My least favourite FO3 expansion is ironically the one I enjoy talking about the most because it's uniquely terrible.

On the surface it's (ostensibly - I may be putting too much faith in the writers) a straightforward parody of what was, at the time, every shooter on the market: You are simultaneously a nobody and a legend, the entire US military cannot do anything without you, and there's no real way to engage with the world beyond murdering people in linear, grey hallways.
This is only aided by the in-universe notes/audio logs that make it obvious the simulation is massively detached from reality at the behest of an insane, sinophobic American general. So it's an in-universe parody as well an out-of-universe one.

There's just one big stinky winky dinky problem:

The parody doesn't work because the core of it is what Fallout 3 already is.

Fallout 3 at its core is a game where you walk through unwieldy shooting galleries in boring environments, endlessly massacring nearly everything you come across in areas that're 99% of the time either linear hallways or intersections that lead to linear hallways.
The only meaningful difference between OA and the game it's bolted onto is that Fallout 3 very occasionally pretends to be an RPG and lets you talk to someone. Even then, 9/10 times you either kill them or having a big prompt that lets you do so.

Perhaps what makes OA so much worse is that it's a thinly-veiled excuse to deposit some loot on you. Your incentive to do the DLC isn't "see this cool place", "free some slaves", "finish the main story" or "aliens, right?", no. You're told in no unclear terms that you should do this DLC for the loot that's in the vault. That's it.

I'll speak on it in more depth when I finish the actual Fallout 3 review, but the actual rewards you get really compound the game's overall issue with loot being meaningless. Namely, OA is perhaps the only part of FO3 that features a reward dump that isn't shit. The stealth armor, winterized T-51B, shocksword and gauss rifle are all excellent regardless of one's build, and given how easy OA is they're functionally free.
But there's a lot in the vault that I can only describe as nothing more than shelf-filling garbage. Upon slogging through OA and opening it, you'll be met with uh... A Chinese Assault Rifle, some ammo for it, and a Missile Launcher, alongside lots of mines and grenades. All incredibly common loot in the wasteland, to the point where I don't blame anyone for thinking the vault is bugged when they see so much trash loot.

And, all things considered, it probably is bugged or at least unfinished. As is the norm for Bethesda games, there's a bevy of cut content for this DLC and the vast majority of it is stuff that'd fit in the loot vault - most noticeably reskins of the sim weapons but without the bloated HP. Which would still be unremarkable, but at least it'd be unique - that simulation exclusive Chinese Assault Rifle looks gorgeous.

The extra 0.5 of a star rating only comes from me having played this through Tale of Two Wastelands, which makes it less of a slog (due to your armor's DT/DR outclassing that of your enemies) and fills the vault with all the aforementioned cut content - plus some other goodies.

The only saving grace to this DLC is that it's perhaps the first and only time I've agreed with people who're fans of Bethesda's Fallout: They hated it at release, so do I.

They still hate it in 2024, and so do I.

There is a way to look at Operation Anchorage and read it as a scathing satire of the state of first person shooter campaigns circa 2009. The extreme linearity, the way everyone treats you as the biggest badass, the lack of any meaningful lore or side content. You could look at that and see it being Bethesda saying "look how boring other first person games are. Ours is big and open and and so much Content™!" The problem is that the DLC does absolutely nothing to encourage that reading so instead we're left with an incredibly boring shooter campaign. It really seems like they looked at Call of Duty, looked at their dev tools, and said "yeah we can do that too!"

There is one bit of writing in this that I find particularly interesting: before you go into the simulation there is a terminal that suggests that certain elements of the simulation itself may be exaggerated or incorrect because of the person it was based upon. So you go in thinking that it might get weird (or maybe even wacky) but instead there's nothing that wouldn't reasonable exist in the Fallout universe.

In short, this DLC is a massive missed opportunity and a waste of time.

The first DLC for Fallout 3 gives you a unique glimpse into the background of the Fallout universe, putting your character into a simulated recreation of the United States' reclamation of Anchorage, Alaska from occupied Chinese soldiers. The DLC is fairly straightforward, with Anchorage being far more slimmed down compared to the open world of D.C., but it's a fun shoot-em-up experience to give you a mindless break from the rest of the game. While it takes place mostly within a simulation, the real benefit of the DLC comes with the rewards, which can set a lower level character up for the rest of the game with powerful gear. It's not as good as Broken Steel and The Pitt, but it's bounds better than Mothership Zeta, so it's worth adding if you're not running the Game of the Year edition.

BORN IN 1993 - BEEN PLAYING GAMES FOR OVER 20 YEARS AND I CAN HONESTLY SAY THIS IS ONE OF THE WORST THINGS I HAVE EVER PLAYED IN MY LIFE

I CAN'T BELIEVE BETHESDA ACTUALLY MADE PEOPLE PAY FOR THIS

I COULD MAKE A BETTER CAMPAIGN IN DOOM SNAP MAP

Played through this with tale of two wastelands. Having the ability to aim down sights likely made this a more fun experience than the vanilla game.
There isn't much story as the only thing provided is the context of "the Chinese took Alaska!"
Fallout 3 isn't known for its shooting mechanics but the body dismemberment system still provides enough entertainment value from blowing off an enemy's head so that made this combat-focused DLC a neat and cheap experience. There should have been more implementation of RPG mechanics though. A more in-depth troop management system along with more ways to tackle the quests (especially the final boss!) would have added the depth that this expansion needs.

