(Note: Some Xbox 360 users are reporting problems with this DLC pack. I have had very few technical issues with it, but some bugs have been acknowledged by Microsoft and fixes provided. I will offer links to help you out after this review.)

If you ask most people what their biggest issue with Fallout 3 was, it would be the colossal railroading that happened in the endgame sequence. Many players instantly thought of a viable solution to the choice presented to them, but were forced to pick between several bad options. Broken Steel attempts to fix that, allowing you to continue the main plot beyond the events inside Project Purity. In addition to a new quest line, it raises the level cap to 30, plus several new weapons, armor, and perks to go with that.

Some parts of Broken Steel work almost immediately upon installing it and restarting Fallout 3. Once you load a save file or start a new game, a message will appear after several minutes informing you that you can now reach level 30. Likewise, you don’t have to go on any of the new quests to take the new perks. But if that’s all you do with it, then you’ll miss out on plenty of other content, since Broken Steel changes the game’s ending somewhat.

In order to get to the new quests, you have to complete the endgame as usual. At first it will look like it’s not working; the first several minutes of the ending appear unchanged. It’s only after you view the full thing (or skip it, I seemed to be able to by pressing B) that you get to the new plot. The specifics change depending on what exact steps you took in the ending, but the important part is that your character inexplicably survives... and now it’s time to take the fight to the Enclave, working alongside the Brotherhood of Steel. Estimates put all this new content at taking around five hours to fully explore, and that’s mostly accurate.

Along with the level cap increase and new perks, you’ll get lots of new toys to play with if you proceed with Broken Steel’s quests. There are around six new pieces of armor, a few healing items, and roughly seven new guns. The problem with this is that I said ’guns’ and not ’weapons’... every new weapon here is for ranged combat. There is a lot of variety between them however, and I had fun with every single one. Along with a few new enemies to fight, you get a decent amount of content.