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Fallout New Vegas DLC Review: Old World Blues

Continuing my campaign in Fallout New Vegas to complete the DLC packs I have found what is perhaps my favorite piece of New Vegas DLC so far.

The last two pieces have missed the mark by great lengths, but Old World Blues is the closest to hitting that bullseye.

B Movie Science Fiction Away!

Old World Blues introduces you to the mysterious location known as Big Mountain, a secret government operated location that was used to gather the world's top notch scientists to experiment on countless things that ordinary institutions would frown upon or protest.

Ever wonder how the Nightstalker's were made?


What you find is a world that has a lot of things that are seen only in B Movie Science Fiction Films you would see from the 50s and 60s.

Stumbling upon a strange satellite in a worn down drive-in theater, you find that you have teleported to a strange high-tech facility. You wonder around to then discover that there are "people" in this facility.

You meet a group of scientists who ran the installation prior to and during the war. However, they have had their brains placed into drones in order to avoid pesky annoyances of the physical body.

They warn you of a man named Doctor Mobius! A mad scientist just like them(brain in a jar) but he wants to destroy the scientists and take over the Big Mountain by using an army of Robo-scorpions. They also warn you that Mobius has stolen your brain.

In order to assist you, these scientists remove your other body parts like your spine and heart so that you can use cybernetic implants to avoid some of the many threats that await you in the Big Mountain.

You must now go out into the Big Mountain in order to discover a plethora of high tech weaponry in your mission to get your brain back!

So to recap, your spine, heart and brain have all been replaced with cybernetic implants that are meant to assist you in your mission to find a mad scientist who has had his brain put into a drone that is using an army of Robot Scorpions in order to kill you and take over an installation filled with all kinds of advanced weaponry and tech which you will then use to get your brain back that was stolen.

Interested yet?

Aside from the main story of Old World Blues. The DLC also has many revelations about some of the enemies you have encountered in the Mojave Wasteland and even reveals details about Dead Money

The Nightstalkers? Results of a splicing experiment from one of the scientists you meet in Old World Blues. The Cazadors? Also a result of a splicing experiment. The toxic gas surrounding the Sierra Madre? A chemical weapon sent to the owner of the Sierra Madre.

There's even Audio Logs lying throughout the world foreshadowing what will happen in the next piece of DLC.

You came, you saw, you will never forget it


Like the last two pieces of DLC, Old World Blues does its best to make this new location stay in your memory forever even after you have completed the main quest to Old World Blues.

You'll come across many high-tech locations and landmarks that will either haunt you because of what you found there or leave you in awe at how awesome these locations looked.

Even some of the enemies you find in this world will amaze you, either at how horrifying they look or how cool they look.


This won't be easy

You will find some pretty awesome stuff in this piece of DLC. Awesome laser melee based weapons and guns. A mini-gun with the brain of a dog that helps warn you of enemies near by and gets upset when you don't need it anymore.

Familiar weapons that we've seen in Fallout 3 like the Gauss Rifle, Laser Minigun, Plasma Caster and a modified Tesla Cannon.


However, it is not all easy.

You'll soon discover that Old World Blues is actually a pretty tough piece of DLC, even if the game is set on the Very Easy difficulty.

Enemies are tough and either have some of their own cybernetic enhancements or armor that's strong enough to withstand even some of the more powerful attacks from heavy weaponry.

Armor is scarce in the Big Mountain, the highest tiered piece of armor you can find is a set of Metal Armor, but you may find that the armor will only last you a short time as enemies will be armed to the teeth with high damage weapons such as Brush Guns, Trail Carbines, .44 Magnums, Hunting Revolvers, Gauss Rifles, Laser Miniguns, Plasma-Casters and more.

You may find some pretty awesome weapons, but your armor will take a beating and soon your health will be going from 500 points down to 10 if you find yourself caught in too many firefights.

Aside from combat, exploring Big Mountain is quite a lot of fun and has plenty of rewards for those who seek ammo, medical supplies or general supplies to create items at Work Benches and Reloading Benches.

I actually found myself taking time away from side missions and the main missions in order to see what else was hiding in Big Mountain.

So much cool stuff.

There's even a designated "safe-house" location in Big Mountain that has talking appliances. You can explore Big Mountain in order to find upgrades to these appliances that allow you to either change your characters' attributes such as the Traits you chose at the beginning of the game and how your character looks.

The Verdict

Old World Blues does fix a lot of mistakes that the last two pieces of DLC made. It's not frustratingly difficult, there are no areas you cannot go to because you will explode. The world does not feel empty and there are plenty of things to find in the world by taking the time to explore the vast amount of research stations and facilities that contain some of Big Mountain's biggest and awesome secrets.

It certainly is not as frustrating as Dead Money and is not as empty as Honest Hearts.

If you decide to pick up one piece of DLC for New Vegas, this should be the piece of DLC you get.

Old World Blues gets a 4 out of 5

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