The Burned Man

This will be the second installment in downloadable content for Fallout: New Vegas entitled, ‘Honest Hearts’. There is currently four sets of DLC with the other two being ‘Lonesome Road’ and ‘Old World Blues’, that have yet to be released. The Honest Hearts DLC though is mostly what you would expect with the past Fallout DLC. This package however has a good story but the events that take place during it all are not very exciting. It is also fairly short with it taking you about 2 hours, maybe 3 if you decide to complete all the side missions. The latest DLC package for Fallout: New Vegas is not bad by any means it just strays far from anything you would likely be doing in the retail version of the game.

To start off, the DLC could have been a stand alone piece almost, seeing as how you may not take any companions with you (that is not to say you won’t gain any new ones on the way) and there is a weight limit of 70 pounds, which is a nightmare for someone like me who always thinks that a toy car is going to come in handy on a mission walking around at max weight. Getting past that you will enjoy this DLC if you are a die hard Fallout player. In fact if you really are a hardcore Fallout fan you would have learned of a story in New Vegas where a man was tossed off the cliffs of the Grand Canyon after being set on fire as punishment for failing the great Caesar in battle. The Burning Man story that was spoken about in New Vegas had it rumored that the man was still alive. Where would such a man go? I’m thinking Utah and that just happens to be where the DLC takes place.

Got to hate those ‘White-legs’

Your story will take place in the Zion National Park in Utah. You will meet the Happy Trails group as they call themselves and I naturally had to get them to let me in the park as my curiosity peeked me. So I dropped all my crap into a crate and said ‘adieu’ to my companions. With the DLC also adding another five levels to the current cap, you have an opportunity to get some of those perks you never got but wanted. The landscape desert was nice, at times a beautiful change and at other time a giant sand trap that I was tired of walking through. It was not hard to get turned around even with all your maps and markers, making me turn my brightness up and realizing the hardest part of this content was navigating it. Anyways, you’ll get the drift of it… heehee.. no?

Well as it turns out most of what you’ll be doing is going and finding things and then returning when you are done then finding more things, then killing those things then returning, then exploding a cave. That pretty much sums up your actions in the DLC which is why I say it strays from the New Vegas experience. I mean while exploring, you will get some where and be like oh wow, what is this.. this..this is nothing. It seems that the weapons in the DLC were conveniently not my kind of thing, as is no plasma guns or anything. In fact you are pretty much stuck in between two worlds here. A couple of guys who are knowledgeable of things before the fallout and a whole tribe that clearly does not know what a toaster is. So while I’m out of plasma ammo, getting beaten with a stick by “White-Legged” tribal man a super speed, wobbling, acid spitting gecko comes out of know where and kills me. But if you know Fallout, then it is not hard to adapt and make it through. It was actually quite a nice change of pace from the New Vegas style of gaming, except of course for the missions.

The lovely landscape.

There are two main characters (one I have mentioned already) and a tribe of harmless, calm people as well as a roaming tribe of people that are whiter than white that must wreak havoc for some reason. The best part of the content is toward the end because you are forced to make moral decisions where the line between right and wrong is barley visible. This makes it possible to have a few different endings to the story which is cool because afterwards, you move on. It is not like the end as you can go back to New Vegas, complete small quests you have not already or simply await the next episode of downloadable content. You also get some really cool stuff as in apparel and such that makes the legend that much more of one, that you were a part of.

With the level cap being upped by five levels you might want to play ‘Honest Hearts’ a few times, being that one play through wasn’t able to let me take advantage of gaining those five levels. Plus at such a high level you can choose different choices that can change the ending, depending on how high you speech or other attributes are. If you are a Fallout fan, this is definitely worth and it should be no question when it comes to buying it. If you played New Vegas and liked you might not enjoy this DLC, in fact if you have played the last DLC for the game ‘Dead Money’ and hated it, there is a good chance you might not like this as it is not like the retail game but definitely better than ‘Dead Money’. If you are curious than just get it, it is not a waste of 800 Microsoft Points or $10 by any means.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.