Product Description

Requires Fallout 3 to play

The Pitt
The Pitt allows you to travel to the post-apocalyptic remains of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and become embroiled in a conflict between slaves and their Raider masters. Explore a sprawling settlement ravaged by time, neglect, nuclear radiation, and moral degradation. The Pitt is filled with morally grey choices, shady NPCs, new enemies, new weapons, and much more.

Operation: Anchorage
Enter a military simulation and fight in one of the greatest battles of the Fallout universe - the liberation of Anchorage, Alaska from its Chinese Communist invaders. Gain access to unique armour, weapons, and exotic gadgets while you build and command interactive Strike Teams to win the battle and defeat the Chinese base.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1407 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Bethesda
• Released on: 2009-07-03
• ESRB Rating: Rating Pending
• Platform: Windows XP
• Format: DVD-ROM

Customer Reviews

The Pitt :) Op Anchorage :|
Important You need the original Fallout3 to play these add-ons
To get the bad news out of the way first Op Anchorage is not very good.
Set in a military sim you help to defeat the Chinese in Alaska. It plays differently to the rest of FallOut3 and to say it's on rails is an understatement. You lose all the openness of the original and are funnelled down corridors to each new mission the corridors are not even that subtle with translucent blue walls keeping you on the path. I suppose it does feel like a training sim with bodies vaporising when shot and glowing health packs but it didn't appeal to me because of the above. It is also short and has no real replay value you have a side mission to pick up cases of intelligence but once all have been found there seems little point in playing again.
Now The Pitt which is far superior it's set in Pittsburgh around the only working steel mill and unlike Op Anchorage although you are constrained it is by building walls and rubble rather that ethereal blue walls making the experience more believable, it also includes what must be one of the biggest continuous play areas (ie with no load points) in FO3. But the best thing about the Pitt is that you are back to good/bad choices and karma which IMO helps the game and it's replay value. I think it would be wrong to say anything about the plot as it is short and is more fun for not knowing it beforehand.
I will say that one of the new monsters was a bit of a let down if they had made them more like the super fast zombies in HL2...but then this is a roll play rather than a FPS so maybe not and there is a touching scene played out if you react to part of the game correctly.

So after all my words should you buy the add-on? Well there is an easy route if you want to buy just The Pitt you can get it as a download from Windows Live. Is Windows Live the greatest thing since bread went modular or is it the devils work? To be honest I hate it mainly because of the Windows points system they use for buying things instead of pricing things in coins of the realm for what it's worth I prefer Steam but I am lucky enough to have a fast 6-7mbs internet connection.
If you ask me if the disc add-on pack is worth the money I'd say no.

More Fallout, always good
Just thought I'd add my views on Operation: Anchorage. I installed the add-on pack while I was still halfway through the main game and the two add-on quests became available, so I thought I'd check them out. The set-up for Operation Anchorage seems a little silly but if you play it like I did as a sub quest during the main game, it's actually quite an enjoyable little diversion, and once you've beaten it (which won't take more than an evening) you're back into the wasteland with a couple of new toys. I can understand people buying this having finished the main story being disappointed by this add-on though, as it doesn't really add all that much and what it does add is nowhere near as good as the main game (as described elsewhere, it's a linear fps style mission so none of the depth and exploration possibilities as before).

I've not got stuck into the Pitt just yet but from what I've read it's more of your typical Fallout 3 goodness in an entirely new area, which sounds more like what a game expansion should have.

I'll conclude by saying that I think buying the two add-ons on disc is worthwhile if you haven't finished the game yet as Anchorage works as a sub quest/dungeon add-on, but if you have finished and want more to do then downloading the Pitt separately would be the better option.

Not the best expansion packs in the world
Two games, so two reviews:

The Pitt: three stars.
The Pitt is a reasonable add-on pack. It has at least one replay in it as there is a fundamental decision you make half way through it which drastically effects the rest of your game. If you compare this to an ordinary side quest in a somewhat confied area you won't be far wrong. The only trouble I had with it is that neither side are particularly nice. It was difficult getting motivated to help any of them.

There are some new melee weapons which will be great fun back in the Wasteland, and a kind of scoped assault rifle which wasn't that hot.

Other than that, if it had been included in the main game as a side quest, you would have done it, but not necessarily more than twice. (I've played the original Fallout 3 four times now, and each time I find new stuff. I will play Fallout through again some day, but I don't think I'll bother with The Pitt again. Perhaps if they had thrown in a new bobblehead, but not as it stands!

Operation Anchorage: one star.

Oh dear. This started off promisingly enough. Entering a simulated world immediately removes some of the negative aspects of expansion packs (maxed out characters etc). However, the simulated world you are plonked in is just plain dull. You end up with an incredibly linear fps which plays even worse than Call Of Duty:United Offensive, if you remember that monstrosity. Plus you don't have the saving grace of any multiplayer.

In short, there is no free roaming. It is all down a very linear path, with no rpg elements at all.

This brings up the biggest problem. Fallout 3 is fundamentally an RPG. It may look like an FPS but it is an RPG. This add-on tries to turn it into an FPS. But you can't do that. In an FPS, if you head shot an opponent, they are going to go down. In this, you can stand in front of an opponent and blast them six times in the head with an assault rifle, and they are still standing! Not only that, they may be shooting at one of your team some distance away, and ignoring the fact that you are there and shooting them.

Thats just silly.

Oh yes, the team. At various points in the game, you get to assemble a squad and they come with you. However, you only ever get to issue a command once, and that is either Stay Put or Attack. After that, they do their own thing, and when they get killed, you don't care one iota. All except one bullet proof squaddie who will stick by you through everything.

Playing through this add-on was painful.

I will be ordering the next two add-ons, because even poor add-ons are worth playing because Fallout 3 is such a great game. I do hope they raise the bar though.