To this day, Operation Anchorage remains as one of Bethesda's most mediocre DLCs. Which is weird to me, because I hardly consider it to be forgettable.
I'll chalk that up to the artstyle though. Operation Anchorage, in contrast to the base game of FO3, is a DLC that solely aims to be a first-person-shooter, not some RPG hybrid. And how does that end up affecting the experience of playing through the whole thing?
Well, on an original FO3 copy on XBox 360, prolly not too fun lol. Every single time I have played this thing it has been as part of TTW, the total conversion mod for FNV coded to include FO3... aka, the definitive way of playing it. With QoL mods and certain modernization add-ons like weapon inertia, smoother aiming, and more, this DLC is at the very least... okay.
There's not much at all to write home about for OA from a gameplay perspective. All objectives amount to killing a bunch of dudes, pressing a key input on an object and... well, actually, that's it lol. The real reason I play through this thing EVERY TIME in a TTW playthrough is for that sweet loot at the end.
In the original release of FO3, OA featured a bugged suit of T-51b power armor that had infinite durability. This pretty much made you invincible on lower difficulties like normal... and lord above I would be lying if I said I didn't appreciate that this swift cut to endgame gear exists. I usually hit this DLC up even before I get to GNR, which REALLY bungles up gameplay progression for this game!
But who cares. It's a single player affair... I'll do what I want. Oh, and the gauss rifle is cool too. At the end of the day, OA is an expansion I play for 90 mins on autopilot that I end up liking it more than disliking it. But I cannot front... the mission design in this DLC is a joke.
I'll chalk that up to the artstyle though. Operation Anchorage, in contrast to the base game of FO3, is a DLC that solely aims to be a first-person-shooter, not some RPG hybrid. And how does that end up affecting the experience of playing through the whole thing?
Well, on an original FO3 copy on XBox 360, prolly not too fun lol. Every single time I have played this thing it has been as part of TTW, the total conversion mod for FNV coded to include FO3... aka, the definitive way of playing it. With QoL mods and certain modernization add-ons like weapon inertia, smoother aiming, and more, this DLC is at the very least... okay.
There's not much at all to write home about for OA from a gameplay perspective. All objectives amount to killing a bunch of dudes, pressing a key input on an object and... well, actually, that's it lol. The real reason I play through this thing EVERY TIME in a TTW playthrough is for that sweet loot at the end.
In the original release of FO3, OA featured a bugged suit of T-51b power armor that had infinite durability. This pretty much made you invincible on lower difficulties like normal... and lord above I would be lying if I said I didn't appreciate that this swift cut to endgame gear exists. I usually hit this DLC up even before I get to GNR, which REALLY bungles up gameplay progression for this game!
But who cares. It's a single player affair... I'll do what I want. Oh, and the gauss rifle is cool too. At the end of the day, OA is an expansion I play for 90 mins on autopilot that I end up liking it more than disliking it. But I cannot front... the mission design in this DLC is a joke.