Post by BrainCleaner on Mar 27, 2009 4:51:50 GMT -5
Well that started badly. Not the game, I'm sure most of you have read or heard about the total cock up(Microsoft's fault we're told..) Yes, this DLC was broken on release and quickly yanked from Live to be fixed and re uploaded. Not the best of starts seeing as many people were waiting on The Pitt to see what Bethesda could really show us after the slightly weak Operation: Anchorage DLC. Well it was fixed in about 20 hours, so I had the points(800) and thought I'd take a peek.
For the dozen or so people who have not played Fallout 3, let me give you some history. Fallout 1 & 2 were released in the mid 90's. Isometric RPGs hailed as some of the best RPS made. Both set on the west coast of the USA some years after World War III. Fallout 3 shifts the setting to the East coast, Washington D.C and sets the game 200 years after the end of the 2nd. The game plays and feels quite similar to 1 & 2 giving many design nods to the previous games, only this time it's in first person using a tweaked version of the Oblivion engine.
I said the Operation: Anchorage DLC was disappointing, and I know I was not alone in this. A linear, combat simulator for people who enjoyed VATS only. It really didn't show off what Fallout 3 could do or what the game was about for me so I downloaded this new DLC thinking "horse armour".
So, into The Pitt.
After starting a new game or loading a save you receive a radio transmission(this seems to be the mechanic Bethesda will be using to introduce the new quest lines quick and easy to your character) from a man asking for help to save his people. This man is an escaped slave from The Pitt, the now mostly destroyed city of Pittsburgh. After agreeing to help his cause(find and steal a cure for the plague that is effecting the slaves) he is able to smuggle you into the city disguised as a slave. Yup, The Pitt is a raider town and having the Hero Of The Wasteland show up at their door claiming they were wanting to borrow some sugar and not really kill them all might raise a few eyebrows! In the same vein, a slave wearing Power Armour, packing a combat shotgun and traveling with a ghoul would make people wonder as well, so any companions you have return to where you found them, and you lose all your gear(temporarily) when entering the city under cover.
There are many "wow" moments in Fallout 3, and this DLC adds another. Crossing the Pittsburgh Bridge. Really, you have never seen a city or a dense urban area yet in Fallout 3. Washington D.C never felt like a city to me, rather a series of zones, which was a huge shame. The bridge is jammed pack with cars and trucks of people trying to escape the city before the bombs fell, and crossing it with the Pittsburgh skyline in the background is almost as good as the first moment you exit Vault 101.
Arriving in the city and being taken in by the raiders to be put to work as a slave is interesting. Playing as a level 20 character, with all my gear I know i could take these fools down in 10 seconds, but I'm unarmed, wearing only Slave 'BDSM' gear. This gives you a real feeling of tension and being very vulnerable. Wandering around the first areas you feel that if you do something out of line or go into the wrong places these guards will blow you away! It gives you the same almost overwhelmed feeling that you get when exiting the vault for the first time, no longer are you an armor plated wrecking ball with a partner and a dog who can take down pretty much anything, you once again have the feeling "OK, what's gonna be killing me soon?"
The Pitt gives you several new weapons and many new types of armour. The best new weapon being the slave built Auto Axe. It's one of the most satisfying moments in game the first time you get to turn it on an enemy and see the results! There's also a scoped machine gun, which is great for stealthy sniper types. The addition of new armour is very welcome for characters who can't/won't use power armour, it adds alot more scope and one them is a bikini made out of the ends of mini nukes, for girls only! The only new enemy is Trogs. The end stage results of the plague in The Pitt Trogs are like ghouls, on all fours, on crack. These guys move like greased lighting, and they come in groups! Even the best player at Lv20, with maxed small arms, or what ever your weapon option is, with high action points for VATS is going to be hard pressed to one shot head shot everyone of these as they rush at you! This results in you being hurt quite a bit, don't expect to be above 75% health for most of these missions. In the early parts it's balancing out health vs rads to stay alive. A good player will manage this well enought untill you are finding good items and equipment again, but it can still be a challenge.
Fallout 3 has a karma system, you play either good or bad. So far that has been pretty much black and white, help a scared kid for good karma, push an old man off an air craft carrier for bad karma, simple. In The Pitt Bethesda blur these lines a bit, there's some grey now. When the final mission in the story reaches it climax there is one of the hardest moral choices in game so far. it's so not clear which is the better or "right" option that most players will go back to a save and try the other way, even then there'll be doubt.
