Wait for the GOTY edition, because Dean Domino is the only good thing.
- It takes place on a totally different place;
- You have different followers;
- You can complete in on a rainy Saturday;
- You can't visit the place once you leave.
I considered O:A the weakest DLC of Fallout 3, but it had the best rewards: Winterized Power Armor that gives you PA training, even if you didn't advance much in the story.
But what do you get on Dead Money? Gold Bars that weigh 35lbs each, so you'll be easily overencumbered. But that's just a test Obsidian made to measure your greediness.
Besides that, you get more XP, more levels and more skill points (which you'll put on Unarmed, cause the only way to kill them Ghost People is by using the Bear Trap Fist (unarmed). You are stripped on arrival and are given a holorifle that freezes people. How lame.
It's recommended you have 20+ level for simple reasons:
- You'll have higher HP;
- You should have high (75+) Science, Lockpick, Repair and Speech;
- You'll be used to how the game is.
The collar excuse for do-not-leave-or-kill-your-teammates-or-I'll-blow-your-collar-off is pretty convincing. Your teammates are too.
SPOILER:
You get 3 companions.
- Dog/God - A mutant with a personality disorder. Dog is clumsy, God thinks he's powerful;
- Dean Domino - A ghoul from the time of the bombs: you can see some posters of his during loading screens. His accent is funny too: the only thing I liked on DM, besides his orange skin
- Christine - a muted BoS scribe that is just annoying. When she gets a voice, she'll think she pwns ass, but she can be easily killed with a Bear Trap Fist.
The story is actually pretty cool, but disappointed me because I thought it'd be a "real" heist, but when you get to the Vault you'll be alone, even if you didn't kill your companions. By the way, after you face them, killing them or not, you'll never see them again, even after you complete the story.
The ending is awful. You can sneak past Elijah and when he's trapped, you have to run so you don't die. When you exit the Vault, the only thing you see is the fountain (you are teleported there) and the "Quest Completed" thing. No "Yay, you defeated him!" thing at all. I expected Dean to say this last thing, like: "You defeated Elijah, well done. You can leave, but I'll stick around. See you."
And when you go back to the Mojave, you're presented with a Ending Cutscene, pretty much like the main story.
I'm still hoping that a Broken Steel-like DLC comes out, because it's the only thing missing from this game.