Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta Review

By Kristan Reed Published 4 August, 2009

Z-list.

Version tested: Xbox 360

Lavishing a game's community with an unprecedented amount of post-release content can be taken one of two ways: either you're cannily responding to an irrepressible demand with memorable experiences, or just being brazenly cynical by churning out filler that wasn't really good enough for the main game. Now onto its fifth episode downloadable expansion, even Bethesda's staunchest supporters must be wondering whether Fallout 3 really warrants this many extra episodes. After all, the main game was hardly lacking.

The law of diminishing returns had to kick in at some stage, and so it has proven with Mothership Zeta. Regardless of whether you view it in isolation, or in the context of the wider Fallout 3 experience, it struggles to justify its existence. It's a shame, because the alien abduction premise offered rich promise for something interesting that operated out of the game's post-apocalyptic comfort zone.

As usual, the DLC kicks off after you respond to a radio distress beacon in the wasteland. Approaching the crash site of a wrecked flying saucer, you, as the Lone Wanderer, find yourself beamed aboard an alien mothership orbiting the planet. With blurred vision, and the sight of alien creatures (probably) performing unspeakable experiments upon your person, you come around to find yourself imprisoned in a white room alongside an unimpressed woman called Somah. Quickly hatching a cunning escape plan, you find yourself aided by Sally, a chirpy young girl with an intimate knowledge of the craft's innards and its crawl spaces.

Stripped of all your hard-earned equipment (again), your initial encounters with the bug-eyed fiends nevertheless pass without incident - apart from proving a reminder of the game's hilariously poor melee combat. Within minutes, you're reunited with your (by now) ridiculous inventory and can tool up and take the fight to the alien menace in earnest.

'Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta' Screenshot 1

Crash and burn.

The first sign of Mothership Zeta's limitations appear rather too early on for comfort. Exploration offers only a modicum of interest, with little in the way of intriguing back-story aside from a clutch of occasionally noteworthy audio logs retrieved from terminals. Probing the craft's sprawling innards, mysterious equipment and abandoned experiments only hint at a broader menace, with extended exploration of the game's periphery locations offering precious little detail on what these extraterrestrial visitors were up to. Perhaps the most disappointing factor about Mothership Zeta is how little subtlety is afforded to the details, and the absence of choice in how you go about completing the game's three missions.

More than in possibly any other portion of Fallout, the gameplay is extremely linear. Although certain tasks can be completed in a different order, this apparent freedom is rendered redundant once it dawns on you that the tasks are identical on each occasion. Reduced to a series of trivial button-pressing quests, getting to your objective involves nothing more than trudging from one inconsequential area to the next, wading through the drudge of utterly perfunctory corridor shoot-outs with the same three new enemy types.

For completists, there's an initial intrigue about Mothership Zeta. The stark, polished alien spaceship interiors, for a start, are so completely at odds with the wretched destruction of the wasteland that it's impossible not to be initially seduced by the welcome contrast. Sadly it soon wears off, and, if anything, you feel trapped by the tight corridors and inability to roam.

The same applies to how you feel about the new enemies. You'll want to believe that Bethesda will do something interesting with this race of alien invaders, but it does nothing more than stick to the most obvious archetypes possible. They cannot communicate with humans, so react with ill-advised and unsophisticated aggression. Disappointingly, almost all of these little fiends are felled by a single shot, and any hope of tense firefights with intelligent foes soon fades. On occasion, the game throws up resilient variants, armed with shields and cloaking devices, but even these prove to be incapable of doing anything other than charging headlong into your line of fire. Often flanked by robot drones, and assisted by turrets, things can get hectic once they start to throw everything at you, but the outcome is never seriously in doubt.

If you decide to extend the experience beyond the basic four or so hours by exploring the otherwise unimportant areas of the ship, then you really are asking to be bored witless. Akin to endlessly trawling a narrower version of the wasteland's subterranean rail network, the feeling persists that we're merely being served up cut-and-paste Fallout at this stage. After some excellent Fallout 3 campaigns recently, to bow out with something so limp is hugely disappointing.