New year new challenge!! Beginning my third year in a row of my 52 game challenge not quite with The Bang of the Mass Effect Trilogy but rather the whimper of Fallout 3... Okay kidding aside, Fallout 3 is not a bad game but it pales in comparison to its 'family' in the series in a lot of ways. BUT we're not here to talk about Fallout 3 (yet), we're here to talk about its first DLC - Operation Anchorage.

Anchorage starts off strong with a mysterious signal from a "remnant" outcast sect of the Brotherhood of Steel (a group of badass tech hoarders in the Fallout universe) trying to crack an old equipment locker but needing a pipboy to interface with the system that controls all of the vault doors. That's where you come in - the first stray person who has a pipboy! It's cool that you overhear conversations of some of the Brotherhood just saying they should cap you and take the item off of your corpse rather than deign to ask you for help, as that better fits their usual MO for dealing with wastelanders. Ultimately though the DLC would be kinda boring that way so instead they plug you into a VR simulation of the Battle of Anchorage - very shortly before the bombs fell Chinese forces had taken Anchorage, AK and fortified it, and the US marines went in to take it back from those commie bastards. This battle is referenced MANY times throughout the game and there are a couple of memorials dedicated to it as well in the D.C. ruins so this is actually a pretty cool fleshing out of the lore you're getting to see first hand - though clearly with some propagandizing intent behind it as well.

The Fallout Universe pins itself as being trapped in a 1950's aesthetic and mindset (or rather a slightly twisted and ahistorical view of how the 50's were) where the Capitalist Good Guys saved the day against the sneering foreign communist hordes and that is very much on display here. You literally only talk to ONE Chinese soldier who is a clear racist caricature who does nothing but threaten you with death (who you can return the favor to) so it's a pretty clear condemnation of this universe's US government and their wartime views. The meat of the experience is actually pretty great and feels like it fits perfectly into making you think you're in this simulation, it is basically all battles all the time and it looks great. Fallout 3 is based on fast and slow periods of creeping around old buildings or landmarks and then getting into some quick but deadly fights then looting the joint - Anchorage is fast paced and constantly handing you health pickups and loads of guns to shoot up bad guys with and it is a very refreshing change of pace. There's a main sections to this and the later two actually let you tackle things in the order you want which is a small nod to the "open" nature of fallout however these missions are very much on rails - other DLC will you give small sandboxes to play around in, microcosms of FO3 itself, but Anchorage is appropriately on rails until you are out of the mission. Once you are, you open up the vault and half of the brotherhood decides to just ice you rather than cough up your share of the loot... big mistake!! I don't think this mission changes too much in terms of your relationship with the brotherhood later (hence why they are exiles, perhaps? They have neat red armor though...) which is unfortunate for RP purposes but makes it easier to review at least!

Anchorage is a bit of an odd-duck in that it is a very straightfoward take on one aspect of the Fallout series (its gunplay and encounter design) that is typically not considered the focus or its best feature. Despite this I do think it succeeds at being a pretty cool action romp that ends on a high note of some great loot you get to bring with you into the rest of the game. Whereas the base game always has you worried about how your resource expenditures in health packs or ammo will affect you later, having a small chunk of the game let you go wild with Gauss Rifles and Missile launchers just feels nice, ya know?

One of the defining characteristics of Fallout is its satire of American jingoism. I had assumed that a DLC set within a VR battle simulation created by the US military during their war with China would be a prime opportunity for a glimpse into pre-apocalypse America's worldview. I was sure that the simulation would be loud, unsubtle propaganda for the American soldiers who would use it to train. That it would be full of exaggerated moments depicting the Chinese soldiers as pathetic or comically evil, and the American military as honorable and righteous.

Instead Bethesda decided to play it straight, like something out of any generic WW2 first person shooter. The US soldiers are generically good people and the Chinese soldiers are non-entities to gun down. So what am I supposed to feel playing this, running down the trenches, shooting bland soldiers and listening to non-characters bark orders at me? Nothing in particular? Or did Bethesda want me to be on America's side in this war?

Fallout 3 re-uses the Enclave, the US government's direct successor, as the main antagonist for its plot. It is a big missed opportunity that Bethesda is uninterested in exploring the US government's state of mind during the war that directly led to the nuclear holocaust.

AHAHAHHAHAHH, I am really, and I mean really, divided over this DLC. Because on one end, amazing concept with a fun and unique campaign. However, this kind of breaks the game a bit, just due to the fact that its relatively easy to get to this quest line at a low level, you gain power armor training from it, and get a amazing arsenal of power armor, a gauss refile, and lots of other bullshit to sell for THOUSANDS of caps. Not to mention easy levels from the quest as well. Overall very cool, but could have been paced into the grander fallout three story better.