WorstUsernameEver
But best title ever!
With Honest Hearts available for all Xbox360 and Steam users, taking a look at the reception from the press may help those of you who are deciding whether to purchase the title now, wait for a price drop or just avoid it like plague.
Eurogamer isn't happy with the quest design and feels that the story is "thin and underdeveloped". Score is a 6. Here's a snippet:<blockquote>There's a fascinating tale to be told about this place, so it's a shame that Honest Hearts doesn't really offer much to sink your teeth into where quests are concerned. It's mostly a selection of slim fetch quests, none of which are optional. There are a couple of side quests, but nothing particularly robust.
Most disappointing is how perfunctory the main quest line feels, boiling down to another simplistic binary choice - what I like to call the Platoon Dilemma - between two surrogate leader figures; one a bloodthirsty killer, the other a hand-wringing pacifist. This being a video game, whichever one you choose to follow, the result still involves shooting lots of people in the face. Ho hum.
There are a lot of highbrow influences swimming around in Honest Hearts' thin narrative soup, most notably Apocalypse Now and The Mosquito Coast, so it's a real shame that any interesting moral questions or themes are shoved to the background in favour of rote mechanistic missions that send you scuttling through the scenery, shooting and scavenging, while never requiring you to engage with its inhabitants in any meaningful way. </blockquote>GamerLimit likes it, noting that the DLC has plenty to offer for its price point:<blockquote>Like most Fallout DLC packs, Honest Hearts will take you around two hours to complete (if you just do the main story), but you can also explore New Zion to your heart’s content, and most likely push around five to ten hours of total play. Like Point Lookout, in addition to the core locations, there are few optional areas to explore in the DLC’s sandbox.
As far as post-completion content goes, I have to place the following disclaimer: I’m not one to really care about DLC goodies. However, not every gamer is the same, and many people out there buy these DLC packs just for the outfits/weapons to use afterwards. So, for those fans, I have good news to report: this DLC pack offers a healthy serving of extra perks, and items.
The perks on offer aren’t just throwaway ones either, like the useful “Home on the Range”, which lets you sleep at any campfire, and reap all the benefits of a full rest. Graham’s SWAT vest, a unique .45 pistol, and a Yao Guai gauntlet are also some pretty neat pickups. Honest Hearts also raises the level cap by five, which is good news for everyone.</blockquote>Thanks, GameBanshee.
Eurogamer isn't happy with the quest design and feels that the story is "thin and underdeveloped". Score is a 6. Here's a snippet:<blockquote>There's a fascinating tale to be told about this place, so it's a shame that Honest Hearts doesn't really offer much to sink your teeth into where quests are concerned. It's mostly a selection of slim fetch quests, none of which are optional. There are a couple of side quests, but nothing particularly robust.
Most disappointing is how perfunctory the main quest line feels, boiling down to another simplistic binary choice - what I like to call the Platoon Dilemma - between two surrogate leader figures; one a bloodthirsty killer, the other a hand-wringing pacifist. This being a video game, whichever one you choose to follow, the result still involves shooting lots of people in the face. Ho hum.
There are a lot of highbrow influences swimming around in Honest Hearts' thin narrative soup, most notably Apocalypse Now and The Mosquito Coast, so it's a real shame that any interesting moral questions or themes are shoved to the background in favour of rote mechanistic missions that send you scuttling through the scenery, shooting and scavenging, while never requiring you to engage with its inhabitants in any meaningful way. </blockquote>GamerLimit likes it, noting that the DLC has plenty to offer for its price point:<blockquote>Like most Fallout DLC packs, Honest Hearts will take you around two hours to complete (if you just do the main story), but you can also explore New Zion to your heart’s content, and most likely push around five to ten hours of total play. Like Point Lookout, in addition to the core locations, there are few optional areas to explore in the DLC’s sandbox.
As far as post-completion content goes, I have to place the following disclaimer: I’m not one to really care about DLC goodies. However, not every gamer is the same, and many people out there buy these DLC packs just for the outfits/weapons to use afterwards. So, for those fans, I have good news to report: this DLC pack offers a healthy serving of extra perks, and items.
The perks on offer aren’t just throwaway ones either, like the useful “Home on the Range”, which lets you sleep at any campfire, and reap all the benefits of a full rest. Graham’s SWAT vest, a unique .45 pistol, and a Yao Guai gauntlet are also some pretty neat pickups. Honest Hearts also raises the level cap by five, which is good news for everyone.</blockquote>Thanks, GameBanshee.