It doesn't help, either, that the new loot in the game isn't particularly inspiring. The Alien Disintegrator energy weapon certain packs a punch, but as a result it renders the Alien Atomizer and Alien Pulverizer rather redundant with its vast clip size and superior damage. As with a lot of loot in the DLC packs to date, you're generally so ridiculously powerful by this point that few weapons can better what you have. To be fair to Bethesda, there's not a great deal it can do but offer slightly intriguing variations on what's already on offer - but minor, often pointless variations after 120 or so hours of gameplay doesn't really cut it.

'Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta' Screenshot 2

The cold, sterile confines of the mothership provide a welcome contrast to the wasteland grunge. But the novelty soon fades.

Where Mothership Zeta really falls down is the complete lack of inspiration in the mission design. Generally you can rely on Bethesda to intelligently weave complex scenarios around practically anything, with the key characters each having their own specific agenda. Once you've taken in the situation, it's entirely down to your own moral leanings as to which direction you decide to take any given mission. Never quite knowing who is really the good guy, or the least bad guy has made for some thrilling missions in past Bethesda games (and past DLC), but none of that applies here. At best, you can rope in some characters to help kick arse, but for the most part you're reduced to the most soulless of gameplay tasks - breaking machines by pressing buttons.

With repetitive, largely uninspired corridor combat, and boring, linear and samey mission design, the least you'd hope is that there would be some supplementary side quests to extend the lifespan - but not so. Having delivered five main quests, five side-quests and three unmarked quests in the vast Point Lookout expansion, to follow that up with such a limited DLC pack is curious. Throughout its programme of downloadable releases, it felt like Bethesda was learning and improving its output. But having started poorly with Operation: Anchorage, it concludes Fallout 3 in equally disappointing fashion.

5 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (66) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • lambtron #1 3 years ago

    Oh dear.

  • AbyssUK #2 3 years ago

    All well and good but can you mesmerise the aliens and sell them into slavery for a large profit ??

  • BabyJesus #3 3 years ago

    I love F3,but this DLC has got to be the single worst thing I've played this year and the worst I've ever seen from usually always on par Bethesda.

    They take out the exploration and roleplaying in this DLC, leaving you with the least well done aspect of the game.

    Overall Bethesda gave me another memorable videogame, but Mothership Zeta ended this great experience, on a dismal note.

  • Heitzu #4 3 years ago

    Hmm... not sure about this DLC myself, I liked the general feel of being abducted by the aliens and then proceding to punish them for being stupid. But the reward isn't really there by the end like was in Operation Anchorage with the Stealth Suit.

    My personal suggestion of purchasing priority of all five would be as follows:

    Broken Steel = Point Lookout -> The Pitt -> Operation Anchorage = Mothership Zeta

    Broken Steel and Point Lookout are definate musts to buy though.
    Edited by 2 at 04/08/09 @ 14:05

  • ChthonicEcho #5 3 years ago

    I never managed to force myself to enjoy the game, never mind the downloadable content. Characters with perpetual rigor mortis, voice work inexplicably even duller than that found in documentaries, poorly presented weak story... Pretty much the main appeal of the game was to explore, kill and loot. Too primitive for my tastes.

  • darkmorgado #6 3 years ago

    Downloaded this last night and after just the first 45 minutes, I have to agree with the reviewer. What starts off well with an interesting abduction scene and the breakout, just becomes an endless shoot-em-up with nothing really interesting. I'm only partway through the main game (my character is lvl 13), and STILL most of the aliens/ robots are killed with a single hit.
    As the reviewer says, the scenery is initially interesting after so much time in the wasteland, but ultimately that can't save the expansion. They should have given you some option to converse with the aliens, and some interesting stuff that maybe somehow justified their abductions. But no, you just move from corridor to corridor, shooting the same aliens, pressing the same buttons, etc. It's like Bethesda just couldn't be bothered any more - even the voice actors sound bored.
    A shame, especially after the awesome Broken Steel and Point Lookout.
    Oh well.
    Does anyone know if there is any user-created content for PC that's worth a look?

  • Luckyjim #7 3 years ago

    I really enjoyed Fallout 3 but the DLC's been really hit or miss.

