I've already reviewed the first game here
Despite bizarrely having to reset the level back to level 12, it winds up edging out the main game for me in terms of execution, especially given now you wind up getting backstory on Kyle reese and what little characterization evans & ferrio, the other squadmates in your squad, have.
Like this DLC is very brief and is just more of the same as the main game but also wont hold any punches given its difficulty, throwing not only the main games enemies at you, but another variant, the T-650s where they're easy to take out but you need to be quick because they wield miniguns like the infiltrator mode where you play as a infiltrator terminator. This DLC is one of the only times where i DID run out of ammo and just kept hugging the cover like it was World at War.
The only sad part is that it didn't really add any actual new weapons, mostly just get the ones from the infiltrator dlc including the .45 longslide which unfortunately, like the other bullet weapons in the main game, outlives its usefulness halfway through the game, so don't get too excited.
Though this time around I found myself using stealth a LOT more than i did with the OG game, Like they give you 5 termination 1 hit kill knives during one side quest at one point. So really, it was much more preferable than to get lit up again, and again, and again, especially on hard.
What does make it through is the concept of going through the annihilation line, the very thing they warn you about in the main game of civilians and platoons getting slaughtered, and this dlc is the exact opposite of the main game where in the main campaign you'd slowly feel like you can take em head-on but in this, you're actually scared of em and was desperate to take em out thanks to the more cramped, linear design. Sometimes, I had to do a fuckin 40 yard dash to GTFO from 2 big ass T-47 robots because i was just THAT ill-equipped.
Guess this also fits the tone of the overall game but thing is, this takes place in between parts of the game, right after you capture the first infiltrator bot/during the timeskip at barons camp when you go through the rank of sergeant but definitely before the ending where you become a badass war hero, which makes it hard to recommend playing this chronologically because this dlc is much, much harder than the main game.
Which also makes it a bit predictable where as the main game i didn't exactly know how things were gonna play out until near the end. But this one given that its an inbetweenquel quasi-standalone story arc between missions, its sorta hampers on what twists it'll reveal as shocking and unfortunately what deaths is gonna happen just by realizing rivers never mentioned any of the crew despite this dlc making you feel like an inseparable team, or even the little arc he has about his father whom plays a big part on why rivers is even on this assignment in the first place. But really, while its predictable on what's gonna happen, its definitely surprised me on HOW it happens. Particularly one moment which is a huge spoiler, Made me go from "that's a neat reference-" then the reality sinks in and then it just makes me think "oh fuck.", But without spoiling it, It also does tie into T1 and why Reese is so on edge during that movie. Cant blame him after now experiencing it in a different POV.
Overall, this DLC is definitely worth 1 playthrough despite poking inconsistencies (aforementioned not mentioning any important characters moments in a prequel during the aftermath of the original, or that "time capsule" secret which you'd scratch your head on how did rivers father get THAT of all things in 2012 during the prologue.) and being a pain in the ass in terms of difficulty (beaten it on hard) and also skewed progression where it flowed naturally in the main game, should've just had different skill trees and progression, but really they had developed this like right before moving onto Robocop: Rogue City, so they'd just did what they could do to send this game a proper send off. And what a send off it was.
Despite bizarrely having to reset the level back to level 12, it winds up edging out the main game for me in terms of execution, especially given now you wind up getting backstory on Kyle reese and what little characterization evans & ferrio, the other squadmates in your squad, have.
Like this DLC is very brief and is just more of the same as the main game but also wont hold any punches given its difficulty, throwing not only the main games enemies at you, but another variant, the T-650s where they're easy to take out but you need to be quick because they wield miniguns like the infiltrator mode where you play as a infiltrator terminator. This DLC is one of the only times where i DID run out of ammo and just kept hugging the cover like it was World at War.
The only sad part is that it didn't really add any actual new weapons, mostly just get the ones from the infiltrator dlc including the .45 longslide which unfortunately, like the other bullet weapons in the main game, outlives its usefulness halfway through the game, so don't get too excited.
Though this time around I found myself using stealth a LOT more than i did with the OG game, Like they give you 5 termination 1 hit kill knives during one side quest at one point. So really, it was much more preferable than to get lit up again, and again, and again, especially on hard.
What does make it through is the concept of going through the annihilation line, the very thing they warn you about in the main game of civilians and platoons getting slaughtered, and this dlc is the exact opposite of the main game where in the main campaign you'd slowly feel like you can take em head-on but in this, you're actually scared of em and was desperate to take em out thanks to the more cramped, linear design. Sometimes, I had to do a fuckin 40 yard dash to GTFO from 2 big ass T-47 robots because i was just THAT ill-equipped.
Guess this also fits the tone of the overall game but thing is, this takes place in between parts of the game, right after you capture the first infiltrator bot/during the timeskip at barons camp when you go through the rank of sergeant but definitely before the ending where you become a badass war hero, which makes it hard to recommend playing this chronologically because this dlc is much, much harder than the main game.
Which also makes it a bit predictable where as the main game i didn't exactly know how things were gonna play out until near the end. But this one given that its an inbetweenquel quasi-standalone story arc between missions, its sorta hampers on what twists it'll reveal as shocking and unfortunately what deaths is gonna happen just by realizing rivers never mentioned any of the crew despite this dlc making you feel like an inseparable team, or even the little arc he has about his father whom plays a big part on why rivers is even on this assignment in the first place. But really, while its predictable on what's gonna happen, its definitely surprised me on HOW it happens. Particularly one moment which is a huge spoiler, Made me go from "that's a neat reference-" then the reality sinks in and then it just makes me think "oh fuck.", But without spoiling it, It also does tie into T1 and why Reese is so on edge during that movie. Cant blame him after now experiencing it in a different POV.
Overall, this DLC is definitely worth 1 playthrough despite poking inconsistencies (aforementioned not mentioning any important characters moments in a prequel during the aftermath of the original, or that "time capsule" secret which you'd scratch your head on how did rivers father get THAT of all things in 2012 during the prologue.) and being a pain in the ass in terms of difficulty (beaten it on hard) and also skewed progression where it flowed naturally in the main game, should've just had different skill trees and progression, but really they had developed this like right before moving onto Robocop: Rogue City, so they'd just did what they could do to send this game a proper send off. And what a send off it was.