Bethesda Softworks' newest DLC for its recent hit game has hit the market in the form of Fallout 3: Point Lookout. Unlike a couple of the other downloadable content add-ons, this one doesn't seem to add much to the graphical department in the form of original environments. It's not to say that you'll be playing in Washington, D.C. In fact, you aren't. However, the environmental makeup of this new land doesn't have the impact that others have had in the past.

The DLC does boast some original graphics, however. Included in this "backwoods edition" are stereotypical inbred hillbillies that remind me oh so wonderfully of a little game called Redneck Rampage. These new characters look great and are, quite frankly, a bit creepy to look at. The swampy atmosphere is also pretty good, but most of the new content is just a graphical extension of the original game. Buildings and otherwise also offer more of the same.

The audio, likewise, hasn't changed dramatically either. Character dialogues are well-voiced and NPC character noises are ambient, but good. The new characters offer a bit of freshness in the audio department as well, but this is a minor distraction. I suppose it's hard to get off a winning horse, but still it would have been great to dial up the drama a bit more at times.

Like the base game, you are given more quests for your character to complete through the Fallout 3: Point Lookout download. The base story starts when you are asked by a mother to find her daughter, which in turn, leads you to take a boat ride to Point Lookout, Maryland, in an effort to find out about the missing woman, or at least information leading to her disappearance. From there, you end up visiting a ghoul-man named Desmond who is trapped in a mansion, fighting off members of a local tribe. After helping him fight off and eradicate the tribe members from the mansion, you eventually infiltrate their headquarters for information.

The core of the mission has you running back and forth across this little strip of Maryland in a seesaw battle between Desmond and the tribe, making decisions to ultimately sabotage one side or the other. The "man" behind the tribe is the brains of the operation, leading you to a showdown between you and one of the defunct beings.

While the gameplay of Fallout 3: Point Lookout is certainly enjoyable, I was admittedly a bit disappointed in the overall story behind this virtual game of chess. The storyline did accomplish giving the feeling of being caught in the middle, which is, of course, what it set out to do, however. I somehow could not avoid picturing myself in a situation similar to Bruce Willis' character in Last Man Standing.

In all, Point Lookout wasn't a super-long add-on, but did add a handful of gameplay hours to the original. It was great to be able to travel to an all-new location as well, but there wasn't a whole lot of new (or better, original) content. The biggest downfall of this DLC was that there was a lot of back and forth and no true need to discover new areas within the map. The bog section was interesting, but it was also repetitive as you kept facing the same (difficult) enemies over and over.

For this DLC, I actually jumped back to an old character that wasn't very far along in the storyline of the game. When I began Point Lookout, my character stood at Level 6, which not only gave me fresh eyes at the content, but also served as a reality check for getting through it. While many of the areas of the add-on were certainly playable, there were also times when I found myself either restarting after numerous deaths or searching for a safe haven to survive a certain thrashing.

The bog and other radiation-filled water areas are crawling with the same enemies, a crab-like creature that used his shell as protection from up-close shots. Because of this, the creature was actually quite difficult when cornered, but also somewhat easy to outmaneuver as he lowered his head. Suffice to say, I did die quite a few times by their hands. In the same manner, the other recurring enemies included tribe members, ghouls, and redneck hillbillies with scatterguns. The tribe members were normal in difficulty. The ghouls attacked in vast numbers at one point, which made it necessary to find shelter immediately. The hillbillies shot fairly accurately from distances and were rather strong, which made their difficulty a bit higher than normal.

Fallout 3: Point Lookout uses the exact same controls as the original, so there's not much to talk about there. From my perspective, I once again used the Xbox 360 Wireless PC Controller to play, and it worked well. The only issue I had was, again (like with the last DLC that I reviewed), the ability to drop items mysteriously disappeared at times and that I could not exit the game without it crashing, but I now believe both of these issues lie under the hood and not within Point Lookout itself.

I did end up saving a lot when playing through Point Lookout, which made the game a bit easier to get through, although the difficulty was a perfect balance for my Level 6 character. For those who have already maxed out your character, the DLC may not pose as much of a challenge.

In all, Point Lookout is a nice add-on and probably worth a download for fans of Fallout 3, but I didn't feel like it was quite as worthy as some of the other downloadable content thus far released. The back and forth nature was a bit unexciting and the storyline's overall quality didn't thrill. With that said, I certainly did enjoy playing, but be aware that Fallout 3: Point Lookout isn't as worthy as I had anticipated. I suppose that is a product of being spoiled with other quality DLCs.