  • dustrat #8 3 years ago

    Gonna buy it anyway. I really need those achievements ;)

  • andywilkie35 #9 3 years ago

    Shame. I'll still get it though, just to say I've played the "entire game" (although I still hate DLC in general)

  • sadakos_fury #10 3 years ago

    Shame. I've enjoyed every minute in the wasteland up to now, it's a pity it had to end like this.
    At least they get to work on Fallout 4 now. GOTY in 2013.

  • Pastici #11 3 years ago

    Played it for an hour or so last night, feels a bit soulless, go here, press that, teleport there /repeat.. That Sally girl is a bit suspect though. The Abduction Logs are interesting and sometimes a bit funny. Although I don't seem to be taking down the aliens in one shot. What guns are you guys using?

  • ZuluHero #12 3 years ago

    i thought Point lookout stood head and shoulders above all the other DLC. Its a shame this doesn't exceed that as up until that point the Fallout DLC seemed to be getting better and better with every iteration.

    I'll probably still get this as i am a Fallout nut, but i will probably hate it all the way through like i did with Anchorage. It sounds a lot like Anchorage as well.

  • darkmorgado #13 3 years ago

    Let's hope they start releasing more news about Fallout: New Vegas. Is it still due next year?
    That said, with it being developed by Obsidian, I'm a bit cautious. They never seem to quite achieve greatness, despite the added time they must have to work on story and things (given that they always work with established IPs and engines).
    And what's with Obsidian constantly working with other people's IPs anyway? Surely with people like Fergus Earqhart (typo?) at the helm they can come up with original ideas.

  • Pastici #14 3 years ago

    I quite like the idea of Obsidian working on a Fallout game, having a few original members may give it a few quirky quests and items.

  • darkmorgado #15 3 years ago

    @Pastici, I'm using a standard Laser Rifle. I'm lvl 13, with only 30 points in Energy weapons. I do have the Bloody Mess and Commando perks though, and the other one that gives a x5 critical chance. So far I have killed every alien and robot in one VATS-aimed shot to the head.

  • darkmorgado #16 3 years ago

    @pastici, maybe. Fingers crossed for more Monty Python easter eggs ;-)

  • SL33PY #17 3 years ago

    I'll pass this one, I have great memories of F3 and the other expansions... minus the pitt, didn't like that one very much.

  • darkmorgado #18 3 years ago

    The review doesn't mention as well that Dogmeat isn't abducted along with you (presumably because he would be too effective against the enemies - half the time in the main game he has killed an enemy before I even manage to get a shot off (Super Mutants and Deathclaws notwithstanding).

  • comedian #19 3 years ago

    Ouch.

  • Dr_Wadd #20 3 years ago

    I`m getting very few aliens that I can kill with a single shot, I've encountered a few of the weak variant, but virtually everyone I've encountered so far has the shields. I`m guessing that the ratio of shielded vs unshielded aliens you encounter is determined by your current level.

    Quite enjoying it so far, but I did get really vexed with it last night when I had to repeat a big section because I got trapped in a corner on some scenery and was unable to free myself.

  • Retroid #21 3 years ago

    It's stuff like this which has prevented me from buying the DLC separately and got me ordering the GotY edition instead (and flogging off my original F3 copy to co-fund this). I'd rather these were there as part of the game rather than being doled out as they are.

  • Bloodloss #22 3 years ago

    Nothing other than bad things were said about it, yet it gets five. From the scoring policy "5/10 - Average." Really? Sounds utterly awful to me, and a 2/10 at best.

  • Doctor_What #23 3 years ago

    For a while I was really quite miffed about having bought the PS3 version of F3 and then found the DLC was exclusive. Having seen these reviews I'm not so bothered any more. I was considering getting the GotY edition for the Sony machine, but I'm not even sure if it's worth bothering with. No-one sounds very happy with the majority of the DLC so far. What do people think: would it be worth getting?

  • Pro_Gamer #24 3 years ago

    fallout 3 is the bioshock of 2009 - totally overrated and then game critics get 'buyers remorse' LOL!

