Fallout: New Vegas Lonesome Road DLC Reviews

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Written by WorstUsernameEver on September 23rd, 2011

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Unlike other DLCs, there are some consequences in the main game to the choices you make. You can wreck or increase your reputation with the factions in the Mojave, and depending on the choices you make unlock up to two additional areas in the main map, which are very small but provide a little extra, including unique weapons and armor. These high-level areas (including one in the DLC itself) provide tons and tons of ammo to players, if any of them need it - I find it hard to imagine they do.

Getting past its linear, combat-focused design which I'm not a huge fan of the biggest failings of this DLC lie in its vagueness and lack of picking up loose ends in a satisfactory way. The player is given too little reason to care about the pre-disaster Divide. Many little things could've been handled better, like the explanation of ED-E's presence or why pre-war commissary machines give out bottle caps or credit chips indistinguishable from bottle caps. The loose end of the tunnelers is never picked up. There was a lot of build-up for this plot, with the (legendary battle of the two couriers), but the pay-off, especially storywise, is slight, and how exactly this battle became a legend is not adequately explained (there are no sane witnesses around).

Before this DLC's release, Chris Avellone explained in a developer blog that the narrative of Fallout games comes largely from the players. And he's right, that has always been one of the series' main strengths. How ironic is it, then, that Lonesome Road is the very antithesis of this ideal, with an antagonist who hates you because of events that happened outside of the player's control, and a linear, railroaded path that will play out pretty much the same for everyone, differences in dialog depending on your faction allegiance aside.

After spending around seven hours with Lonesome Road one thing became clear: you won't want to purchase it for the story. Like other downloadable content packs, you'll gain five additional levels and some sweet weapons worth some serious cash.er bottle caps. Unfortunately, those are the only major benefits. In this case, only Fallout fans desperate for more content should embark on this oddly paced journey through the Divide.

Not even the equipment rewards are particularly worthwhile. The new nail gun and rocket launcher are quite useful, but not game-changinly so. The new karma-resetting perk is also handy, but a rather odd reward to be dolling out at the very end of the whole New Vegas experience.

As a result the experience just comes across as utterly pointless. If Bethesda had let things end with Old World Blues they would've been going out on a high note and the mediocrity of the two preceding downloads would've been easily forgiven.

But this isn't even that good and just made us glad we weren't going back to the Fallout world anytime soon, when really it should have had us anticipating the next full sequel even more.

In short, it's a fitting end to the New Vegas saga, and well-worth getting your hands on if you've enjoyed the moody exploration, moral dilemmas and meaty action of the main game. Packing a great deal of extras, and also boasting a fine story-line to boot, Lonesome Road is very nearly the perfect example of what great DLC should be.

"Lonesome Road" is not going to make any new fans of the series. However, the expansion, problems aside, offers a fitting conclusion to the Courier's tale before the climatic end of the game. Raising the level cap and bringing new perks to the table is always nice even though you still can't play past the Second Battle of Hoover Dam.

I recommend the DLC if you're a fan of the series, if you're not, you might want to hold off on purchasing or maybe wait until the ludicrous Steam sales in November.

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