Would you look at that, I actually just wrote a review for Mothership Zeta (the next expansion) without realising I hadn't even written one for Point Lookout first. I amaze myself sometimes.
Point Lookout, being after Broken Steel had quite the tough act to follow as Broken Steel not only added to the storyline but raised the level cap, changing the game experience altogether. Yet Bethesda do another DLC which branches off from normal play?
This DLC is focused more on chills and horrors, which previously the game hadn't done the best job on. Have they now added a real spooky factor to Fallout 3? No, no they haven't. It's not bad and I don't find it lets down the expansion at all, but I don't think Bethesda should have even bothered. It goes for the swamp-horror theme which isn't all that scary in films as it is, and quite frankly it's hardly noticeable. Oh well...
I must say, the storyline wasn't the worst they've had but it was hardly memorable. Some ghoul's being attacked by some ridiculously tough humans (Tribals) and you have to save him, and then find out their objective, then help out said ghoul in his little feud with his sworn enemy. It's not a terrible storyline and it even has moral choices for you to make (both brilliantly immoral anyway, in true Fallout style), so its not in this department where Lookout falls. It's also definitely not in the environment; it has the biggest exploration area of all the Fallout DLCs and varies brilliantly, from the dusty boardwalks to the murky swamps and forests. Search hard enough and you'll find some exciting side quests, which I greatly enjoyed. You'll also get the Bog Walker achievement for finding all the locations, if you needed more incentive. So Point Lookout does a good job in RPG traits.
However, where we were promised new weaponry and enemies, we get less than hoped. There are a couple of new weapons, mainly very redneck-y, eg the Double Barrelled shotgun, and as good as they look and feel they're virtually useless against the rediculously tough enemies. And no exceptions. Every new enemy in Lookout, from the Tribals to the weird mutated-hillbilly things has a huge health bar and you find yourself needing to run backwards and fire everything you've got endlessly with every hostile you encounter, not to mention use every stimpak you've got (of course, this can all be solved by changing the difficulty to Very Easy, but then you might as well be playing Viva Pinata). Bethesda might be trying to make this DLC more of a challenge, but there's something called 'overkill'.
I give Point Lookout a 7/10. It's expansive, has good side quests and the storyline isn't bad, and despite it being a little too hard it's an ideal for expansions.
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