  • symmetry #25 3 years ago

    Are there maybe a couple of teams making the DLC?

  • PearOfAnguish #26 3 years ago

    I'd rather these were there as part of the game rather than being doled out as they are.

    Next time they should add six months to the development time, take all their DLC ideas and build them into the game.

    Remember when DLC type content used to be free? If you got an expansion pack it was generally worth the money because it had a ton of extra missions and loot, like Bloodmoon for Morrowind.

    Are there maybe a couple of teams making the DLC?

    Maybe this one was made by the work experience kid.
    Edited by 1 at 04/08/09 @ 13:17

  • UberFrog #27 3 years ago

    I like when gaming site reviewers are not afraid to dish an AAA title, keeps me checking your reviews. Thanks :)

  • Zebula77 #28 3 years ago

    Don't think the original game is overrated. I must have put 150 hours into it easy. This episode looks silly, tho. I checked out the gametrailers video and thought "this doesn't look like Fallout". Looks like a generic space corridor shooter to me.

    Perhaps they should make an episode that lets you found out more about how the nuclear war came about. I was always very intrigued when I listened to the audio clips and came upon the text journals. There seems to be a lot of potential for gameworld-enriching material. True, the 50s silly aliens thing fits in with the general feel and themes of Fallout 3, but taking away exploration and the RPG aspect is a mistake imo. The exploration in particular, was the best bit of Fallout 3. Just picking a direction on the compass and seeing what happens was bloody awesome.

  • schnide #29 3 years ago

    Akin to endlessly trawling a narrower version of the wasteland's subterranean rail network

    AAAAAAAAARRRGH! This is one of the very few things I hated about Fallout 3, those tunnels got me lost so many times and gave me claustrophobia!

  • neonxaos #30 3 years ago

    Still haven't even finished the main game. I'm too old to have time for all this newfangled DLC!

  • Bloodhunter #31 3 years ago

    good, now i dont feel so bad about selling my copy a couple of weeks ago

  • Demiath #32 3 years ago

    So I'm not going to buy this one, then. I still have a few levels to go before reaching that level 30 cap and relegating this really rather subpar RPG to the dustbin of gaming history, but I guess the last few hours won't be spent on a Mothership...
    Edited by 1 at 04/08/09 @ 14:19

  • Moribundman #33 3 years ago

    @schnide At least it's not as dark... ;-)

    I downloaded this straight away yesterday. Actually a little sad, as I'd only just got round to starting Point Lookout at the weekend and that was EXCELLENT and very deep/Fallouty (twisty plots, new everything). Rushed through the last chunk of plot there yesterday when I realised Zeta was out. Probably made a couple of rash decisions...

    Started Zeta last night and it seems to be a nice bit of fluff... Can't imagine it'll be any worse than Anchorage, which was OK. In fact from what I gather it's very similar to Anchorage - play a straight campaign while picking up a few one-shot collectables (which seems slightly more involving this time) then go blow something up, get a bunch of unique items and return to blow up random spawning baddies all the way to Level 30... Still got to go back and collect my Bogwalker achievement too!

    Can anyone confirm this for me: the Elevator to Heaven/Freeway to Hell/Karmic Rebalance perks will set you to one of the 3 moral extremes. Can you select this AT level 30 and go back to select the other two from a save to get all 3 achievements, or do you have to set your moral compass at L29 to go into 30 with the correct settings? (Does that make sense?)

  • Moribundman #34 3 years ago

    @PearofAnguish Yay! Ring of Hircine! ;-)

  • sarcasmoidosis #35 3 years ago

    "How did this get 5/10? "

    It's Fallout. Apparently chicks dig scars and Fallout.

  • kangarootoo #36 3 years ago

    I enjoyed FO3 while I was playing it, but its burnt out for me now and I'm not likely to go back. Which differs from Oblivion, which I returned to twice.

  • geeza2020 #37 3 years ago

    ChthonicEcho - why would you even bother to comment on an article thats related to DLC for a game you didnt like so will never play?

    Jesus....
    Edited by 1 at 04/08/09 @ 14:42

  • dudefella #38 3 years ago

    Yeah this DLC is very disappointing. After Lookout, and the great trailer they made for this, I was really expecting something very cool with the alien angle, but the only angle seems to be "shoot them in the face!". It's so repetitive and dull.

