Fallout: New Vegas Dead Money Review

Didn’t no one tell you that gambling is a bad habit?

It come to no surprise when the Xbox claimed the DLC for Fallout New Vegas as a ‘timed’ exclusive. Fallout 3 proved very popular with the DLC which came to the already ‘full of box of treats’ to gorge yourself into. Dead Money is the first DLC for New Vegas and begins in Russian Roulette style.

Once again a radio signal via the Pip-boy 3000, drags you away from the addictive exploration around the Mojave Wasteland to a paradise of miss-fortunate events. Follow the marker on your map and you will come to abandoned Brotherhood of Steel bunker. Once entered, you will wake up in Sierra Madre Casino, which unfortunately never got to open its doors due to the nuclear war. Now cordoned off by cloud of red toxic fog, post-apocalyptic beaming out of the woodwork, mysteries to discover, and the Sierra Madre treasure to claim. Not everything seems so straight-forward.

Once you are awaken, you are strictly ordered to dig up the mysteries of the Sierra Madre Casino and getting into the casino itself. The matter of the Ghost People to attend to, which are people who are trapped by the toxic fog and slowly driven nuts. You can hear them via there groans and with there own melee weapons such as; gloves with bear-traps attach to them. To think your job isn’t easy as it is. Elijah has strapped a explosive collar around your neck and stripping you from your armour and weapons from your travels of the Mojave Wasteland which you have gained, cue the swearing.

Dead Money splits into three quarters, ensemble your team which involves going from one end of the map to the other several times, and encourage them to take part in Elijah’s plan, the other part is going to be very interesting. The three people you can recruit are; a Super Mutant called ‘God’ or ‘Dog’ depends how you want to interact with the Mutant. Christine, a mute who is definitely the most interesting character out of the three. Dean Domino, a suave Ghoul who was once a big star at the casino and has a impact to the plot.

Dead Money offers at least 6hrs up-to 8hrs worth of gameplay which entirely depends on how you play. When you are adventuring off around the Sierra Madre Casino, stimpaks will be far and between for you to obtain. You will notice a lot of Sierra Madre Casino chips lying around. Pick these up as these will definitely come handy, and are the in-game currency for the Sierra Madre Casino. There will be automated venders around the streets of Sierra Madre and inside the casino. Here you can buy doctor bags, stimpaks, super stimpaks and loads more content but that is when you have picked up the emergency staff audio logs for the stimpaks. You will find first aid packs around Sierra Madre but they will not offer much stimpaks. The Ghost People are formidable foes, which will make you think twice before engaging into a fight and using your stimpaks wisely.

Adding more suspense to the gameplay. You will have to deal with your collar interruptions via signal interference devices. If you stay in a certain area for too long your head will fly off your shoulders before you could turn. The signal interference devices will come in two forms. A speaker device mounted on a wall and a radio. You can easily shoot the speakers and will stop the interference, and just simply walk up to the radio and deactivate it depending if you can find it. Not only do you have signal interference for your collar but you will have to sneak around certain parts from the hologram guards. You can find terminals to change their guard pattern routes which will be a life saver or even better. Find the emitter device and you will neutralise the hologram guard completely. You can’t hurt the hologram guards, so once spotted, get out of sight and hide for little while before re-attempting.

Having the explosive collar strapped around your neck and just scraping it to survive when taking out the signal devices. It is fun for starters but towards the end, they come thick and fast and becomes more of a chore than anything else. You will be saving and reloading endless of times, as the red toxic fog is one hell of a annoying feature as it will take your health down quite rapidly. Probably all depends on your survival skill rate.

Overall, Dead Money is a decent DLC for New Vegas. The story is very good and not once does it drop. It flows at a nice pace and continues to build right at the climax of the DLC. The signal devices and the irritating red toxic fog somewhat spoil the atmos when they appear more common than Nolan North lending his voice. There is a huge backdrop in the mysteries to Sierra Madre Casino. If you are a keen hunter of info, there are plenty of hacked terminals to hack to learn about the characters and Sierra itself. The level cap has been raised to 35, and you will gain quite a lot of exp throughout the course of Sierra Madre Casino. Dead Money easily justifies its 800MSP price tag, and adds more hours to the already entertaining New Vegas plot. However, it does have its niggles which will no doubt frustrate you. As clearly stated up above with the signal devices and red toxic fog and the far and between stimpaks. Dead Money will test your wits about you and your knowledge of the game itself. Those who were waiting for the perfection to arrive in the DLC for New Vegas, you going to have to wait a little bit longer till the next DLC for New Vegas arrives.

7.5/10