Guide Written by: Brandon "Devil" Cackowski-Schnell
Well, here it is, the DLC we've all been waiting for since the end of Fallout 3. If you've been reading our guides for the other DLC packs (and thanks if you have) you know that I've been saying that for new players, the other DLC packs weren't worth playing until Broken Steel dropped and raised the level cap in the process. Rejoice then, for your level cap is now raised! Hooray! Luckily, Broken Steel is worth the 800 points, even for those that have finished the main game. The main quests have some meat on them, with the last quest giving high level players a pretty good challenge. There's a lot of good weapons and armor to be had, including the awesome Tesla Cannon, and finally Broken Steel allows the player to continue and roam the wastelands even when the questing is done.
My only real gripe with the DLC is the fact that a truly "evil" ending is thrown in at the end seemingly just to provide one. At the end of the "Who Dares Wins" quest you'll be given the option of either destroying the Enclave base, or the Brotherhood of Steel base. Why you'd destroy the Brotherhod of Steel base at that point is not explained to the player. It's simply another option. Had there been an offer from the Enclave to side with them, or some other competing faction, then it would make sense, but to basically run errands for the Brotherhood all through the DLC, putting life and limb at risk while doing so, and then deciding, on a whim, to destroy them, seems strange. I'm all for offering a bad karma option, but only if it makes sense.
My other complaint comes from the fact that yes, you'll be able to level up, but the new perks you can choose on your way to level 30 are pretty useless. Three of them simply switch your Karma, something that has zero practical use. The rest have some use, but aren't nearly as useful as the perks that shipped with the main game. Sure, it's great to be able to get experience again, and most likely, on your road to level 20, you had to pass up some worthwhile perks, perks you can now take, but at the same time, it would have been nice to be leveling up with powerful new perks in mind. Heck, even once you take the perks you had to pass up you'll still be scraping the bottom of the perk barrel to find something to apply. Plus, at the high 20 levels, you'll already be so jacked up that the new perks won't do much to help you out any way. Oh well, I guess being able to wipe out most things without breaking a sweat will have to be its own reward.
In the end though, for ten bucks, it's a heck of a pack, and using it in conjuncture with the other two DLC packs will get new players to level 30 with no problem. This is the pack we've been waiting for ever since we walked into that control room, or had Sentinal Lyons do it, so get out there, find a Super Mutant, and take care of business.
Achievements and Walkthrough
Devil - 20 pts: Reached Level 30 with Bad Karma
True Mortal - 20 pts: Reached Level 30 with Neutral Karma
Messiah - 20 pts: Reached Level 30 with Good Karma
Oh boy, three more Karma achievements. Good to see that Bethesda went all out. If you've gotten the Karma achievements up until now, the general strategy for getting these three won't be all that much different however with a right mix of perks; it can be much easier to wrangle your Karma correctly.
Starting at level 26, you can choose one of three perks when leveling up to instantly change your Karma to good, bad or neutral. Seeing how you don't have to take the perks the minute they're available, a good strategy is to save your game right before you hit level 30, then hit level 30, take whatever perk corresponds to the Karma achievement you're going for and voila, the points will be yours. Seeing how the Karma perks aren't good for anything except getting these achievements, once you have the achievements for whatever Karma you don't have, simply reload your save, hit level 30 and then take whatever perk you want to live out the rest of your days with.