  • FabricatedLunatic #39 3 years ago

    I was going to sell my copy of Fallout 3 and pick up the GotY edition in the Autumn, but I think I'll just buy The Pitt, Broken Steel, and Point Lookout instead.

  • darkmorgado #40 3 years ago

    I just think there was so much more they could have done with this... they could have gone further with the "abducting historical figures" thing, allowing the character to meet people who could elaborate more on the FO backstory. They could have allowed you to converse with the aliens and provide some moral quests where the aliens justify their actions. They could have added more interesting weapons, more perks, more variety in the environment. They could have sent you to the Alien homeworld. Potentially, this could have been a decent expansion with the scope and breadth of Point Lookout, and possibly another lvl cap increase (I'm finding my character is levelling REALLY quickly - I levelled from 9-13 in about 4 hours yesterday, though I was hunting down all the quests and locations).
    800 points for what is basically a brief, linear shoot-em-up section is too much. This and Operation: Anchorage should be 400 points IMHO. Or they could have combined the two together somehow.
    Oh well, guess I'll have to start hunting out user-generated stuff now. Might try and get my head around GECK as well. Anyone know how user-friendly it is?

  • Dr_Wadd #41 3 years ago

    At least we now know why there aren`t any Giddyup Buttercups in the main game, and personally, I much prefer the aliens' implied use for them.

  • Andee #42 3 years ago

    Having Fallout 3 on PS3, I was thinking I may as well pick up the GOTY edition to possibly save some money over buying all of the dlc. But it seems only Broken Steel and Point Lookout are really worth having then?

  • darkmorgado #43 3 years ago

    I really, really hope that New Vegas is good when it hits next year.
    I also hope that the apparent lack of effort in MZ is because they have ramped up development of their next game... a new elder scrolls maybe? I ploughed hundreds of hours into Oblivion (after downloading the mod that fixed the broken levelling system of course).

  • hiddenranbir #44 3 years ago

    Generally you can rely on Bethesda to intelligently weave complex scenarios around practically anything, with the key characters each having their own specific agenda.

    No you can't.

  • PearOfAnguish #45 3 years ago

    But it seems only Broken Steel and Point Lookout are really worth having then?

    No, The Pitt is decent as well. There's quite a lot to it and some nice new items. I enjoyed Operation Anchorage as well, but maybe I just had low expectations.

  • BOFH_UK #46 3 years ago

    I really don't understand how people can call Fallout 3 a substandard RPG. It's just about the ONLY RPG that's managed to hold my interest for many years with a great storyline, a wonderful world to explore, a ton of different ways to achieve objectives and enough to do to keep you going for fifty hours easily, even without the DLC. Fifty hours of gameplay these days is pretty damn good going in my book.

    Anyway, this DLC isn't particularly high on my list but if I end up getting the first two for free (long story) then I'll probably splurge on this too. It's a nice little diversion and it's not as if they're holding a gun to your head to get you to buy it (unlike Broken Steel with the level cap increase....).

  • DrMGinius #47 3 years ago

    Well, the aliens are cliché aliens because they are the generic sci-fi hostile aliens, I mean, it was made on purpose. But anyway, you´re right; the aliens, at least, speaking, the possibility to communicate with them, would have opened some possibilities, such as allyng with them for the bad karma players, or asking about they technollogy with enough science skill/INT special.

  • smelly #48 3 years ago

    ARSE!

    I was looking forwards to this!

    Bah

  • crazyhorse174 #49 3 years ago

    I dunno - I kind of thought that having an alien ship in Fallout was a bit...well, wrong. Just felt a bit weird when this add-on was announced for F3 - as if they had run out of ideas for stuff to do in an expansion...

  • darkmorgado #50 3 years ago

    @crazyhorse, aliens have always been a part of Fallout, way back to Fallout 1. There was a crashed alien spaceship in that as well, and you could also grab a blaster. They were also referenced in Fallout 2 and (I believe) Fallout Tactics. The alien thing is sort of a running gag, and it was inevitable that at some point they would actually become full-blown enemies.

