Fallout: New Vegas - Dead Money

Obsidian delivers a first DLC that matches their Fallout: New Vegas : tense, captivating, despite its linearity. With a tiny bit more difficulty! Once more, we'd almost forget about the aging 3D engine of Bethesda and the poor AI. I experienced it like a little pen & paper RPG scenario of a single night. My thanks to the Obisidian Game Master.

Glitches can sully the fun--an if you've finished the main game, you're forced to load an earlier save(pre-endgame)--but Dead Money is still a grim, well-wrought challenge. [March 2011, p.85]

Dead Money clocks in at a good five hours or so, and is well worth investing in if you're thirsty for more New Vegas action. There's plenty of what Fallout does best, with new melee weapons and guns to try out as well as several divergent conclusions to reach once you manage to successfully (or indeed unsuccessfully) pull off the Sierra Madre heist. But does Dead Money deliver on the same level as Fallout 3's DLC did? To a certain extent yes, but having played through the DLC episode, we can attest that Dead Money is absorbing while it lasts, yet you might still be left wanting more once the credits have rolled.

As the first of New Vegas' DLC, Dead Money fits firmly into the 'good' category and has set the bar at a high level for any future additions. As for what the legendary Sierra Madre treasure itself actually is, well, let's just say be sure to leave at least 90lb worth of room in your back-pack.

A well crafted DLC, filled with all the atmosphere and the charisma of the main title. Some more interesting loot and a little variety could've made it even better.

Dead money is all about the companion interaction and offers a decent addition to your game time for 800 points. [Mar 2011, p.94]

Annoyances aside, at 800 points Dead Money is a steal, one that could be taken fresh from the Sierra Madre vaults themselves!

Overall the Dead Money add-on might not be perfectly constructed, but it is an interesting curve for Fallout: New Vegas, one that is worth the caps. If you already jetted a fair share of hours into New Vegas, you will likely be satisfied with the content offered in Dead Money.

Although you can't go back to Sierra Madre after you have completed it once, the campaign length is decent and it's certainly worth it the first time through.

Dead Money has clearly been made for New Vegas veterans, it offers great longevity and ask you to forgive its trial and error structure. If you are a veteran and you like to try and fail, you should give this DLC a try.

Dead Money is a good DLC that expands the New Vegas experience. It has great dialogs and a great script, but its difficulty is completely unbalanced.

The RPG aspect is so dominant that we forgive the technical issues and the lack of artistic ambition […] Deep but ugly, the sign of games that last.

The visuals get older by the day, and the dialog doesn't match the quality from the main game. But if you liked New Vegas, you're bound to enjoy Dead Money as well. The story is quite good, and there's enough new ideas here to make the overall experience feel satisfyingly different from your previous escapades in the Nevada desert.

Dead Money proves to be a worthy DLC that will surely keep fans busy for a few hours, but if you're not among them the excessive routine of the adventure, especially in the first few hours, might lead to some disappointment.

While Dead Money justifies its 800 Microsoft Point price tag in terms of quantity, the quality isn't quite there.

Ultimately, while Dead Money is a pretty fun affair, it doesn't really have the "wow" factor a few of the DLC packs did in Fallout 3. While the three hours it took to complete is on the longer side for downloadable content, I'm not really sure Dead Money is worth the full $10 asking price.

It's not a terrible deal at around five hours for 10 bucks, but you'll certainly come away hoping that the next New Vegas expansion tries a little harder to temper its idiosyncrasies.

Trial-and-error frustrations diminish the impact of this add-on's great characters and dialogue.

With a level cap raise and an interesting (but at times tedious) 4 to 6-hour quest line, this add-on can be worth the money if you're into survival horror.

For all its Bioshock-inspired environments Dead Money falls short delivering on its premise. At 800 points for an eight-hour adventure it's certainly value for money but when the quantity far outweighs the quality then this is one adventure you can miss.

I'm curious if Obsidian led off with their weakest Fallout Vegas add-on pack as the repetitive, frustrating gameplay emphasizes the weaker elements of Fallout: New Vegas and seems even more buggy than the actual game. Raising the level cap by 5 does help extend the life of the first game though, even if the add-on pack is on the average side.

A much more ambitious slice of downloadable content than many, but in the end one that fails to take advantage of its own, or the main game's, best features.

Some pretty bad bugs cropped up and the collar is really annoying at times. I did like the characters in the game and the story isn't too bad as well. It's better than Mothership Zeta for Fallout 3, but those that played that know it's not saying much.