Brutal Gamer

Fallout 3: Point Lookout (Xbox 360) Review

By Leigh - June 30, 2009 - 10:30 UTC

Time to go exploring the vast nuclear wasteland again…

Fallout 3 was my personal Game of the Year last year and the downloadable expansion packs which have been released on the Xbox Live marketplace through-out this year have fuelled my love even more.

The 3 pieces of downloadable content which have already hit the Xbox Live and Games for Windows services are; Operating Anchorage where you are sent back in time in a virtual simulator during the invasion of Alaska to fend of the Chinese, The Pitt sends you to the ruins of Pittsburgh to help the slaves fight back against there slave masters and probably the best expansion pack so far, Broken Steel opened up the end of the story line and raised the level cap up to 30 (which they really should of released first) your objective in Broken Steel? Wipe out those perky Enclave bastards.

The newest expansion pack for Fallout 3 titled Point Lookout brings an enormous new area for you adventures to explore. Point Lookout is easily about a fifth of the size of Capital Wasteland so it’s one of the first pieces of downloadable content which does involve real exploration as well as a great quest-line and new weapons for you to play around with.

Point Lookout starts at a dock near the brotherhoods’ headquarters, when approaching the dock a young mother comes running up to you asking for assistance, her daughter has gone missing in Point Lookout and asks for you to speak to her and bring her home. When you speak to the captain of the ship, he’ll ask you to buy a ticket to go to Point Lookout which is quite pricey (410 caps) and you can also speak to him about Point Lookout, such as what sort of people live there and what landmarks you could visit to get the most out of your vacation.

After a quick nap and a long load screen, you’ll be greeted by the smog-covered of Point Lookout, with a manor in the distance and this is your first quest; investigate the manor (this is where it all kicks of). You meet a lovely ghoul-like man who goes by the name of Desmond who wants you to assist him by getting rid of those evil, evil mercenaries which are attacking his manor to loot it. This is where I stop telling you about the story/quest line as I don’t want to spoil anything for you Fallout 3 fans. Although, what must be mentioned is a certain part of a quest gets proper fucked-up, the hero takes one hell of a bad acid-like trip, a very important person in your life’s decayed corpse on a table with a heart flat-lining noise in the background? Not cool, and it really, really does get to you.

One of the main reasons Fallout 3 instantly clicked with me is the atmosphere, I’ve always thought that atmosphere can make or break a game – with Fallout 3 it didn’t just make the game, it’s what perfected it for me. Point Lookout doesn’t lack in that department either, when you first arrive at Point Lookout you can instantly tell that something bad went down; deserted towns, rabid inbreds, extreme religious zealots and a crazy-ghoul named Desmond, you know things are going to be messed up.

The adventurer within you will love Fallout 3; the wide range of different types of areas you can explore will keep you entertained until the next piece of downloadable content (whenever that is). The new enemies such as crazy inbreeds which take one hell of a beating and refuse to die, new religious extremist raiders and the different types of environments for you to aimlessly explore are just as much fun. Who doesn’t like stumbling into a weapons hardware shop in the middle of a swamp and stealing everything the poor inbred fool had?

Final thoughts

I’m more than happy to say that Point Lookout is* the best piece of downloadable content to date, as it does what Fallout 3 does best; exploration. When a piece of content brings in an environment one-fifth of the size of Capital Wasteland for 800 Microsoft points you know it’s a time to celebrate. Point Lookout may only bring a few new pieces of armour and weapons for you to play round with, but the amount of fun you’ll have exploring the weird and wonderful areas of Point Lookout you’ll be a fool not to buy this if you’re a Fallout fan.

Also remember, there were zero problems with Point Lookout when it launched unlike a certain Pitt…

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