Ever since I got my internet back about 2 months ago, I've been on an almost weekly DLC download or playing spree. I've downloaded and played Fable 2's DLCs, the GTA IV DLC, The Saint's Row 2 DLC and all three Fallout 3 DLCs. The price range on these items range from 800-1600 Microsoft points and the quality does vary between some of them. I'll start off with the biggest waste of money:
Saint's Row 2: Ultor Exposed DLC: 800 MS points, $9.99 on PSN
For about the cost of $10.00, Ultor Exposed adds three main missions, some new clothing and character options, a handful of new vehicles that are automatically added to the garage, a new co-op mod, some achievements and 4 multiplayer maps. Is it all worth it?
No
I played through the missions and although they nicely link the Saint's Row universe to that of Red Faction's world a little tighter, having porn star Tera Patrick in a speaking role is going way beyond her talents. It would be like strapping shoulder pads on Rachel Ray and tossing her into a Monday night football game. Some laughs are to be had at the poor dialogue and crappy delivery (such as the fact that Ms. Patrick plays a microbiologist) but they're not laughing with the game funny, more along the lines of laughing at it. These three new missions should take all of 20 - 30 minutes to play through
The new vehicles are nothing like the previous vehicles in the game and are nice to mess around with. There's an old fashioned race car, a backwards tricycle type motorcar, a tank ripped straight from Red Faction equipped with a rocket launcher and a new attack chopper. Also there are new hair **** and a few new clothing items to further expand the great create a character mode. I'm finally able to make a piece of overweight white trash with the balding mullet I've always wanted to put on him.
Didn't touch the MP maps because let's face it, SR 2's MP was never anything to write home about however the new co-op mode would have been nice if it was included while the launch of the game. Now instead of just playing through the game co-op, they've included a Meta game in which both players compete for kills and destruction while going through regular missions. It's not to say you couldn't crap talk with a friend about who killed more before but now it would be official.
All in all, the DLC for SR 2 really isn't worth it. When you have games like Fable 2, GTA IV and Fallout 3 adding loads of extra content for more reasonable prices, this DLC didn't last long and also alienated me from friends that don't have$10.00 to throw away on weak content. Oh well.
Fable II: Knothole Island DLC: 800 Microsoft points.
The Fable II DLC's aren't around to win over new customers, they're to draw back fans of the game and entertain them with new quests, items, achievements and more of the beautiful world of Albion and this is what it does wonderfully.
Knothole Island includes three new quests, a new area and some new armor, weapons and potions and runs approximately 2 and ½ for 4 hours depends on what one wants to get out of this DLC. Everything the missions can be finished in roughly two hours while finding all of the Knothole Island books and getting all of the Trader's items might lengthen the time spent with this game a bit.
The quests meld wonderfully with the side quests that are already available and involve fixing the weather problems for this small island one mishap at a time. At first it is too cold, then too hot and dry and finally it's too rainy. After some dungeon crawling, the problem works itself out and it's up to the character to make one final choice of who gets to control the weather on the island.
Along the way there are wonderful new potions to acquire that magically change the appearance of the main character. My hero was Evil, powerful but unfortunately had packed on quite a few pounds throughout the course of his career. Amazingly though there was a potion to solve that in Knothole Isle that returned him back to his lean evilness.
There are also a few new unique weapons but unfortunately I had better ones, it's the clothing options that came through as there is a new set of knight armor and a funny 1960's greaser gang set of clothing which includes some glasses and a slicked back wig.
Even though this DLC pack costs more than the larger See the Future DLC pack for Fable II, the cost of this DLC is much easier to swallow than the junky SR 2 one. Lastly there is a free version that let's one get a taste of some of the items while also enabling the person to tag along with someone that has paid for the content. A nice touch I'd say.
Fable II: See the Future DLC: 560 Microsoft Points
For a lower amount than Knothole Island, you get a bit more content that involves two longer missions, a hunt for statues, a bunch of new achievements, a couple new creatures and some new weapons/costumes to play around with.
Once again the finely crafted world of Albion is expanded by a few new worlds that revolve around some cursed items. The first one, a town trapped in a snow globe, involves putting the color back into this cursed town by fighting off some foes that are only vulnerable to certain attacks. The next mission involves helping out a trapped night with the use of costumes fashioned after Balverine's, the Undead and the goblin type creatures. The third quest gives a cryptic view into what could be the next Fable or even the next DLC and the final item is another gladiator type arena in which wave after wave of foes are decimated for gold and items.
This DLC lasts roughly as long as Knothole Islands but the new arena offers much more replayability. There are also new potions that turn the friendly canine companion into a Dalmatian, a husky or a blood hound.
The best part of this game is the strange view to future that raises some questions. Maybe the answers will be revealed at this upcoming E3. I doubt we've seen the last of Fable's world.
I'll save the DLC for Fallout and the mother of all DLC for GTA IV for another entry. Until then, I hope these impressions either help people to enjoy more of their favorite game or save someone some cash.