Fallout 3: The Pitt Review for Xbox 360, PC
New Downloadable Content a Must-Play for Fallout Fans
Taking place in the burned out vestiges of what was once Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Bethesda Softworks' new content provides players with a view of life outside the original game's "Capital Wasteland."
Upon starting the game, the player is petitioned for help by an escaped slave named Wernher. The runaway informs the player of a place called the Pitt, a steel mining city ruled by the iron fist of a man named Ashur.
Mutations caused by the irradiated rivers running through the Pitt are rampant, and the slaves running the mills are all doomed to fall victim eventually. But Wernher talks of a supposed cure only Ashur possesses - a cure the player is tasked with stealing amidst a slave uprising.
Botched Launch Almost Derails The Pitt
While The Pitt is Bethesda's second Fallout 3 download (the first was the mediocre Operation: Anchorage), this latest offering suffered a major technical misstep from the get-go.
Users who downloaded the content from Xbox Live on March 24 - the game's release date - encountered missing and corrupt textures and freezing issues, rendering the game unplayable.
Bethesda was quick to resolve the problem, however, as the correct version of The Pitt was made available for download the next day. But the botched launch was still a surprising gaffe, especially coming from a triple-A developer.
The Pitt Sets the Bar High for Fallout-Style Dystopia
Once the game gets going, however, players should be pleased with what they get.
For the price of 800 Microsoft points ($10 US), fans are treated to a totally new quest line, four new achievements worth 100 points, several new enemies and some unique, new weapons.
In terms of atmosphere, The Pitt carries Fallout 3's torch well. Unlike Bethesda's first go-around with Operation: Anchorage, which was heavy on combat, The Pitt goes back to what made Fallout 3 so great - exploration, ambiance and story.
The level of oppression in this new city is palpable.
Emaciated slaves toil endlessly inside the fiery mill, while the raider guards keep watch, killing any worker who attempts escape. Meanwhile, billowing plumes of smoke rise from the stacks in the skyline, leaving a haze of orange all across the Pitt.
Outside the mill, in the largely abandoned steel yard, players will encounter one of the new enemies, the disgusting Trogs - formerly human entities that, like the Super Mutants, have suffered from the prolonged effects of radiation.
However, the autoaxe, a new melee weapon with an automated, spinning blade, usually makes short work of any Trog encountered in The Pitt.
A Few Chinks in The Pitt's Armor
While The Pitt does well in re-capturing the essence of Fallout 3, there are a few lingering problems from the core game that surface again in this expansion.
The graphics, for instance, are really starting to show the mileage. The game's engine already looked a bit dated when Fallout 3 was released in October 2008. The Pitt does admirably in pushing the engine to new limits, but it's sometimes hard to ignore the muddied and blinking textures.
Bland voice acting and boring dialogue, another recurrent annoyance from Fallout 3, seems to be more prevalent in The Pitt. Throughout the city, there seems to be only three voices, and many of them spout the same canned lines.
The voice actors for the main characters, such as Ashur and Wernher, give decent performances, but they definitely don't match up to Liam Neeson's father character from Fallout 3.
Lastly, a few of the quests in The Pitt may feel hackneyed to some. There is yet another fetch quest that's been done countless times before, where the player is tasked with collecting 10 steel ingots from the steel yard.
There's also a neat arena quest, where the player duels with several desperate slaves gladiator-style in a fight for freedom. But anyone who has played through a similar mission in Bethesda's Oblivion will quickly get a sense of deja vu.
Fallout 3: The Pitt Proves to Be a Worthy Expedition
Overlooking the major technical hiccup that nearly derailed its launch, and some minor issues that remain, Fallout 3: The Pitt is a worthwhile download that should satiate fans of the game.
Most of the elements that made the original game such a hit are all here in spades - the dark atmosphere, the visceral combat, the satisfying exploration, and an engaging story that sheds light on the formation and future of the Pittsburgh wasteland.
Players should be able to squeeze five to 10 hours out of The Pitt, and it should be a good stopgap for those waiting for the much meatier third and final Fallout 3 expansion, Broken Steel.
Welcome to The Pitt
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