After my last review of Operation: Anchorage I loaded up The Pitt with some trepidation. I was not looking forward to constant freezes and a rather dull story. But I loaded the game hoping that a new environment with the same basic pallet of colors that the original game had would have less problems.
I tend to play Fallout 3 with a slant toward stealth so that I can sneak up on enemies but it also allows me to slow down and enjoy the level of detail the designers put into each new area that I come across. I really enjoyed the initial crossing of the bridge into The Pitt and was impressed by the varying levels of height that were employed for enemy placement. The initial story wasn't that interesting. Although I have to admit that after spending so many hours looking at and helping ghouls I was defintely grossed out by the new diseased look that the slaves in The Pitt had been given.
Exploring the initial area of The Pitt I was a little disappointed. The new areas are basically just large squared off city blocks so exploration ends quickly. The second quest left me at odds. The quest simply asks you go into an area filled with Trogs (slaves taken over completely by radiation--losing skin and all human instincts) and retrieve 10 steel ingots. The first 10 come relatively quickly, so you can easily return to the quest giver and move on. My dilemma stems from turning the easy 10 or searching for all 100 hidden within the area for a silver trophy. Ah the trophy. Sounds easy right? Well...I've gotten 90 steel ingots and have decided to stop looking (for now). There is only so much time I want to spend in one area.
So I returned the 10 ingots and continued on with the story quest. As I previously stated I wasn't really excited about the quest story up to this point, but once you realize what the "cure" is to help the slaves I was immediately sucked in. This final trophy quest is what really brings out the best in all of the Fallout 3 quests. The ability to give you a choice to help one group or their opposition with an end result that leaves you feeling morally dirty at the end of either choice. This last quest brought me right back to the Tenpenny Tower quest and the Paradise Falls quest from Fallout 3. I don't want to spoil the quest for those who haven't played The Pitt yet but I have to say that the last quest is definitely worth paying for the DLC.
One thing that I have not discussed about The Pitt is whether or not I had any technical difficulties. As I mentioned in the beginning I loaded up The Pitt with some trepidation but found the game to run smooth throughout the entire experience. I had one freeze-up but I'll chock that up to a failure in the Fallout 3 engine and not the DLC specifically. Too many enemies and friends all battling at the same time on multiple planes seem to have choked up the game engine at one point late in the third quest. After a reboot the quest finished without any further problems.
I would definitely give The Pitt a recommendation after the disappointing Operation: Anchorage DLC. I'm still going to hold off on Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta for now, mostly because there are some other good games coming out soon that I'd rather save my money for.
Until those come out, I've rented (against my better judgement) the so far, disappointing Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes game. More on that after a thorough play through.
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