  • schnide #51 3 years ago

    Maybe they had to use development time allocated for this on fixing the bugs in the previous DLC..

    Zeta not being much cop is a shame, but to me, Fallout 3 is a legendary enough game that this can't really tarnish it.

  • VMerken #52 3 years ago

    Kristan Reed: Generally you can rely on Bethesda to intelligently weave complex scenarios around practically anything, with the key characters each having their own specific agenda.

    Bethesda + Intelligent + Complex = ROTFL.

    HAHAHAHAHA!!!

    Oh, you're serious?

    Then surely you're not talking about Oblivion or Fallout 3, right? Because those have some quite simple, easily exploitable game systems (which dulls the experience rather quickly). And their "scenarios", well... let's just say Bethesda might want to take notes from certain Interplay/Black Isle Studios teams.

    Bethesda creates gigantic, open game worlds, yes, which is certainly impressive the first time you leave the introductory dungeon. Bethesda hires famous actors to do voice work, even. There's no doubt about the skills of their marketing department. Graphics are good, animations mediocre, the music gets the job done. But let's not confuse all those positives with the things that are lacking, such as "intelligence" or "complexity", shall we?

    Also, let's all bask in the glory of Samurai Armour. Or how the aliens started the War.

    BWAHAHAHAHAH!

    Edit: -1? The truth hurts, doesn't it? Also noticed hiddenranbir getting +4 for the same comment sans arguments. Logic much?
    Edited by 7 at 07/08/09 @ 23:01

  • TheNinkyNonk #53 3 years ago

    "ChthonicEcho - why would you even bother to comment on an article thats related to DLC for a game you didnt like so will never play?" (with a +8, no less...)

    Perhaps the rabble are forgetting the purpose of a forum: discussion.

    For what it's worth, I agree with his sentiments. Despite the games apparent strengths, I was never pulled in by it, despite liking Oblivion. And the fact that Fallout is serving itself on the altar of DLC so frequently (and inconsistently) merely adds weight to my opinion that Bethesda (and indeed, DLC) are a tad overrated.

    Edited by 1 at 04/08/09 @ 22:20

  • richcz3 #54 3 years ago

    A change of scenery and the ability to interact (in a minor way) with NPC's starts out OK.
    I would have to agree that the aliens present nothing more than a charging horde of gun toting enemies. The smart aliens that did all the abducting are clearly on break as there are no twists or changes in characterization or plot. So much more could have been done with more crafty aliens. Even well placed cut scenes would have broken it up a bit. Once you realize its getting from point A to B and then C are the same, it's just a question of finishing it. The NPC's roles are more filler than functional. Maybe not the best way to end the series.

  • Farzlepot #55 3 years ago

    I'm not usually one to dwell on scores at all, but having read the review, which was virtually devoid of any positivity whatsoever to an extent I can't recall seeing since Daikatana was released, what exactly merited this DLC with a 5/10?

    Once I get my Xbox back I'm sure I'll download it regardless. I'm one of *them*, don't you know.

  • Alfred_Chicken #56 3 years ago

    Imagine how interesting the whole alien abduction story could have been if some more care had been paid to it. If the aliens hadn't been so unremittingly evil then there could have been some really interesting questions about whether you wanted to get back to an earth devastated by war or not.

  • Retroid #57 3 years ago

    Pro_Gamer: "fallout 3 is the bioshock of 2009 - totally overrated and then game critics get 'buyers remorse' LOL!"

    Once again you prove your name is ironic. Or is that moronic?

  • FortysixterUK #58 3 years ago

    Bring Back Elder Scrolls....( Morrowind/Oblivion).......and make it BIGGER.
    And SINGLE PLAYER.
    None of this Multi Player MMO faffage for Elder Scrolls.
    We have WOW and you will fail if you make Elder Scrolls into an MMO.
    And make Fallout go back to isometric perspective with turn based combat.
    And make it good.
    Did I say " Bring Back Elder Scrolls ?
    Although I did like FO3, it's just not as good as Oblivion.

