Bethesda has now released its second of three confirmed downloadable expansions for their post apocalyptic epic role playing game Fallout 3 and it is called ‘The Pitt’. This new content is similar to the first game, as you, the player pick up an emergency radio broadcast which starts the quest. As you follow up on the mission and talk to a certain NPC (non-playable character), you will enter the industrial city of Pittsburg which sounds like it is actually a much worse place then the Capital Wasteland is, they need a hero but the question is of course, are you the hero they need or will you simply work for your own needs? The story is very good and one of the best missions you will play in the Fallout 3 game. You are “hired” by a person who has escaped from “The Pitt” and they are looking for help in obtaining the cure for a plague which is keeping his people sick and basically enslaved by a group of slavers who have the cure. The Pitt has new weapons, new perks and a great graphical look but all did not go well for the Xbox 360 side of things when the content was finally released.


Early in the morning of March 24th, Bethesda and Microsoft released the content via Xbox Live Marketplace and many of us stayed up or got up early to play the new content were given a corrupted expansion. Missing textures and models as well as some corruption in the overall save files for some people left many gamers upset and frustrated. The content was quickly fixed by the next morning and we Xbox 360 gamers were finally able to enter Pittsburg and see the content as it was meant to be played.
This new expansion comes with an extra 100 Achievement Points which are easy to obtain with some exploration and just following the main quest story line but the last 20 points may take a bit of time since finding all of the required items does take some effort. It is fun to explore the area though and this has potentially the best designed areas of the entire game. Along with the new AP’s there are new perks such as you will do extra damage with the Auto Axe, Higher Radioactive Resistance (helpful) and Radiation and overall Damage Resistance. These perks are very useful in the Pitt because the place is just full of radiation and things that will lunge out in the dark and damage you if you are not careful.

Operation Anchorage was a shooter heavy expansion and while you do shoot often in The Pitt there is a bit more role playing elements to be experienced this time around. There are more new people to meet, mini quests to explore and a much better designed series of zones to run around in. There is also a new monster to kill in the game called a Trog. Fast and deadly but when you kill them it is very satisfying as the damage modeling is some of the best we have seen in the game. It is not often to see you blow the top of the skull off these beasts and that is always fun to see.


The new weapons in the game include an automatic scoped assault rifle which is amazing and there is also a kickass auto axe weapon which is great for getting up close and personal with. There are also many new armor and clothing pieces to own but nothing that special and if you are wearing the Winterized armor from Operation Anchorage it is still the best for overall defense.
Once you enter the city of Pittsburg it is completely open to what you do and while the first part of the expansion is linear there are two completely different directions you can take it. The final choice you make can have some major consequences on your Karma rating and in the end the result you may expect is probably not what you will end up with.

One of the more powerful story based quests we have seen out of the Fallout 3 experience it makes me wonder how great the third and potentially final expansion, called Broken Steel, will be for this epic game. If the Broken Steel downloadable content is just as good then gamers are in great hands and hopefully we will see more content in the future because leaving the Fallout universe is a hard thing to do.

Verdict – Must buy for all Fallout 3 owners (well PC and 360 owners) and is easily worth every penny
Score - 9/10

Posted by Brian Edey (Falelorn)

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Posted by : Curtis McDonald (DarkCanuck)
Posted by : Brian Edey (Falelorn)