Review: Fallout 3 Point Lookout

We’re beginning to have a nice little tour of wasteland America playing Fallout 3. Pittsburgh was the setting of The Pitt, and of course Washington is featured in the main game. Now it’s the turn of Maryland in the latest piece of DLC from Bethesda - Point Lookout.

I reviewed the last piece of DLC - Broken Steel - last month. I felt it was the best DLC released to date for Fallout 3. And anything released after this was always going to struggle to compete a little bit. After all, it was my belief that Broken Steel was the pinnacle of what Bethesda had released, with a score of ten confirming that.

Ignoring the voices in my head

So while playing through Point Lookout, there was always the voice in the back of my head reminding me that Broken Steel was very, very good. But even after ignoring the voice, I still had a slight feeling of disappointment. I was unable to decide whether it’s because the DLC is not very good, or because the previous chunks of content released by Bethesda have all been entertaining to play, with some excellent goodies thrown in as well.

There is no doubt that Point Lookout isn’t as good as Broken Steel. But after completing the main quest, exploring the vast environment, and investigating the extra side quests, followed by a good hard think about the game for an hour or so, I’m fairly confident that this is still a decent piece of DLC.

Fallout – travelling to exotic locations

Your quest to Point Lookout will begin with the usual message appearing on the screen. This message takes the form of an advert, giving information on the "exotic" Point Lookout and how a boat can take you there. Once you arrive at the boat’s location, you’ll meet the owner who will give you a little introduction in what to expect at this new destination.

When you arrive at this destination you’ll be thrown straight into the main quest. The boatman advises you to head to the mansion, which for some reason is smoking. Your welcome to the mansion comes in the form of a gunfight. Nothing major, but it does give you a quick introduction to some of the characters you’ll meet in this new town, and of course you meet Desmond.

Now whoever did the script writing for Point Lookout has created a fantastic character in the form of Desmond. This ghoul has a potty mouth, with a sharp and quick sense of humour. Some of the dialect created for him, especially during your first encounter with him, will make you chuckle. There are however times where the words he speaks different from the sbtitles, but he’s not the only character to suffer from this little glitch. Despite this, Desmond should go down as one of the greatest video game characters ever created. He’s certainly the most entertaining character you meet in Fallout 3 to date.

Follow the white rabbit

Desmond isn’t the only amusing aspect in Point Lookout. There is one point during the main quest line where things firstly do amuse, then become very, very weird. An "Alice in Wonderland" type moment if you will. I won’t spoil this part of the game for you, as it is something that you need to see first-hand, but it is again a great piece of writing from the team at Bethesda.

All previous pieces of content released for Fallout 3 have had brilliant script writing, with a story and main quest that grips you and makes you want to keep playing. The same can be said about Point Lookout. It does however have one disappointing part to it, and that’s the ending.

Again, I won’t spoil it for you, but you have choices to make at the end. Do you go for option A, or option B? There is even an option C depending on how you play the game. One of these endings is disappointing in the way it is written, as it finishes quite quickly and abruptly. You finish off the main quest and part of you expects something else to happen, someone to speak to you maybe, a room to unlock, but it never happens. You just don’t get the feeling that it’s finished.

Where’s the treasure?

And it’s not the only slight disappointment of the game. Before going to Point Lookout, and also when you arrive, the boatman mentions treasures and wealth many times. If you go by the past history of Fallout 3 DLC, you would expect some nice weaponry or clothing. Something of high value perhaps. If you are expecting this, as I was, you’ll be very disappointed.

The purpose of Point Lookout is to give you action and entertainment, not the freebies of past content releases. And the way you play Point Lookout also differs from past releases. You won’t come across the odd ghoul in Point Lookout. Here you’ll be up against packs of the things, with some forms of the ghoul being very difficult to defeat. You’ll also encounter some new forms of enemy, which can again be difficult to defeat. Weapon choice and preservation of ammo has never been as important before in Fallout 3.

Although the main quest line is not as long as previous content releases, Point Lookout has a large game environment, with lots of places to explore and several other side quests. This new DLC is not quite as good as previous efforts from Bethesda, but it’s certainly good enough, and big enough to warrant the 800 Microsoft Point price tag.