  • PezzaDispenser #59 3 years ago

    This content update was extremely shabby... Throughout my time on the Mothership I just felt constantly restricted and cramped due to cut-paste technique on the creators. Sure, it was a strict contrast to baron wasteland that we all love, but shiny/sliver/metallic theme soon wore off. I’m a big Fallout 3 fan and I don’t believe Bethesda should leave this as there finale. They’ve shown a huge improvement each time they’ve release new content, but Zeta just didn’t work for me.

    Operation Anchorage was all guns and gave the developers a chance to explore there creativity which was okay, but always lacked the key element of exploration. I did enjoy the new items though! (Chinese Stealth suit is a personal favourite)

    The Pitts had some fantastic choices to make, turning away from the usual Fallout good-o-evil-meter with a conclusion that wasn't as black ‘n’ white as previous decisions providing weighty accountability for your actions, but received bad press due to an insurmountable amount of Bugs and Glitches.

    Broken Steel enable players to extend Fallout 3 playability with the level cap being raised to 30 with additional side quests being added, which personally was well deserved and timed.

    Point lookout supplied a large platform to freely exploring and supplied choices that we all love to make in Bethesda’s games although it lack in additional items.

    Mothership Zeta just didn’t have me shaking in my space boots…

  • Talbot #60 3 years ago

    What happened to the story? I didn't mind the linearity of the thing but would it have killed them to make more of a story out of it? They've ended F3 on a downer and that's a real shame.

  • Bulbatron #61 3 years ago

    I really didn't enjoy the new DLC at all. I don't understand how they can go from something as great as Point Lookout to this.

  • Les #62 3 years ago

    I enjoyed the main game. It's good but definitely not great IMO. Don't know if I'll get any of the expansion packs, there's plenty in the world that I haven't even investigated yet and now that I've finished the main story (which was a bit of an anticlimax IMO) I suspect it won't be able to hold my attention much longer anyway.

  • metalangel #63 3 years ago

    @EarlBassett: Read it again. It's the first RPG in many years to hold his interest. Facepalm thyself.

  • pimpotent #64 3 years ago

    On the negative: 800 points waisted BIG TIME!
    On the positive: Only a short time waisted on playing it, as it was so ridiculously short and easy! (or is this a negative too?)

    Someone said that this DLC didn't tarnish his view on the main game itself. I can't agree. It's like eating at a great restaurant again, expexting good food, and getting a plate with a big turd on it in front of you. In this case it's even worse because i've already paid for the plate of shit! Off course, I should have read the review before I bought it, but still, I think Bethesda should have skipped this one, or made it into a freebee at best.

    I shall not talk to much about the content. Only a few things I'd like to add;
    The aliens were much to easy, maybe because I was specialized on energyweapons (using the alien weapons off course) and max. level cap. Even so, if they would have been more difficult, the lack of space to move would have made it frustrating at most.
    The lack of missions is bad, but the fact that every mission asks for the exact same "letting the generators blow up" almost makes me cry..
    What happens with the theme "Aliens changing into humans"? It wasn't very original, but still, they were going somewhere!! Did i miss something? Wasn't it at least a nice one for a plotchange? (It was a realy strange little girl anyway...?)

    So, to conclude, if it wasn't clear already: DON'T BUY THE TURD!!

  • Zonemind #65 2 years ago

    I was complaining about MZ to a friend when he interrupted me and said, "You sound exactly like the review on Eurogamer."

    So, I came here and read the review and, yeah. Nail on the head. Right from the abrupt reminder of how bad the melee is down to the linearity and the lack of interesting characters. Also, there were, what, five alien doohickey decorations? Total?

    Also, because your Navi in the ship is a child, the suspense takes a major hit. Fallout 3 does not kill children. This is a policy I generally approve of, but when my backup is so visibly marked "plot", it's hard to feel the same level of engagement.
    Edited by 1 at 05/09/09 @ 05:37

  • Zebula77 #66 2 years ago

    Have to say, I really enjoyed this. Light entertainment and way too easy, but very funny and definitely fitting with the 50s sci-fi setting. And the Alien Disintegrator is my new fave weapon.