Fallout: New Vegas Honest Hearts DLC Reviews
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IGN liked it, but criticizes the narrative and the lack of variety in enemies, 7.5:
Some quick notes before you hit the road: you need to travel light. This means no companions (you'll have to tell them to go away yourself, they don't automatically leave you like they do in Dead Money) and 75 lbs of stuff on your back. There are ways to raise the poundage up to 100, but you'll need specific perks or skills to do so. If you're like me and prefer to have some backup, you'll be happy to know that you receive temporary companions during your stay at Zion.
The national park is a beautiful place filled with red cliffs, radiation-free water, plenty of plants to pick and stunning hand-painted murals on the bedrock. Although my feelings would differ if this happened in real life, I was pleasantly surprised when I got caught in a rainstorm. The addition of weather patterns is a really nice touch and at night the sky is bursting with stars. These details make Zion a really fun place to wander around in. Fast travel is also back (it wasn't possible in Dead Money) and that made me very happy.
The Controller Online thinks the beautiful scenery is the only redeeming element and awards it a 3:
There are a few new weapons and perks offered with Honest Hearts but they don't make up for the lack of story and short amount of time you'll spend in Zion. To top it all off, the quest line can be, very easily, irrevocably broken. There is one character near the start of the journey whom, if you kill, will send the whole DLC into a strange state where no quests are offered but the one to retrieve the map and leave. I wasn't out to break the game, he actually starts off shooting you, then realizes you aren't of the enemy tribe and backs off, but if you fire back, as you should, the whole DLC fails. I can confirm this isn't by design as the closing narrative makes absolutely no sense and gives details about factions whom you've simply never crossed paths with, but the narrator explains how you have affected them.
Big Shiny Robot goes the scoreless route, but doesn't seem to have enjoyed the experience all that much:
Any hardcore fan that just can't wait should get it but if I were not that hardcore I'd wait until they all come out before getting this one. It like all the rest are 800 Microsoft points on the XBOX. If you are a lower level and don't have a lot of the best weapons and armor I'd say give it a try. But with the other two coming out within the next two months for most people I'd say wait for all of them and then start over from the beginning.