Overall this DLC is a VAST improvement on Op:Anchor. as it recaptures the true Fallout 3 experience. For 800ms Points you'll get a solid 4 hours play, maybe pushing to 6 or 7 if you fully play out and explore the area. It's given me high hopes for 'Broken Steel' out in April, the 3rd and final DLC. Well worth the download.
85%
For the dozen or so people who have not played Fallout 3, let me give you some history. Fallout 1 & 2 were released in the mid 90's. Isometric RPGs hailed as some of the best RPS made. Both set on the west coast of the USA some years after World War III. Fallout 3 shifts the setting to the East coast, Washington D.C and sets the game 200 years after the end of the 2nd. The game plays and feels quite similar to 1 & 2 giving many design nods to the previous games, only this time it's in first person using a tweaked version of the Oblivion engine.
I said the Operation: Anchorage DLC was disappointing, and I know I was not alone in this. A linear, combat simulator for people who enjoyed VATS only. It really didn't show off what Fallout 3 could do or what the game was about for me so I downloaded this new DLC thinking "horse armour".
So, into The Pitt.
After starting a new game or loading a save you receive a radio transmission(this seems to be the mechanic Bethesda will be using to introduce the new quest lines quick and easy to your character) from a man asking for help to save his people. This man is an escaped slave from The Pitt, the now mostly destroyed city of Pittsburgh. After agreeing to help his cause(find and steal a cure for the plague that is effecting the slaves) he is able to smuggle you into the city disguised as a slave. Yup, The Pitt is a raider town and having the Hero Of The Wasteland show up at their door claiming they were wanting to borrow some sugar and not really kill them all might raise a few eyebrows! In the same vein, a slave wearing Power Armour, packing a combat shotgun and traveling with a ghoul would make people wonder as well, so any companions you have return to where you found them, and you lose all your gear(temporarily) when entering the city under cover.
There are many "wow" moments in Fallout 3, and this DLC adds another. Crossing the Pittsburgh Bridge. Really, you have never seen a city or a dense urban area yet in Fallout 3. Washington D.C never felt like a city to me, rather a series of zones, which was a huge shame. The bridge is jammed pack with cars and trucks of people trying to escape the city before the bombs fell, and crossing it with the Pittsburgh skyline in the background is almost as good as the first moment you exit Vault 101.
Arriving in the city and being taken in by the raiders to be put to work as a slave is interesting. Playing as a level 20 character, with all my gear I know i could take these fools down in 10 seconds, but I'm unarmed, wearing only Slave 'BDSM' gear. This gives you a real feeling of tension and being very vulnerable. Wandering around the first areas you feel that if you do something out of line or go into the wrong places these guards will blow you away! It gives you the same almost overwhelmed feeling that you get when exiting the vault for the first time, no longer are you an armor plated wrecking ball with a partner and a dog who can take down pretty much anything, you once again have the feeling "OK, what's gonna be killing me soon?"
The Pitt gives you several new weapons and many new types of armour. The best new weapon being the slave built Auto Axe. It's one of the most satisfying moments in game the first time you get to turn it on an enemy and see the results! There's also a scoped machine gun, which is great for stealthy sniper types. The addition of new armour is very welcome for characters who can't/won't use power armour, it adds alot more scope and one them is a bikini made out of the ends of mini nukes, for girls only! The only new enemy is Trogs. The end stage results of the plague in The Pitt Trogs are like ghouls, on all fours, on crack. These guys move like greased lighting, and they come in groups! Even the best player at Lv20, with maxed small arms, or what ever your weapon option is, with high action points for VATS is going to be hard pressed to one shot head shot everyone of these as they rush at you! This results in you being hurt quite a bit, don't expect to be above 75% health for most of these missions. In the early parts it's balancing out health vs rads to stay alive. A good player will manage this well enought untill you are finding good items and equipment again, but it can still be a challenge.
Fallout 3 has a karma system, you play either good or bad. So far that has been pretty much black and white, help a scared kid for good karma, push an old man off an air craft carrier for bad karma, simple. In The Pitt Bethesda blur these lines a bit, there's some grey now. When the final mission in the story reaches it climax there is one of the hardest moral choices in game so far. it's so not clear which is the better or "right" option that most players will go back to a save and try the other way, even then there'll be doubt.
Overall this DLC is a VAST improvement on Op:Anchor. as it recaptures the true Fallout 3 experience. For 800ms Points you'll get a solid 4 hours play, maybe pushing to 6 or 7 if you fully play out and explore the area. It's given me high hopes for 'Broken Steel' out in April, the 3rd and final DLC. Well worth the download.
85%
