A Look at Fallout 3: Operation Anchorage

Published January 30, 2009

Long has the fabled Operation Anchorage battle been hinted at in Fallout lore, and now at last Bethesda Softworks has set aside the myth and breathed life into this historical conflict with their Operation Anchorage add-on for Fallout® 3, available now on Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

Powersuit, Arctic style.

Once you've downloaded Operation Anchorage and re-entered the Wasteland, your trusty Pip-Boy will pick up a new radio frequency, a distress call from a band of Brotherhood of Steel Outcasts pinned down by Super Mutants.

Should you come to the aid of the Outcasts you will find yourself ushered below into a secret base, a fortress stocked with an enormous armory that no Outcast has yet been able to enter.

Get Operation Anchorage for Fallout 3 from Xbox LIVE Marketplace today!

There is, alas, only one way to access the armory. Some brave soul must take part in a deadly recreation of the battle of Anchorage via simulator. Only trouble is there are few that can interface with the simulator, but fortunately, your Pip-Boy is up to the task.

Inside the Simulator
Once you're strapped in, you'll be whisked to the frigid windswept mountain tops of America's last frontier and made to do battle with the insidious Communist Chinese threat. Interestingly, because you're in virtual reality, you will have to fend for yourself with what you're given by the program. Nothing you've gathered in the Wasteland will make the VR trip. Thankfully, you shouldn't find any occasion where you're short on supplies.

Also, thanks to the simulated reality, you'll have access to items you only wish were available in the harshness of D.C.'s irradiated desert. For example, certain items automatically replenish the ammunition for all of your weapons, and there are stations that fully replenish your health.

Can you take those down?

Operation Anchorage plays at a much more focused pace than the thoughtful exploration of the game proper. You won't need to spend time tracking down Stimpacks (there aren't any), nor can you pick up odds and ends like scrap metal and books. After all, you can't take them out of the simulator. No, Operation Anchorage is all about the conflict, and the pace of the missions keeps you moving swiftly from one outstanding combat encounter to another.

Military Campaign
The bulk of your Fallout 3 experience in the main campaign is an isolated one. It's you against a world gone mad, with maybe a follower or two to back you up. However, in Operation Anchorage, you are a part of a much larger military-scale campaign, and Bethesda goes to great lengths to make this apparent.

Experience first-hand large-scale encounters as entire platoons of allies and enemies engage in fierce skirmishes, quite apart from the enemies you're facing off against. Drop ships even swoop in mid-combat with new troops piling out of them.

Even the objectives are much more sweeping in scale. Early on, you must infiltrate a well defended enemy camp and sabotage several enormous artillery guns that are raining down fire on the hapless Americans below.

Squad Time
To further cement the military approach to gameplay, there's a combat squad to stand side by side with you in battle. Requisition tokens are provided to customize the makeup of your squad as well as your own gear set. While you'll undoubtedly lose some men in the chaos of battle, reinforcements can be ordered in to take their place, but it's a wise commander who keeps his squad safe.

Nice!

It's a small but vital change as squad-based tactics suddenly come to the fore. Simply using your men to attract the attention of the enemy while you flank around them is a welcome shift from the standard lone-wolf approach.

New Loot
While satisfaction at a job well done and 100 more Gamerscore may be reward enough, Operation Anchorage also features some remarkable and deadly exclusive items worth mentioning. While it would be giving too much away to discuss them all, here are a couple of juicy ones:

• Chinese Stealth Armor: This sleek, form-fitting black outfit with a golden visor grants you +15 to Sneak, and creates a Stealth Field around you whenever you crouch. It sports 24 Damage Reduction to boot.
• Gauss Rifle: This enormous rifle does massive damage (currently 75 with my character's skill set) and includes a zoom befitting a sniper rifle. Better yet, its rounds literally send enemies flying backwards, granting you even more time to line up the next, almost always fatal second shot.

For those completionists out there that want to soak up every new item and upgrade possible, know that if you find all ten Intel Items scattered throughout Operation Anchorage, you'll earn a powerful, exclusive new Perk.

Bethesda Softworks earned a reputation for downloadable excellence with its many varied and lauded content packs for The Elder Scrolls® IV: Oblivion™. If Operation Anchorage is any indication, these add-ons just get better and more polished with time. The best news is that this marks just the beginning of Fallout 3 add-ons. Enjoy your time in Alaska!

Article by Ryan Treit