DESIGN REVIEW: Fallout 3 - Operation Anchorage

Operation Anchorage added what every expansion pack should - new missions, characters and items. However, on top of that it changed previously established core mechanics: player healing and obtaining ammunition.. Having the expansion pack take place in a simulation has its pros and cons, but for the most part, it provided a good change of pace.

LIKED:
- Old Mechanics Born Anew. The majority of Operation Anchorage takes place in a simulation, much like one mission in Fallout 3. Because of this, Bethesda was free to implement a new health and ammunition recovery system. Unlike in Fallout 3, the player can't hoard stim packs and ammunition - instead, health and ammo is replenished by stationary canisters scattered throughout the game world.

Because of this, every enemy encounter is much more serious. You can't simply pull up your pip-boy and heal yourself in the middle of a gunfight - you must survive the encounter and get to a health station to recover health. This is a nice way of balancing things out for a high-level player - all the player's items are stripped upon simulation entry and he has to get used to core game mechanics, now unfamiliar to him. It's almost like playing the game for the very first time again.

Searching is also non-existant - players can't search anything in the simulation, save for certain items that flash red. Dead bodies evaporate, giving you no time to ransack your defeated enemies for ammo and other goodies. This isn't necessary a bad thing, just another change to the main gameplay. Whereas in Fallout 3, I would search every nook and cranny of a room, here I just ran through, fighting enemies and never looking back. It provided a breath of fresh air for highly methodical players like me.


- New Environment. Having Operation Anchorage take place in a blue, snowy, and mountainous Alaska is a stark contrast to Fallout 3's post apocalyptic green-tinted wasteland. It provided a nice breath of fresh air for someone like me who has played the game for a long time.


DISLIKED:
- Disjointed and Unconnected. Because Operation Anchorage is a simulation, it's even more separated than other missions in the game. Once complete, the player is unable to revisit the simulation and replay it. All the characters that the player met in the simulation are gone, and while the game does reward you with some items that you used in the simulation upon completion, it doesn't give you all of them. Once the player loses or breaks these items, there's no way to get more.

Having taken place many years ago before the Fallout 3 game timeline, the player is unable to meet the characters in the simulation once he gets out, and is generally unaffected by the events of the entire expansion pack once he completes it. This lessens the effectiveness of Operation Anchorage as a whole, acting as a quick and temporary thrill, never to be relived or remembered again.