So I beat Operation Anchorage last night, and I couldn't help but feel bitterly disappointed. The snowy environment combined with the invasion of Chinese communists is something that sounding very appealing.
The campaign itself is made to feel like a simulation. You receive a distress signal from an outcast organisation and they need your help to open an Armoury which is in their base. Apparently the only way to open the door is to complete a virtual simulation of a battle which took place in Alaska. You're the only one who can undertake the task as you're wearing a pip-boy, so they were lucky I stumbled in!
The guy who tells you about the task is a hostile bloke. He should have been polite as I'm risking my life to open an Armoury for him and his outcast organisation!
Anyway, you pop on a 'Neural Interface Suit' and jump into a pod which throws you into a virtual Alaska. The landscape itself is a refreshing change from the morbid colouring of the Capital Wasteland and actually looks really impressive.
The plot itself is very uninspiring. You have to take back Anchorage for the Americans, and that's basically it. You're set a number of straightforward tasks which you would find in a game such as Medal of Honour (destroy this, take that, etc). The battles are by no means large-scale. Even the final siege is disappointing.
The game play is entirely focused on combat, which is actually a bad thing because combat isn't the strongest part of Fallout 3. The enemies are very samey and the encounters with Chinese soldiers feels very…uneventful. The best approach is to act stealthy. However, that rarely works as there is usually another soldier on the look out, and many of the fights are in smaller areas.
When you finish each objective the screen fades out and you're back in the briefing room ready for the next objective, and this goes on until you reach the final mission. Before you set off you can select the types of weapons you want to take with you along with a handful of American soldiers. This is a neat concept but I would have liked to have been able to mix and match weapons rather than picking one set such as 'close quarters' 'sniper' etc.
When you finally complete Operation Anchorage you fade back to reality and congratulated by the man who was oh so rude at the beginning. You then unlock the armoury door which has a set of winter power armour (because Alaska is cold, get it?) as well as a few guns and ammunition.
Overall, I was really disappointed with Operation Anchorage. The setting of Alaska was great but was sadly accompanied by a rather dull set of missions and battles. The add-on is also very short and lasts about 4-5 hours.
Also, just thought I'd throw this in, when I finished Anchorage and was leaving the outcast base, they all snapped and started attacking me and one of the characters called 'Specialist Olin' (who is actually one of their own). I'm assuming this is just an example of a 'Bethesda Bug'?
I'm now partly through 'The Pitt', which seems pretty good so far.