Extra Content Rocks

A lot of people don't like downloadable content.  You'll get complaints ranging from, "That should have been in the game in the first place!" all the way up to "Gaming companies are greedy fuckheads who nickel and dime their customers to death!"

I disagree.  Mainly, you're still paying a certain amount of money for a certain amount of content in the original game.  And these games released today aren't any shorter and don't contain any less content than games released 5-10 years ago.  I could understand your argument if you weren't getting full games from the start.

I had spent over 50 hours in Fallout: New Vegas before I even touched the first DLC.  That's more than I spent in all of Fallout 3 after I had played all of the DLC packs!  So, to me, that argument is invalid and it seems to me that anyone who tries to make this argument is just being cheap and wants something for nothing.

For me, if I'm offered a few more hours of enjoyment out of a game I love for around $10, you bet your ass I'm going to go for it.

That brings me around to some DLC that I've been playing recently.

To start with, I played through the Arrival DLC for Mass Effect 2.  While I missed having my team with me, the entire experience was very enjoyable and a nice tie-in to Mass Effect 3.  I highly recommend playing it before the third and final installment of Bioware's epic space RPG is released.

I've also played through two of the three (soon to be four) DLCs for Fallout: New Vegas.

I played through the most recent one first:  Old World Blues.  I enjoyed it the most out of the two.  The story was interesting, the dialogue was funny, there were some incredible moments, some great new weapons, and I have a lovely place to now call home.  That's one thing I really missed from Fallout 3 -- having your own house with a British accent butler.  And now I finally have that again!

Dead Money was the other, and I didn't quite like it as much.  The exploration in this one was much better than OWB, admittedly.  There was a LOT of area to explore and a LOT of new items (and old items!) to find and collect.  Also, the ending of Dead Money was more satisfying in it's conclusion.  However, there were a few annoyances that really had me frustrated.  The main one was that blasted exploding collar.  So.  Fucking.  Annoying.  Never do that again, Obsidian.  EVER.  The other annoyances were quite minor, and if it weren't for the collar I would probably rate this DLC just as high as OWB.  The areas were sometimes very confusing, and I ended up getting lost quite a bit.  Specifically, the Villa outside the Sierra Madre and the Suites inside were the worst.  The monsters that could only be killed by dismemberment, which basically forces you to use melee weapons, just seemed like a silly gimmick and took the fun out of killing.  Lastly, the holograms were very annoying.  Creating something that can't be killed that does more damage to you than anything else in the game is plain stupid.  However, aside from the collar, these annoyances only make up a very small part of the DLC, and therefore don't have a significant impact on the enjoyment.

I still have Honest Hearts to play through.  We'll see how that one compares to these two!