The fourth piece of downloadable content for Bethesda’s hugely successful Fallout 3 is but weeks away and looks to offer a slightly different slant on the DLC we’ve seen to date. Point Lookout, which is nearly complete and is just going through the final stages of testing and certification, throws you into a mysterious land on the coast of Maryland, accessible from the Duchess Gambit, Tobar’s ferry situated along the Potomac River. The main quest of Point Lookout asks you to choose side in a local conflict between Desmond and the Tribals over a mysterious local fruit, the Punga Fruit.

Unlike the downloadable content so far, Point Lookout doesn’t lock the player in to the main quest line so players can come and go as they please. The main quest of Point Lookout is said to take between 3 and 4 hours to complete but players can tackle the side quests situated around the area to squeeze a few more hours out of the adventure.

Point Lookout is Bethesda’s biggest environment to date with regard to their DLC, and is said to be about one fifth or one sixth the size of the Wasteland itself. As you approach the area from the Duchess Gambit, the first thing that will strike you is the area’s eerie, almost haunted nature as you see an abandoned amusement park on the docks covered in a light mist. The amusement park that you will encounter within minutes of landing on the mysterious dock is loosely based on Coney Island in Manhattan, but derelict and with its better days long behind it.

As the other downloadable content episodes have delivered so far, Point Lookout also looks to add new weapons and new enemies into the equation. Point Lookout is set to add 4 new weapons to the title and 3 new enemies. The four new weapons; the double barrel shotgun, the lever action rifle, the shovel and the axe, are all worthy additions but fall short of the powerful and unique weapons that we’ve seen in previous DLC episodes. The new enemies featured in Point Lookout are all variations of the Hill Folk who wander the mist encased hills frowning upon new comers who dare wander around in their neck of the woods. So whether it’s a Tracker, who is more of a bruiser, or the Scrapper, fresh with their buck teeth and nimble toes, Point Lookout adds these new rogue, mutated hillbillies to the proceedings to make your life a living hell.

As well as the new enemies, Bethesda even went a step further to reskin a few of the more standard enemies you’ll run into around Point Lookout to give this episode a fresh look and feel. For instance, the Mirelurks are reskinned to make them seem like new varieties of the ones that you encounter on the Wasteland.

As far as the main story quest goes, players will have to choose sides between the lone warrior, Desmond, who resides in his hilltop mansion fighting off the Tribals, or the Tribals themselves in a quest to discover the mysteries of the wild Punga Fruit. The initial conflict takes place in the mansion itself as you stand alongside Desmond to take down wave after wave of invading Tribals before you get into the thick of the action and place your loyalty in one of the sides ... which in true Bethesda style, is completely your choice.

The eerie and haunted feeling you get from Point Lookout is nothing like we’ve seen before in any of the downloadable content and Bethesda should be commended for their variety. With bringing new weapons, enemies, a massive location and plenty of quest action, Bethesda seem to be delivering here as they have done with the rest of their DLC to date. We look forward to seeing whether the content is as long and in depth than those that have come before it. Is it me, or do they seem to be getting longer anyway? Either way, we’re just hoping for a bug free release when it hits consoles later this month.

Fallout 3’s Point Lookout is available for download on the Xbox Live Marketplace this coming June 23rd for 800 Microsoft Points.  Check back around the release of the title for our official review on the content and see whether it’s worth your cash.