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Categories: Review
Tags: dlc, expansion, fallout, fallout 3, operation: anchorage
In the Fallout Universe, the Anchorage Reclamation (2066-77) was a series of battles which pushed the Red Chinese out of Alaska. In Operation: Anchorage, the newly available DLC for the Xbox 360 and Windows versions of Fallout 3, the player reenacts key missions of this campaign by entering a simulator found in a location opened by the expansion.
Players coming to Operation: Anchorage expecting more of Fallout 3′s open-world design, exploration of morality, and flexible gameplay are likely to be disappointed. Operation: Anchorage is a combat simulation which plays like a traditional shooter — save for the VATS combat system. However, if you approach Operation: Anchorage with the mindset that this is the type of video game people in the Fallout Universe would play, there’s a lot to enjoy here.
While most of the missions are linear and involve killing everyone between point A and point B, pausing now and then to blow up a military target, Operation: Anchorage does throw some challenges your way. Most of the Red Chinese are holed up in bunkers and the standard infantry is supported by snipers, flamethrower units and invisible ninjas.
On your side, you are partnered with Sgt. Benjamin Montgomery, the Dom to your Marcus, and the last pushes of the campaign blossom into a veritable squad-based shooter. There are also new weapon and armor options, some of which find their way out of the simulation.
If you aren’t in a hurry, you can spend four hours in virtual virtual Alaska — and it’s worth it to find the hidden items which unlock a new Perk. Since the Anchorage Reclamation is heavily referenced in Fallout 3, it’s satisfying to be part of it and the wraparound story gives more screen-time to the intriguing Brotherhood Outcasts.
Technical details:
Operation: Anchorage costs 800 MS Points and the content is accessible in-game (as long as you saved before the game’s ending). When walking through the Capital Wastes, you’ll pick up a new radio signal that will set you on the path to Alaska. If you’ve played the Shivering Isles expansion for Oblivion, it’s a similar setup.
Paul:
Great article. I will probably still download it, but I would have almost certainly been dissapointed if I hadn’t read this first.