra” tribe. Of course, know Fallout there’s some sort of third-party hand in the pot and that’s where Daniel and Joshua Graham come in.
Joshua wants to fight the White Legs and Daniel wants to run. Without getting into their backstory too much you help each one out on various missions, but most of them are fetch missions and aren’t very inventive. I was really disappointed with this and kept expecting some more exciting missions. Even Dead Money had some exciting missions despite its major flaws. The characters seem interesting at first, but after the initial dialog stuff when you meet them you never do much more with them. This is due to the DLC’s short length running at about 10-12 hours. There are hardly any side missions, and it feels like the huge area gets wasted since you don’t really get to explore it much.
The area is full of huge canyons and cliffs that surround a lake and a couple of rivers. The area is a pain to navigate because it’s hard to find how to get to high-up areas due to all these layered cliffs. Some of the areas are great to see and they really captured the national park feeling with abandoned camps and cars on the road right when the bombs fell. So there is a nice charm about the area and seeing some trees and rivers is a nice change from the dried-up Mojave. Other than that the environment is full of vicious animals instead of just people so that’s also a bit different than the Mojave and Dead Money.
Other than that the DLC is worth a purchase, but don’t expect 15+ hours and tons of new weapons or extra stuff. It’s the best New Vegas DLC so far, but it’s also not the best it could be. I hope the third and fourth DLC is a lot better and are finally on par with the excellent Fallout 3 DLC add-ons.
Rain hasn’t been seen since Armageddon 5 years ago, but his first real appearance was back in the heydays in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. His outfit is slightly changed from Armageddon, but it looks a lot better and not so much like a magician. He’s really a character for advanced players since he’s very hard to combo with, but his special moves are awesome using the nice water effects in the Unreal Engine 3. One of my favorites is a move that engulfs the opponent in a water ball and you can move it around the screen for a few seconds to set up a combo.
Rain is kind of a medium-close range character, but when you master his combos he can be pretty deadly and powerful. Rain is more of a defensive character and good for people who strategize and like to plan the next hit. He has a fairly large special move list, but a lot of these are defensive. Other than that his fatalities are very interesting, but could have been a little better. He definitely feels like a character that controls water very well, but you’ll need to be an advanced player to take advantage of him. I also have to mention his X-Ray move is pretty brutal. Pick him up for the usual DLC character price especially if you were a fan.
It’s been a long while since the blind warrior has been in the MK scene. It’s been 5 years to be exact since he was seen in Armageddon, and 9 years since his first appearance in Deadly Alliance. Kenshi was been a fan favorite thanks to his fast and swift fighting style with long sweeping sword slashes. His telekinesis was very popular with fans, and now it looks and plays better in MK9.
Kenshi’s outfit hasn’t changed much, but there is a graphical upgrade to his special moves that allow a translucent version of him that he projects when doing his telekinesis moves. It’s cool to see especially if you remember what he was like 9 years ago. His sword slashes are still fast and sweeping and he has some pretty heavy-hitting combos. They aren’t huge ones, but he has a few 3-4 hit combos that involve his special moves and some sword slashes.
Kenshi is a good juggling character with his upward sword slash you can combo into that with most of his moves. His special moves are really useful with some full-screen moves, up close, and medium distance. He’s a well-balanced character for all play styles and I really think even newcomers will grow to like The Blind Warrior Kenshi. His fatalities are actually some of my favorites, but without spoiling anything I’ll just say they are very brutal and one is pretty funny in a way. At the usual DLC character price, he’s well worth it and you should get a lot of playtime out of him.
The first new (and additional) character is Skarlet for Mortal Kombat. She’s a blood demon created by Shao Kahn for last-minute use created by the blood of fallen warriors. Her story is interesting, but the rumor is she was a character that never made it into MK2. Her outfit is very unique and revealing. She has two daggers, she’s fast, nimble, and can get out of situations quickly. She has a lot of projectile moves and one that takes away health when she throws a blood ball at you.
Her X-Ray move isn’t very gruesome, but it is deadly since she sticks her high heel in your eye. That’s every man’s nightmare! It also doesn’t take away a whole lot of health like other ones would which is a surprise (or relief) depending on your stance of X-Ray moves’ balance. Her combos are fast hand and knife strikes, you can do a lot of juggling with her, and using her dagger tosses are great ways to end combos. She does have one teleport move like Mileena so you could say she plays similarly.
Skarlet can perform a Babality and hers is hilarious just like all the rest. Her two Fatalities are pretty sick in a psychotic way, so not to spoil anything let’s just say she loves the taste of blood. The only complaint about her is the price which runs at $4.99 (PSN) or 400 MSP (XBL) which is a bit steep for just one character. Right now an alternate costume is only rumors and speculation so we’ll know about this more later on. Skarlet is an excellent addition to the MK universe and MK9.
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