Previews// Fallout 3: Broken Steel

Back in the tunnels, the Reavers keep coming and coming – Hines told us that he'll have to clear them out, but then he'll get to ride the presidential Metro. It'll be a wild ride, though. "Feral Ghouls are actually coming out and attacking you as you're going down."

Eventually, you'll make it to Adams Air Force Base. Once you get there, the Brotherhood of Steel's going to tell you they've got a spot of infiltration to do. What's more, they can't do it with a large group, so you're all on your lonesome.

Adams Air Force Base is a new area and, Hines, says, it's pretty big.

The whole thing, as far as DLC goes, sounds pretty big.

“So, in addition to the main quest – it's going to be longer than either Anchorage or The Pitt, there's a bit more gameplay to it – then you also get the miscellaneous stuff, then, obviously, you get the benefit of just being able to play in the world of Fallout 3 and have access to all the other stuff, and keep on playing and levelling your character up.”

We're looking at four to five hours of play for the main quest, plus all the other stuff you'll inevitably find yourself doing.

Said other stuff is not to be sniffed at, either. Hines referenced one side quest involving caravan protection on the way to Megaton, saying that that mission alone adds half an hour to the content.

Hines also reckons that Broken Steel will encourage players to crack on with things they haven't done in the main game. “I find that when I'm playing it, I'll be doing Broken Steel stuff, then I'll run into something in the original game that I hadn't done and thinking, 'I'll go do that', because you're still getting sent all over the world and (thinking) 'oh, I never saw this, I never got to do that', so it kind of feels even bigger, and it does change the world in terms of what's in and around some of the places you go to”, Hines said.

Expect the consequences of your actions in the main game to be further reflected, too. Hines gave the example that if you chose to spike the water, you'll see the result...

Anyway, by this point Hines had jumped further forward. I was introduced to another new enemy type – a Hellfire Trooper. It's one of the new Enclave enemies and it carries a projectile flamethrower. Things on the screen were starting to look toasty.

The new enemies, you'll be pleased to hear, come with new armour.

At this point, Hines was out there in the big wide world, surrounded by rusty-coloured multi-storey buildings. He was having the crap shot out of him.

This, he decided, was a job for the Tesla Cannon. That's an energy weapon of satisfying effect which Hines used to happily take out some turrets that were bothering him, switching between regular first-person shooting to VATS. He noted again that he's skipping plenty of stuff to avoid spoilers, but I was getting the idea.

Broken Steel is going to set you back 800 points, and you're getting off easy. Hines noted that his company thought about charging more for Broken Steel than it has for previous content because, “there's a bit more to it”, but concluded that it's still in the same size ballpark, so kept the same price.

While Broken Steel is looking and sounding like a satisfying continuation of Fallout 3 (and will delight the players who baulked at the ending), it's worth noting that you probably shouldn't bother spending your points on it if you haven't finished the game already. Otherwise, it's looking like a worthy addition to the Fallout world for those who can't wait for the just-announced Fallout: New Vegas.

Remember: May 5th!