Eurogamer reviews Lonesome Road

[WorstUsernameEver]

It appears we've got our first review for Lonesome Road, as Eurogamer's Dan Whitehead comes back for the last New Vegas' DLC, and he's quite obviously not impressed, and hands it a meager 5/10.<blockquote>So Lonesome Road has already squandered most of what made New Vegas so much fun by the time it reaches its rather garbled conclusion, which leaves the loot to tip the balance. Here, again, it's a bit of a let down. The flare gun is fun, and the new nail gun is a useful, silent way to cripple enemy limbs. The Red Glare rocket launcher is extremely handy, though you'll need around 50,000 caps to upgrade it fully.

There are also some cool new perks that allow you to reset your karma, but mostly the new additions are functional rather than essential. In fact, I found that the superior weapons obtained during Old World Blues got me through more encounters than anything introduced here.

Fans angry that they need to fork out more money to see the "real" ending of the game can rest easy. The events of Lonesome Road build to a suitably apocalyptic climax, but it has none of the depth, pace or meaning of the face-off between House, Caesar and the NCR that rounded out the original storyline. Completists will want to see it through, just to say they did, but it's a shame to see such an epic atomic age narrative go out with a whimper rather than a bang. </blockquote>

 

[VRaptor117]

There's a bus containing a useful ammo stash on an elevated highway section. As soon as you go near the ammunition boxes, the Deathclaw spawns on top of the bus.

This scared the shit out of me the first time it happened. The bus is marked with a red "Danger" mark, but there's nothing immediately alarming. The only problem is that the Deathclaw can't get inside the bus to rip you to shreds.

To be honest, I expect almost review to hit these same points: Ulysses being vague, linear, and "meh" equipment. Missing the forest for the trees, I think.

As Ulysses would say though, it's your choice. You could have turned back at any time, gone back to the Mojave.

 

[Lexx]

The only problem is that the Deathclaw can't get inside the bus to rip you to shreds.

Maybe not the one on the roof, but the other ones in the area can. Was pretty shitty for me the very first time, because I saved in a bad spot and the stuff was killing me with one hit.

 

[whirlingdervish]

well there's nothing I love more than enemies spawning out of the blue... it just screams "awesome AI scripting"

I was hoping not to see that again after how many times I ended up swimming in a slew of previously nonexistent nightstalkers in OWB.

 

[VRaptor117]

well there's nothing I love more than enemies spawning out of the blue...

It's not nearly as egregious as OWB though.

 

[UncleSlappy]

I actually strongly agree with his comments on Ulysses but when a review starts off with:

The fact that the intricacies of the story still remain vague doesn't speak very highly of Lonesome Road's success as the de facto conclusion to Bethesda's epic post-apocalyptic adventure.

it's hard for me to take the opinions expressed very seriously. When you don't know who developed the game you're reviewing DLC for it doesn't fill me with confidence that you have that much experience with it. I guess even skimming the Wikipedia article about the game would be too much effort.

Overall though 5/10 is way too low. Sure Ulysses was a bit of a letdown but ED-E's story is excellent and the atmosphere is staggeringly well done.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

Haha "They hate Fallout New Vegas for not giving its DLCs a 10!"

* trying to mimic a certain developer/producer's tantrums *
Or was CliffyB pissed at another review site?

Me, I liked it.
Some more plot stuff would have been nice, more characters to interact with and some real unique enemies, but all and all this was a cool DLC and good finish to the saga.

Edit: Epic has become an ugly word these days.

 

[WorstUsernameEver]

I would disagree with the score and overall tone of the review, but some of his points hold water, especially regarding linearity and the DLC's lack of variety in gameplay.

Also, just as an addendum, Dan Whitehead is also the guy that reviewed Old World Blues (I think he also reviewed the other 2 DLC packs but I should double-check that) and he definitely referred to Old World Blues as Obsidian's project, so that was either an oversight or he was simply referring to the fact that Bethesda published the project and holds the IP.

