The second package of Fallout 3 downloadable content strips you down to your drawers and dumps you into a post-apocalyptic Pittsburgh for a lengthy questline. And what’s going down in the Pitt? Business, that’s what. The inhabitants seem to have a rather unique mutation, and a guy is trying to build a new nation on the only working Steel Mill in the world. Oh, and apparently they’ve found a potential cure for radiation, which is what they use to rope in a certain wastlander from the D.C. ruins to a wild plot to free the slave laborers working the plant.While the size is undoubtably nothing compared to the Capital Wasteland we’ve come to know and spend a ridiculous amount of hours in, the Pitt sufficiently big, with a pretty big open area for you to explore the way you’ve gotten used to. The practical goal of exploring is gathering steel ingots, which can be handed in for items, mostly cool weapons and armor. But as usual, the Pitt’s wastes are filled with interesting little relics of the past waiting to be discovered.

Aesthetically, despite both the Capital Wasteland and the Pitt falling under the category of “irradiated nuclear wasteland”, there’s major differences between the two. The putrid yellow that seems to be there wherever you look helps to set it apart, along with the dense ruins of an old industrialized city, something not truly seen at all in the Capital Wasteland. Even the indoor areas were different enough that the re-used visuals from vanilla Fallout 3 were sparse enough that they stood out.

Of course, the Pitt also brought some new equipment into my arsenal. Obviously, the sweet-looking Auto-Axe, which basically functions as an upgraded ripper that looks a hell of a lot cooler. I haven’t yet gathered enough ingots to get the Tribal Power Armor, but looking at the stats it may be the first suit of power armor to make me put away my Ranger Battle Armor. It gives an AP gain to offset the agility hit. Cool in my book. Oh, and a favorite new item of mine is the Infiltrator. Assault rifle + scope + silencer. Awesome.

The story pits two morally ambiguous characters against each other in a conflict over a major cure for radiation. And your character, being pulled in rather weird fashion, has to start off his quest with nothing but a pair of shorts. I didn’t mind being brought back to basics after 80-odd hours exploring the wasteland, and as far as I was concerned it made it all the more dramatic when I got my gear back. Whether Bethesda planned for it or not, it was definitely one of those “I’M READY TO ROCK!” moments.

The second package of Fallout 3 downloadable content strips you down to your drawers and dumps you into a post-apocalyptic Pittsburgh for a lengthy questline. And what’s going down in the Pitt? Business, that’s what. The inhabitants seem to have a rather unique mutation, and a guy is trying to build a new nation on the only working Steel Mill in the world. Oh, and apparently they’ve found a potential cure for radiation, which is what they use to rope in a certain wastlander from the D.C. ruins to a wild plot to free the slave laborers working the plant.While the size is undoubtably nothing compared to the Capital Wasteland we’ve come to know and spend a ridiculous amount of hours in, the Pitt sufficiently big, with a pretty big open area for you to explore the way you’ve gotten used to. The practical goal of exploring is gathering steel ingots, which can be handed in for items, mostly cool weapons and armor. But as usual, the Pitt’s wastes are filled with interesting little relics of the past waiting to be discovered.

Aesthetically, despite both the Capital Wasteland and the Pitt falling under the category of “irradiated nuclear wasteland”, there’s major differences between the two. The putrid yellow that seems to be there wherever you look helps to set it apart, along with the dense ruins of an old industrialized city, something not truly seen at all in the Capital Wasteland. Even the indoor areas were different enough that the re-used visuals from vanilla Fallout 3 were sparse enough that they stood out.

Of course, the Pitt also brought some new equipment into my arsenal. Obviously, the sweet-looking Auto-Axe, which basically functions as an upgraded ripper that looks a hell of a lot cooler. I haven’t yet gathered enough ingots to get the Tribal Power Armor, but looking at the stats it may be the first suit of power armor to make me put away my Ranger Battle Armor. It gives an AP gain to offset the agility hit. Cool in my book. Oh, and a favorite new item of mine is the Infiltrator. Assault rifle + scope + silencer. Awesome.

The story pits two morally ambiguous characters against each other in a conflict over a major cure for radiation. And your character, being pulled in rather weird fashion, has to start off his quest with nothing but a pair of shorts. I didn’t mind being brought back to basics after 80-odd hours exploring the wasteland, and as far as I was concerned it made it all the more dramatic when I got my gear back. Whether Bethesda planned for it or not, it was definitely one of those “I’M READY TO ROCK!” moments.