GamesRelay

Name: Fallout 3: The Pitt

As you find yourself wandering through the Wasteland, you pick up a radio transmission on your Pip-Boy 3000 - a repeating distress signal from a man named Wernher, claiming to have valuable information for the person who helps him to free his people. Your Pip-Boy automatically shows the location of the signal on your World Map - it looks like another download content quest is well under way!

Upon finding Wernher, he tells you that he comes from The Pitt, a city where most of the occupants are slaves working on scavenging and reforging steel. They are mistreated, beaten, and even killed for failing in their duties, but there is also a strange disease that has been afflicting all who live there. Its leader, Ashur, the so-called "Lord of the Pitt," apparently has a cure to hand, and Wernher wants you to travel back with him with the mission to liberate the slaves and find this cure. Of course, being Fallout 3, whether you decide to do that is completely up to you. The story told can change drastically depending on your actions, and includes some very morally ambiguous decisions compared to the black-and-white approach that the rest of the game uses. Overall, it's a tale that will make you really question your decisions, although the rewards are identical no matter what you choose.

The Pitt is a completely linear experience. Unlike some other DLC packs for Fallout 3, there are no side quests. You follow the three quests in order to completion, with little else to distract you along the way. That is, aside from finding Steel Ingots. These hunks of steel are found in a large area called The Steelyard, and you receive awards for every ten you retrieve; with 100 to find however, it's hardly simple. It can be said that most are not hidden particularly well, since they are usually found in groupings and some obvious locations, but you'll find that a number are placed in some devious positions. Not only do you obtain ten new items for succeeding, but an achievement or trophy as well, so you'll probably find that it'll be worth your time, considering the absence of side missions. You'll find that, on completion, you're able to go on some item hunts for some characters, and a very useful ammo press is also available for use, where you can forge many different types of ammo by melting others. Whether this is worth the time it takes to travel to The Pitt every time you want to use it is up to your individual judgement.

Near the beginning of the Pitt, you'll have all your items taken from you. While this is not a novelty compared to the other DLC, you won't have your items returned until the end of the second quest this time. With some particularly notable battles to be fought before then, The Pitt does quite an interesting thing - it forces you to scavenge again. With ammo at a minimum, only poor guns to choose from, and health-increasing stimpaks a luxury, it harkens back to the beginning of the main game when a 10mm Pistol was the most powerful weapon in your arsenal. You'll have to steal weapons and armour from your slain foes, and repair them as well as you can if you hope to succeed in these early parts, which I felt made the game fresh once again because of it. Of course, once you find your old death-dealers again, you'll sink right back into your previous play style.

However, there are a number of bugs and oversights present. Aside from the irregular system freezings that were present in the full game, The Pitt has its own selection. There are some clipping issues in The Steelyard, with the player being able to walk through some walls and become stuck behind them, though it only happens rarely. If you're unfortunate enough to be caught by this, you have no option but to load a previously saved game. On some versions of the game, there are issues with delivering Steel Ingots, where items won't be rewarded or achievements not given. There is also no mention from the characters as to when you can retrieve your taken weapons. While there is a mission marker attached to the location, it could be easily overlooked, and the placement of the marker is confusing compared to the layout of the building, where, unless you know of its actual location, it seems like you're being pointed towards a wall. The main quest itself suffers little from these errors, but they certainly put a blemish on the experience as a whole.

Of course, a new DLC pack would have to include new weapons and enemies, and The Pitt provides. There are four types of mutated humans that are indigenous to Pittsburgh, resulting from the aforementioned disease that is your mission to get the cure for. These feral, hairless creatures are called Trogs, and come in four varieties; Trog Fledgling, Trog, Trog Brute, and Trog Savage, all in order of seniority. The nastier variations are capable of horrendous levels of damage, and are startlingly quick and relentless in their attacks. New weapons include the Auto Axe, a modified circular saw tool used to slice through steel just as well as Trog, and a range of scoped, silenced assault rifles to bring automatic death from afar.

While much more straightforward and linear than some of the other downloadable content, The Pitt certainly delivers interesting, solid content, and the asking price is a fair one for all that's packaged. While other packs may make more of an impact and have even more content than The Pitt, players should be satisfied with all that's on offer.

This download pack is available to download now on PC, 360 and PS3. However, a Game of the Year Edition is releasing on the 16th of October that includes Fallout 3 and all of its downloadable content on one value-packed disc.