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Other people have been reviewing Honest Hearts besides us lately, so we decided to round up some more critiques for Obsidian's DLC.
Our gracious host, Atomic Gamer is very pleased with it and awards it a 9/10<blockquote>What's interesting here is that you're set into a conflict and can't really choose what side you're on, but you'll make some other (and possibly more interesting) choices about the future of the Dead Horses and the Sorrows. And none of this is controlled by New Vegas' own karma or reputation systems; it's a more story-based conflict based on how you choose to complete quests. And yes, you also have the option of turning off the script almost entirely and pretty much just murdering everything you come across - that's fully supported by the game, too.
The thing that I enjoyed most about Honest Hearts is the story of one particular character, one that you never meet, but he's an important key to the history of the Zion Valley. Search hard enough, and you'll find his story in bits and pieces, as well as his final resting place along with some sweet gear as well. Fallout 3 excelled in telling stories through non-standard means - the placement of a corpse, a note next to a skeleton, pieces put together of a bigger conflict - and while I found that this kind of storytelling was a little bit lacking in vanilla New Vegas, getting to piece together the details of this character's journey very much fulfills that for me. </blockquote>GamesRadar doesn't quite share these impressions and hands it a 6/10<blockquote>It's not that Honest Hearts is good or bad, it's just kinda there. After two giant games alongside now seven DLC packs, we're not as excited to enter the destroyed-beauty apocalypse as we once were. Whether you should play Honest Hearts comes down to this simple question: do you want to keep playing this style of Fallout? If so, this isn't a bad way to go about doing that, and there's always the level cap increase if that's important to you. For everyone else, the change in scenery isn't quite enough to get excited over playing yet another content pack of a rapidly aging game.</blockquote>Beefjack, 7.3/10<blockquote>The problem lies with the delivery. Few of the side quests are expressly dealt with, and after the main bulk of them are dealt with, the end rears up. With a little more time put into some more dialogue, this would have been a moot point, but as is, it just feels a bit rushed. Furthermore, the variety isn’t as broad as it could be – a few too many campsites, not enough caves and ruins, and the spectrum of wildlife, start to break the pioneer spirit that Honest Hearts was intended to invoke. It’s hard to get excited over yet another upended caravan with a few skeletons scattered around it.
Most of the time, especially when the quest line has finished holding your hand and you have the opportunity to interact with your surroundings, the sheer quality of production shines through. A few minor graphical glitches aside, the design of the landscape and the people within it rise up as far as New Vegas’ meagre technology allows. Each tribe’s aesthetic looks and sounds just right (Dead Horses draw from the Maori warrior culture, Sorrows more from Native American society, White Legs from your worst bloody nightmares, like Zulu Dawn on a crack bender), represented clearly through their respective leaders and companions.</blockquote>VGRevolution doesn't score it<blockquote>The story gives you two main endings and each of those gives you a couple choices on how to wrap things up. The different choices have fairly different outcomes but similar mission structure on what you need to do after making your decision. I was a little disappointed by this but enjoyed the overall story of Honest Hearts. The way it fills in some of the back story to events that already happened in New Vegas was a nice touch. It could easily have been a stand alone story like the events at the Sierra Madra but instead they tie in nicely to the evolving story. My only real complaint is that the Honest Hearts DLC is a little on the short side. I think it took me somewhere around 4 hours to complete. A couple more optional side missions or another main quest in the middle would have been appreciated. Despite the length, I would recommend fans of Fallout New Vegas pick up the Honest Hearts DLC. The story is worth the price of admission and you get some fun new loot as well.</blockquote>Thanks Bewitched.
Our gracious host, Atomic Gamer is very pleased with it and awards it a 9/10<blockquote>What's interesting here is that you're set into a conflict and can't really choose what side you're on, but you'll make some other (and possibly more interesting) choices about the future of the Dead Horses and the Sorrows. And none of this is controlled by New Vegas' own karma or reputation systems; it's a more story-based conflict based on how you choose to complete quests. And yes, you also have the option of turning off the script almost entirely and pretty much just murdering everything you come across - that's fully supported by the game, too.
The thing that I enjoyed most about Honest Hearts is the story of one particular character, one that you never meet, but he's an important key to the history of the Zion Valley. Search hard enough, and you'll find his story in bits and pieces, as well as his final resting place along with some sweet gear as well. Fallout 3 excelled in telling stories through non-standard means - the placement of a corpse, a note next to a skeleton, pieces put together of a bigger conflict - and while I found that this kind of storytelling was a little bit lacking in vanilla New Vegas, getting to piece together the details of this character's journey very much fulfills that for me. </blockquote>GamesRadar doesn't quite share these impressions and hands it a 6/10<blockquote>It's not that Honest Hearts is good or bad, it's just kinda there. After two giant games alongside now seven DLC packs, we're not as excited to enter the destroyed-beauty apocalypse as we once were. Whether you should play Honest Hearts comes down to this simple question: do you want to keep playing this style of Fallout? If so, this isn't a bad way to go about doing that, and there's always the level cap increase if that's important to you. For everyone else, the change in scenery isn't quite enough to get excited over playing yet another content pack of a rapidly aging game.</blockquote>Beefjack, 7.3/10<blockquote>The problem lies with the delivery. Few of the side quests are expressly dealt with, and after the main bulk of them are dealt with, the end rears up. With a little more time put into some more dialogue, this would have been a moot point, but as is, it just feels a bit rushed. Furthermore, the variety isn’t as broad as it could be – a few too many campsites, not enough caves and ruins, and the spectrum of wildlife, start to break the pioneer spirit that Honest Hearts was intended to invoke. It’s hard to get excited over yet another upended caravan with a few skeletons scattered around it.
Most of the time, especially when the quest line has finished holding your hand and you have the opportunity to interact with your surroundings, the sheer quality of production shines through. A few minor graphical glitches aside, the design of the landscape and the people within it rise up as far as New Vegas’ meagre technology allows. Each tribe’s aesthetic looks and sounds just right (Dead Horses draw from the Maori warrior culture, Sorrows more from Native American society, White Legs from your worst bloody nightmares, like Zulu Dawn on a crack bender), represented clearly through their respective leaders and companions.</blockquote>VGRevolution doesn't score it<blockquote>The story gives you two main endings and each of those gives you a couple choices on how to wrap things up. The different choices have fairly different outcomes but similar mission structure on what you need to do after making your decision. I was a little disappointed by this but enjoyed the overall story of Honest Hearts. The way it fills in some of the back story to events that already happened in New Vegas was a nice touch. It could easily have been a stand alone story like the events at the Sierra Madra but instead they tie in nicely to the evolving story. My only real complaint is that the Honest Hearts DLC is a little on the short side. I think it took me somewhere around 4 hours to complete. A couple more optional side missions or another main quest in the middle would have been appreciated. Despite the length, I would recommend fans of Fallout New Vegas pick up the Honest Hearts DLC. The story is worth the price of admission and you get some fun new loot as well.</blockquote>Thanks Bewitched.