Games review

Published on Friday 24 April 2009 14:49

Fallout 3: The Pitt (PC/PS3/XB360, 800 MS points, £9.99)

THE second of three expansions for Bethesda's post-apocalyptic epic Fallout 3 takes the title into even darker territory than before. It starts as your character picks up a radio distress signal from a man called Wernher. He asks you to help him free some slaves from the barren city of Pittsburgh, or to give it its new name, The Pitt.

To get behind enemy lines you must dress up as a slave and become captured and enlisted into the worker ranks, surviving long enough to take down the oppressive raiders. Gameplay remains unchanged from the core title, although visually, this is a lot darker, with a poisonous cloud of smog hanging over the industrial backdrop of abandoned factories and dilapidated steel mills.

One location, the scrap yard, is overrun by Trogs, mutated humans with a taste for flesh. It is littered with steel ingots that can be cashed in for expansion-exclusive items. New weapons include the lethal power axe and Infiltrator sniper rifle, which packs a punch over long distances.

While this is a longer, more atmospheric expansion than first instalment, Operation Anchorage, it may still feel a tad overpriced for those casually dipping in and out of Fallout 3. For fans however, this is another fine extension of what was undoubtedly the best game of 2008.