Published: August 12, 2009 08:27 am      

GAMETIME - Downloadable content

By Cody Webb

So, have you grown tired of hunting raider and Super Mutants in the wasteland of Fallout 3? Don’t put up your assault rifle and duster just yet! Bethesda Softworks is seeking to extend your stay in their post-nuclear war world with the release of downloadable content (DLC). These DLC feature new areas, weapons, achievements and sidestories for you ex-vault dwellers to delve into, and to top it off: they only cost about ten bucks each! So far you can only download them onto the Xbox 360, but soon they’ll be available to all the PS3 owners.

Leading the charge of DLC would be Operation Anchorage, which tasks players with helping out the Brotherhood of Steel Outcasts at an outpost on the edge of D.C. The Outcasts need a computer that can link to a simulation inside of the outpost that will allow them to enter the armory and, as it so happens, your Pip-Boy is able to interface with the simulation. Once “inside” the sim, players will find themselves re-enacting the battle to free Alaska from the invading Chinese army before the nuclear war that ravaged the world.

It’s interesting to see what the world of Fallout was like before the devastation, and since it takes place in the past, all of the equipment and locations you get to use and see are at the top of their condition. Unfortunately, however, don’t expect to go in there blasting away with your special weapons. You’re only allowed to use the guns you find while inside of the simulation, but you get to utilize health and ammo stations along the way that keep you fighting fit.

Operation Anchorage is a little disappointing in the end, however, since you can’t go back into the simulation just to get anything you might’ve missed. There are a couple of new Perks introduced, as well as your rewards for helping the Outcasts. Fans of sniping will be enthralled by the Gauss Rifle, while stealthy people will make use of the Chinese Stealth Suit. Even those who love power armor get a suit of winterized pre-war power armor!

The second DLC is titled The Pitt, which is a pretty descriptive name for the place that it enables you to go to. After a short quest, players are taken to the ruins of Pittsburgh, now called The Pitt, that were missed by the bombs. The water surrounding the city, however, became highly irradiated and the people soon succumbed to a plague. The people that remain still suffer from this disease, you can see it while you look at them, and the city has formed into an upper and lower class.

The lower class of people live in dingy homes and are forced to work day after day and each are infected, while the people in the upper class live in apartments and are well-protected and equipped. At first, the player gets presented with the choice of either helping the lower people gain freedom or helping the upper class gain complete control. Although, in true Fallout tradition, things turn out to be radically different than they first appeared.

It’s amazing just how different the Pitt looks from the Capital Wasteland - everything has a unique industrial feel to it. Most of the folks there have never seen a Super Mutant, let alone heard of them. They’re far too busy worrying about the “Trogs,” which seem to be the final stage of the strange plague overtaking the town. Luckily, you’ll be given new weapons to fight the trogs, like the Auto-Axe, which is essentially a chainsaw, and the Infiltrator, which is a scoped and silenced assault rifle. You even get new Perks and when everything is done and over, you’re welcome to go back to the Pitt at any time!

So would I recommend Operation Anchorage and The Pitt? I certainly would, especially since you can get both on one disc for 20 dollars. Again, they’re only out for the Xbox 360, but PS3 owners will get their chance to try them out later this year. This wasteland isn’t getting boring anytime soon, so go get busy scavenging!

Cody Webb is a 2008 graduate of Suwannee High School.