If you haven’t purchased any of the addition episodes that have been released for Fallout 3 the Broken Steel expansion is the best place to start. There have been a lot of positive changes and updates to the core Fallout 3 game included in this release. Most notable is a change to the ending of the game. Fallout 3 did so many things right but the ending was one of the more anti-climatic endings of a game this generation. Ending the game actually means, ending the game. If players complete Fallout 3 and want continue exploring the wastelands and completing side quests they are forced to revert to a previous save file to do so. Downloading Broken Steel will allow you to complete the main story and continue exploring the wastelands filling those gaps in your achievement list.

Fallout 3’s downloadable content has been very successful. Each package has kept the spotlight pointed in Bethesdas direction well after the launch of the game in 2008. Keeping gamers focus on a single title for all these months is a big accomplishment, so why are they stopping at five?

Thrust into the wasteland as the “Lone Wander from Vault 101” and ending up “The Last, Best Hope for Humanity” was a long, and at times, trying journey. If you missed the first two parts of my review you can check them out here and here. Following your fathers trail requires a lot of back and forth through the wastelands and they are anything but safe. Constantly having to defend yourself against on coming attacks from Raiders, Super Mutants, Feral Ghouls, Mole Rats, Vicious Dogs, Deathclaws, Mercs, and more, isn’t always an easy task. No place outside of the fortified walls of wasteland settlements scattered across the D.C. Area are safe. Weapons are the key to staying alive while moving from place to place, lots of weapons. Weapons aren’t any good without ammo and decent armor compliments the pair nicely.

Bethesda has released a few details concerning the next installment of DLC for Fallout 3 today. Mothership Zeta, dated for an August 3rd release, will be the final add-on for Fallout 3. This time around, players will be abducted by aliens when answering a distress call. Judging by the details I have been reading, this is not going to be friendly visit, so be prepared to wipe out as many aliens as possible in hopes of returning to earth. Apparently, some characters from the earths past will be making an appearance in Mothership Zeta, implying that aliens have been abducting humans for a long time. No specifics were released as to who we might see aboard the ship, but would you really want them to spoil it ahead of time? Of course, as with every add-on pack, a few new weapons and armor options will be available to experiment with. The update includes a Gemini-Era Spacesuit, Samurai Armor, Alien Atomizer, Alien Disintegrater, and a Drone Cannon. Even though it wasn’t mentioned in the information released, I would assume this expansion would be a good place to stock up on Alien Power Cells used in the Alien Blaster as well. Just a guess though. The DLC will be released for 800 Microsoft points ($10.00), which has been the magic price for all previous content packages. If you have grown a little weary of wandering through the wastelands, Mothership Zeta should act as a neatly packaged escape from the D.C. ruins.

I received a couple emails asking me how I completed the Nuka-Cola challenge achievement in Fallout 3 over this last weekend. The Nuka-Cola Challenge is a side quest in Fallout 3 that requires collecting 30 Nuka-Cola Quantum drinks and delivering them to one of two characters living in Girdershade. When you locate Girdershade underneath the raised highway on the east side of the map you will meet Sierra Petrovita. She lives in a small shack with a neon Nuka-Cola sign hanging near the door. Sierra will ask if you would like to take the Nuka-Cola tour, which consists of walking through her tiny shack home and looking at all the Nuka-Cola branded items she has collected in the wastes. The only way to open up the side quest is to take the tour and listen to her talk about the various junk she has collected. On the bright side, when the tour is complete, she will offer you an ice-cold Nuka Cola. Then Sierra will ask you to help her collect Nuka-Cola Quantums so she can fill her vending machine. She will pay you 40 caps for each one you bring her and when you hit 30, she will give you the Schematics to build a Nuka Grenade, and the achievement will be unlocked.

If you enjoyed Fallout 3 but missed out on first two games in the series its not to late to go back check them out. Good Old Games has both Fallout and Fallout 2 available via download for $5.99 each. This small price tag will get you a DRM free copy of the game that has been patched to the latest official version. Unlike other digital download services you don’t just get a license to play the game. Buying games at GOG.com means you actually purchase the game. Titles can be installed on any PC and games can be re-downloaded at anytime. You don’t need an internet connection to play games from their service once the initial download is completed. All games have been modified to guarantee that they are XP and Vista compatible. $5.99 gets you more than just a copy of the game. Downloads include a digital copy of original manual, avatars, artwork, in-game soundtracks, original soundtracks, a reference card, and hi-res wallpapers. The Fallout games include all this plus a copy of the Fallout Bible, Pip-Boy Avatars, and Fallout series wallpapers. If Fallout 3 has you curious about where it all began or wanting to take a trip down memory lane, Good Old Games is making it possible.

Picking up were Part 1 (check it out here) of my Fallout 3 review left off, you are rising out of the vault and into the wastelands. After your fathers unexpected exit from Vault 101, you forge into the unknown in hopes of reuniting with him on the outside. As you escape the fallout shelter with the assistance of your childhood friend Amata, the overseers daughter, you gaze across the ruined landscape of the D.C. Area for the first time. Looking over the horizon for the first time, its obvious the world has been destroyed. There are no signs of life, no color, nothing but ruins. As drab and depressing as that sounds the game is ascetically beautiful. The remains of buildings and technology scattered throughout the world looks reminiscent of a 1950’s era Sci-Fi movie. The game does a great job of making you feel alone, to the point that wandering the landscape creates an eery feeling.

Having trouble getting The Bigger They Are… achievement in Fallout 3? This one is earned by killing the all Super Mutant Behemoths in the game. There are five of these monsters and they can be found at the locations listed below. Good luck!

Having trouble finding those last couple Vault Boy Bobbleheads in Fallout 3? Lucky for you, I made a list of each Bobblehead and its location as I found them. The easiest way to find each of these locations is to use the Explorer perk that becomes available when you reach Level 20. This perk will reveal all locations on your map whether you have discovered them or not. If any locations haven’t been discovered you still wont be able to fast travel to them, but at least you will know where they are. Bobbleheads are listed in the order they appear on the Bobblehead display case from left to right, starting with the top row.

With over a hundred real-time hours logged in the Bethesda’s post apocalyptic wasteland that is Fallout 3, I still can’t get enough. Having completed the main quest just shy of ninety seven hours I wanted to share my thoughts on the game. Not knowing how to write about a game of this magnitude I decided to break up my “review” of the game into parts, allowing me to focus in on each area I wanted to comment on. In this post I am focusing on the starting stage of the game, life in Vault 101. For anyone unfamiliar with the Fallout 3 universe, the story takes place in a post apocalyptic version of the Washington DC area. In the year 2077, a war broke out leaving the United States, and possibly the world, nothing more than a dark, desolate, radiated wasteland. The war did not completely destroy all of mankind and those left behind are struggling to survive in the ruins of what was once the great American nation. The story of Fallout 3 takes place roughly 200 years after the bombing occurred.