Once again we are treated to another DLC for Fallout 3. Bethesda really is a developer who likes to spoil its audience as they just keep coming up with theses beauties. Notice to all other developers, THIS is after game support not raising your prices so people would be reluctant to sell them on the pre-owned market. That’s just dumb. Ok, rant over.

The Pitt is set away from the Capital Wasteland and is a story of slaves, pit fighting and revolution. It’s up to you if you help or hinder the slaves in The Pitt or if money is more important than human lives. The Pitt is set in the lovely city of Pittsburgh which has now become a wasted city of pollution and forced industry. And you’re going there because someone as asked for you to help them (again!) and let’s face it, help them or don’t play the DLC.

After hopping on a hand cart (you know those strange carts on train tracks that appear in every cartoon, ever) you arrive in Pittsburgh train yard and you and your guide are immediately attacked. It’s your job to get in the city and find a slave for further help, so let’s get started. It’s a short trip to enter the city over a bridge and the city vista is impressive. The environment gives you a real atmosphere of repression with the city covered in a half light of soot and pollution coloured skies.

What The Pitt brings, is a moral story line that looks very black and white until it becomes very grey and is one of the first times that I have changed my moral stance when playing Fallout 3. Other quests feel cut and dry with good and bad karma and this was refreshing to have to really think about your actions and the consequences.

Repeated in another Fallout 3 DLC review, you are stripped of all your weapons and gear (which you do get back later) and forced to “start again” as it were. You do get to play with some new toys including some tasty industrial tools fashioned into weapons and the normal selection of unique weapon types and armour bundled with this DLC.

Enemies in The Pitt are few and far between, its more exploration and playing out your part in this story of slaves and oppressors. You can go bat-shit crazy if you want and kill everyone and everything but its counter productive and you won’t get the most out of the DLC. One new enemy worth of mention is the Troggs. Troggs appear to be humans taken over by the strain of the environment and the plague making its rounds in The Pitt, pollution has robbed them of their skin and made them very cranky.

One great thing about The Pitt is the steel yard. Its a massive area that hardly anyone goes to unless they must to collect solid metal ingots for the forges. In game terms, there are 100 ingots to collect with a reward at every 10 collected. Easier said than done, right? Of course, the area is infested with Troggs (which I find the most satisfying of enemies to kill) and some areas are not easy to get to and you have to use the old noggin’.

The Pitt fighting section could have been flushed out more and could have provided a fantastic resource of bottle caps and a reason to visit The Pitt more than to just do the main quest and the ingots. I can’t help but feel that it was a missed opportunity and would have been great even if it was randomly generated enemies with limited weapons to fight with would have me going back for more.

As far as all the DLC’s go, this is the weakest. It’s forgettable and provides little in new exciting stuff to play with. I can see what Bethesda was trying to do with this game but it feels hollow and with just the addition of an upgraded gladiatorial section could have made this a winner. All in all, it took me 3 hours to complete (well, 5 with all the tech issues) and I moved straight on to another DLC. Good DLC but mediocre by Bethesda’s standards. Reviewed on the PS3. P.S, Asher’s wife is a babe.

44/100