Beyond Reviews Fallout 3: The Pitt

Presentation: 10/10

Gameplay: 8/10

Fun Factor: 9/10

Total Score: 27/30

Fallout 3 is a game that has drawn me in like few games have. In fact, as I recently remarked to a friend, the last time a game drew me in to this degree was the original Diablo.

In short, it's been like, since the 70's that I was this into a game. No wait, make that since 1997. It only feels like it's been since the 70's.

With Oblivion, Bethesda set an extremely high bar for game design that Fallout 3 exceeds in many respects, while staying true to the legacy of one of the great PC RPG franchises of all time.

But one doesn't simply release a game these days. After a game's release it seems that Downloadable Content (DLC to us hipsters) is inevitable. Of course, with games taking years to develop, it makes sense that developers wouldn't want to immediately walk away and with games as great as Oblivion and Fallout 3, why would players want them to?

The first DLC update for Fallout 3 was Operation: Anchorage, which sent your intrepid post-apocalyptic adventurer into a deadly VR simulation of the Chinese invasion of Anchorage. As part of the simulation, you left all your equipment in the real world and used virtual equipment.

While The Pitt again has you leaving your equipment behind for a time, in this case to pose as a slave, it offers a much more compelling mix of the gameplay elements that make Fallout 3 so great.

The Pitt is a dark, smoggy, polluted area that actually makes one long for the beauty of the Capital Wasteland. Armed only with an Auto-Ax (think a combination of a weed-whacker and a circular saw and you've got an image of what this baby is) you're sent to gather steel ingots, a mission no one expects you to return from.

On this mission you have your first encounter with Trogs, creatures that look something like the feral ghouls of Fallout 3 except they have distended stomachs and crawl around on all fours.

Of course you do return and from there you are given a chance to earn your "freedom" by competing in the arena. I'd say two men enter one man leaves (believe me, I really, really want to) but unfortunately you are usually outnumbered in the arena so I can't.

While I won't give away the ending, let me say that The Pitt offers more or what's great about Fallout 3. There are perks to earn, items to find, NPCs to interact with and slavers to put down (or prop up for you negative karma types).

If you're a fan of Fallout 3 and (unlike me) stopped playing, you now have a perfect reason to get back in. If you haven't yet tried Fallout 3, you now have one more reason to give this great game a look.