Last night I was able to start playing Old World Blues, the latest DLC for Fallout:New Vegas. To date, Obsidian has had a mixed track record with this game. New Vegas itself was extremely buggy at release and despite their quick response to patch the game, it lost a lot of momentum for this. Also, neither of the earlier two DLCs have shown themselves to be hitting on all cylinders. This one is no different.

Old World Blues is riding the mad-science fad that Portal and Portal 2 created. In this expansion, you are brought to Big MT. The MT is meant to stand for mountain though most people in game just refer to it as the Big Empty. The setting itself resembles many of the scientific research facilities in the US (I've been to several) on steroids. Basically, it's a sprawling region of buildings that is forever stuck in some form of construction and tear down - only, this process which is always ongoing at major research sites around the world was frozen in time after the bombs hit.

Your arrival is something of a rude awakening as you find yourself having undergone surgery and wondering where you are. You quickly find the primary characters are disembodied brains which are stored in robots in the "Think Tank", the central dome in this research center. The five doctors in the "Think Tank" are interesting enough in personality and are visually fascinating contraptions. The theme of the expansion follows the title. Old World Blues refers to those stuck in some part of the past. Well, these characters are stuck in a past that is long gone, discussing things like "American High School" and defeating Communism.

You quickly find out there is a bipolar conflict in the Big Empty as there exists a Dr. Mobius who is harrassing the Think Tank. The Think Tank then recruits you to locate the neccesary tools to defeat the evil Dr. Mobius. The McGuffin story is adequete for the adventure. On the other hand, the enemies you will face are only slight modifications of those in New Vegas itself and the new weapons just seem like more of the same. The level cap was raised again (max level is now 45) but this is hardly a compelling reason to keep playing unless you're the type who obsesses over having perfect stats in an rpg.

By the time I reached level forty, I had already maxed all my skills and so level increases are only buying me new feats and a few more hitpoints. Since there aren't really any challenging encounters left at this point, those aren't really that neccesary either. The game also adds in several "character modifications" which you can purchase to give yourself yet another unneccesary leg up in a world that increasingly seems uninterested in competing with you.

I wouldn't even bring up the uselessness of the higher levels if it weren't for the fact that the add-on isn't making it in the one place it ever stood a chance: story and characters. It seems the team working on this add-on realized people were complaining about the lack of interesting characters in Honest Hearts. Their response was to front-load the player with tons of dialog which, while sometimes entertaining, should have been spread out more through the game. You will hear James Urbaniak basically playing Dr. Venture (called Dr. 0 in this title) and he is entertaining, but it doesn't carry the game.

So, Obsidian, if you're listening, I will spell out what you need to do. Tons of dialog that hold me in place doesn't make for good characterization. Neither do characters that present their morals on a platter for me to pick from. What worked about Dead Money (despite the incredibly annoying gameplay) was the interaction I had with the characters as I went. While accomplishing the mission goals in Dead Money, I got to know the chracters in little bits. I had some dialog with them here and there and moved on. The most telling characters in that game never had a line of dialog aimed at me. They were both long dead. So when you front-load me with a ton of dialog and nothing to actually do, I get bored and wander away from the computer.

These are video games. Show, don't tell. Do, don't show. Make the process one of discovery. I know you believe that the engine being exploration based gives you a pass on this but if the exploration itself isn't interesting, if it's just locating another item in another building, well, that's just lazy. Reveal the plot as I go. Don't give me a ton of dialog to click through up front. Don't make the setting unimportant. Involve me in the setting. Involve the characters in the setting. Make me see a reason to do something other than following the magical arrow of direction on th game's compass.

Alright, I'll step down from my imaginary podium now. I think I've made my point. For all that you can do with the Gamebryo engine, it achieves nothing if it's entirely cerebral.

So that's three down and one to go: Lonesome Road. Trying not to include any spoilers, it's clear as day that Obsidian is planning for a big final confrontation between "the Two Couriers" next. I'm hoping that what we'll get is worth the build up.