 

[brfritos]

well there's nothing I love more than enemies spawning out of the blue...

It's not nearly as egregious as OWB though.

If I remember correctly, there's only two other occasions in wich enemies appear out of the blue: when you go below the High Road and in the Courier Mile.
Other than that, thank god Obsidian didn't do it again, OWB bores me to death because of this and the insane respawns.
Really, what's the fun in killing something that respawns 5 minutes or even 10 seconds later?

But 5/10? The guy pushed hard. Maybe is because the DLC don't guide you in everything. Sure, finding Ulysses is a straight line, but other than that you really have to search for the journals, posters, warheads and such, unlike the other DLCs.
Even the Courier Mile, wich is a quest/challenge, isn't marked as one in your Pip-Boy.

And it was said from day one the DLC would be linear, I think criticizing this is unfair.

 

[generalissimofurioso]

No you see, if someone designs something and makes it very clear from the beginning what it's going to be and you don't like it, they're the ones who are wrong.

Seriously though, I liked it.

There's quite a bit of stuff hidden in nooks and crannies away from the main path.

[spoiler:7332c7c14f]Heck, there's even another bonus boss Deathclaw for all the people who whined about the hardest boss being the Legendary Bloatfly.[/spoiler:7332c7c14f]

 

[Courier]

well there's nothing I love more than enemies spawning out of the blue...

It's not nearly as egregious as OWB though.

If I remember correctly, there's only two other occasions in wich enemies appear out of the blue: when you go below the High Road and in the Courier Mile.

Several Marked men also appear when you pick up the warhead destroyer (or whatever it's called, I forget). It doesn't really bother me having enemies appear out of nowhere though, as long as they it doesn't happen right in front of your face I don't see what the big deal is.

And it was said from day one the DLC would be linear, I think criticizing this is unfair.

Why? If a developer told you from day one that a game was going to be buggy as hell would you no longer be able to criticize the game for being buggy?

 

[Plissken]

I haven't touched New Vegas after I finished it. What DLC does Ulysses appear? Also, what DLC's are worth playing (subjective, I know) and should they be played in order for story?

 

[willooi]

I haven't touched New Vegas after I finished it. What DLC does Ulysses appear? Also, what DLC's are worth playing (subjective, I know) and should they be played in order for story?

He appears in the fourth and final one. I'd recommend all of them, they each have their own styles, pros and cons... For the best experience of buildup towards Ulysses, I'd recommend playing Dead Money, Old World Blues, and then Lonesome Road in that order.

Otherwise, Old World Blues followed by Dead Money, and then LR will also work =)

Honest Hearts doesn't contain as much of the overarching plot or hints towards LR, so that can be played anytime.

 

[brfritos]

If I remember correctly, there's only two other occasions in wich enemies appear out of the blue: when you go below the High Road and in the Courier Mile.

Several Marked men also appear when you pick up the warhead destroyer (or whatever it's called, I forget). It doesn't really bother me having enemies appear out of nowhere though, as long as they it doesn't happen right in front of your face I don't see what the big deal is.

Yes, but usually they launch flares and scream to their commrades, as if in a real battle, so they just don't simply "spawn" out of nowhere.

And it was said from day one the DLC would be linear, I think criticizing this is unfair.

Why? If a developer told you from day one that a game was going to be buggy as hell would you no longer be able to criticize the game for being buggy?

You are talking about completelly different things, comparing orange to apples.
If a developer tells you about the gameplay style and how you will progress way ahead before the game is launched and the game behaves exactly like the developer tells you - wich is true in LR case - and you still complain about it, well...they warned you before.
It's like an electric fence, there's a warning about the eletricity and you still complain of getting shocked?

 

[Hellfate]

Personally i enjoyed it a lot. Ulysses was well done in my opinion. I didn't really understand why he sounded so bored at first, but then i realized its not boredom but hopelessness. And i agree that EDE's plot was great. I thought the story was vague enough to allow for you to fill in your characters back-story how wanted but still managed to make you feel a personal connection to Ulysses and EDE.