An abysmal framerate lessens the impact of what there is to offer, but the rewards at the end are well worth the trouble
Contains: Strong Bloody Violence
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Operation: Anchorage is the first downloadable content for Fallout 3 developed and published by Bethesda Softworks.
In this add-on, The Brotherhood of Steel Outcasts are trying to acquire advanced military tools, and the only way to enter the vault containing these relics is to enter and complete a military virtual reality simulation and fight in one of the greatest battles of the Fallout universe - the liberation of Anchorage, Alaska from its Chinese communist invaders. However, none of the Outcasts have the correct computer interface (Pip-Boy 3000) to enter the simulation and so it is up to you, the lone wanderer of the wasteland, to follow the radio transmission back to their hidden base and engage in the deadly simulation to reclaim the battle from the Chinese army. The story is generally weak, but the dialogue options are all very engaging like all other conversations that take place within the Fallout universe, allowing you to step in as a goody two shoes with commitment to help out the Brotherhood Outcasts, or be quick and uninterested in their problem with an evil essence that contain eyes only for the prize that accompany the end result of your efforts.
Within the simulation you are stripped of all your equipment and weapons from the main game, and forced to utilise the resources supplied throughout the simulation's environment. You are governed within restricted zones by computerized, transparent barriers, and the path towards your objective is very linear, though not always straightforward. This aspect takes away the exploration element that Fallout explorers are so keen on in this universe, and the enemies you kill all disappear disallowing you any chance to salvage their corpse and their weapons. You are given various weapons throughout this 2 hour add-on, including new armor and a new weapon to wield, but otherwise there isn't anything to do apart from blast and talk your way through until the objectives are completed and the quest is finished.
In replacement of no items to collect, various health and ammo dispenses are frequently placed around the environments, and while this isn't problematic, it makes all potential challenge within the gameplay diminish entirely, as there is no limit to how many times you can re-supply or re-heal. But given the enjoyable, gory gameplay won't provide a challenge, ignoring the technical flaws will be. There's no denying that Fallout 3 is no visually stunning accomplishment, and relies solely on the artistic design to bring about awe in your mind on your travels, but unfortunately this add-on has an abysmal framerate that plagues the entire experience, and at some stages, becomes nearly impossible to continue without the game freezing or you rebooting the console. It's so horrible to see such a bad framerate intrude whenever more than a few characters enter the screen, and even more cringe worthy is how this single player DLC got released in it's technical state, which is blatantly unfinished.
Taking away the awesome element of exploration and salvaging was a poor decision that had to be instigated to allow the core aspect of being within a simulation to be more realistic in order to proceed with the story, but the effect is negatively perceived as you progress slowly through the ranks of Chinese enemies. VATS, and the gore that accompanies it's use, is still solid, though the technical difficulties make using it unusually awkward as the framerate drops terribly and the game randomly freezes momentarily or constantly at certain points. There is no real excitement to be generated because of the framerate troubles that inhabit every scripted scenario causing many frustrations outside of your control, and the plot is weak and uninteresting despite the cool premise that sounds like a good reason for dramatic shoot-outs, which sadly doesn't provide. However, the sole reason to stick with this add-on is the end result of great rewards, that come with the large amount of well earned experience points and a room full of amazing new weapons and armor, and this delightful ending to a rather bland and miserable quest of unhappy sequences make Operation: Anchorage a tough battle well worth enduring.
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OVERALL SUMMARY - 7/10
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Good Points: The awesome rewards for completing the quest will exceed your expectations remarkably, Contains frequent amounts of bloody violence.
Bad Points: Abysmal framerate plagues most of the experience, Very linear and very uninteresting objectives, Exploration and salvaging elements are non-existent.