What's wrong with these guys? Can't they see that anything related to Fallout 3 is brilliant by default, and that all these ideas of Bethesda's only "appear" "stupid", and are in fact genius? Whatever. GameSpy 3/5.<blockquote>But I was hoping for some more interesting combat scenarios in Mothership Zeta, as the aliens should have been far more formidable opponents, especially when fighting alongside their droid companions. It felt like I was fighting the same enemies I have always encountered in Fallout 3, only this time they were a little shorter and a little greener. They still just traded shots with me despite my superior weaponry, and only by cranking up the difficulty could I keep from being completely bored. Nothing changed from an AI perspective, but at least it took a full clip of ammo to take down an enemy instead of just a single shot.</blockquote>Giant Bomb 6/10.<blockquote>These are the two aspects of Mothership Zeta that I take issue with: structure and variety. Once you're on the ship, your sole concern is getting off the ship. There are a few distinct steps to this process, but they usually come down to fighting a bunch of aliens and then blowing up a power generator. The whole thing plays out a little more predictably than I'd hope, without any of the terrific left-field twists or the queasy bad-or-worse moral choices that have been the hallmark of Fallout 3's best missions. The aliens are formidable foes, and the sleek energy weapons they drop will serve you well once you return to the wastes, but there's effectively only three types of enemies that you'll face in Mothership Zeta, and you do enough fighting that you definitely could've used more.</blockquote>WorthPlaying 5.5/10.<blockquote>Aliens aren't new to the Fallout world. Both of the original chapters of the Fallout franchise had random Easter eggs that weren't meant to be taken too seriously; one of them featured crashed spacecraft of dubious origin. Fallout 3 also drops in its own hint, although it's a fixed location that isn't so much of a joke as an homage to the original series' sense of humor.
The first Fallout had a flying saucer, two dead aliens next to it, the requisite ray gun and a velvet painting of Elvis, which was worth a few caps. The second one had a few tributes to "Star Trek," such as a crashed shuttle with several dead red shirts and a usable phaser. Even the venerable PC title, Wasteland, referenced a Martian campaign within its scene descriptions to throw off players who wanted to spoil the story by reading ahead. Knowing that each in-joke was part of the random humor that would occasionally make life a little more interesting in the wastes, these were taken in stride.
But with Mothership Zeta, Fallout 3 has essentially taken an Easter egg and made it into one, long, drawn-out joke. That's the same as LucasArts taking the death sticks guy from "The Phantom Menace" and turning him into an add-on for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
(...)
The problem isn't so much what fans of the older series might think. The fact is that the DLC comes across as a boring shoot-'em-up with a premise that's riddled with more holes than the moon. Operation: Anchorage's heavy focus on action tempered it with something directly related to the main arc of the Fallout universe, and it had interesting missions to boot. Mothership Zeta comes off as a linear and repetitive shooting gallery, and it feels more like an arcade version of X-Com than a story flush with postapocalyptic, face-melting material like Point Lookout's inbred mutants. I like a lot of action, but not in the overwhelmingly numbing doses that Mothership Zeta crams into its hallways.</blockquote>Cheat Code Central 4/5 (finally! Still too low though, it should be at least 5 out of 5!).<blockquote>Most of the time, the gameplay is anything but fresh. You'll often wind up navigating tight, mazelike corridors in a mostly linear fashion, stopping all-too-frequently to pump energy beams into the noggins of aliens and droids that pop up at nearly every turn. The action-heavy element is enjoyable at times, though there are several points in the middle of the adventure that it feels like you're just shooting the same creatures while crawling around in the same corridors. There are opportunities to branch off and explore a bit, but you're really only required to do so at one point further along in the relatively brief quest. However, the repetitiveness subsides during intermittent shining moments that really make all the effort seem worthwhile - like giving a young kid a high-powered grenade to play with, unfreezing and chatting up some of the ships human cargo, engaging in a crazy Star Trek-like ship-to-ship death ray battle.</blockquote>Teletext 4/10
.<blockquote>Bethesda still seems to be under the delusion that the gun play in Fallout 3 is one of the central strengths of the game, rather than a peripheral novelty.
The less said about the even more awful melee combat the better.
Not even any of the new weapons or items are of any real interest, which given the liberties that could have been taken seems a particular waste.</blockquote>GamerLimit 8/10
.<blockquote>Moving forward and explaining the story is tricky, because once you’re set free from your martian bonds you collect some very entertaining logs containing some of the last words of many of the other humans abducted from earth. They come from every time period, each bringing with them a small anecdote. From a 1600s priest, to a basketball star, to a late 90’s Brooklyn punk with a dirty mouth, each record some of their final moments before the aliens probe them through. The other live characters you meet on the ship will bring you a lot of laughs, and really make you appreciate Bethesda’s ability to create unique and interesting characters.</blockquote>Platform Nation (no score, so we'll just fill in a 10/10 for them).<blockquote>The plot in Mothership Zeta was very well written, and I actually cared about the history of the people I ran across during my trek through the metallic landscape. All of the holotapes you acquire (if you search hard enough, which you will want to do to get an achievement) are worth a listen as well. This was also one of the only DLC where the ending was satisfying in my opinion.</blockquote>GamePro Arcade 3.5 (out of? They don't say, so we'll assume it's 3.5 out of a possible 3.5).<blockquote>Taken as a whole, the DLC for Fallout 3 has been fantastic. But this final round of content just doesn’t feel like the ending most gamers are looking for. Unlike Broken Steel (which should have come first) and Point Lookout (which should have come last), the fun in Mothership Zeta is few and far between. And while set in just as unique an environment as The Pitt and Operation: Anchorage, MZ lacks their sense of purpose.</blockquote>
The first Fallout had a flying saucer, two dead aliens next to it, the requisite ray gun and a velvet painting of Elvis, which was worth a few caps. The second one had a few tributes to "Star Trek," such as a crashed shuttle with several dead red shirts and a usable phaser. Even the venerable PC title, Wasteland, referenced a Martian campaign within its scene descriptions to throw off players who wanted to spoil the story by reading ahead. Knowing that each in-joke was part of the random humor that would occasionally make life a little more interesting in the wastes, these were taken in stride.
But with Mothership Zeta, Fallout 3 has essentially taken an Easter egg and made it into one, long, drawn-out joke. That's the same as LucasArts taking the death sticks guy from "The Phantom Menace" and turning him into an add-on for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
(...)
The problem isn't so much what fans of the older series might think. The fact is that the DLC comes across as a boring shoot-'em-up with a premise that's riddled with more holes than the moon. Operation: Anchorage's heavy focus on action tempered it with something directly related to the main arc of the Fallout universe, and it had interesting missions to boot. Mothership Zeta comes off as a linear and repetitive shooting gallery, and it feels more like an arcade version of X-Com than a story flush with postapocalyptic, face-melting material like Point Lookout's inbred mutants. I like a lot of action, but not in the overwhelmingly numbing doses that Mothership Zeta crams into its hallways.</blockquote>Cheat Code Central 4/5 (finally! Still too low though, it should be at least 5 out of 5!).<blockquote>Most of the time, the gameplay is anything but fresh. You'll often wind up navigating tight, mazelike corridors in a mostly linear fashion, stopping all-too-frequently to pump energy beams into the noggins of aliens and droids that pop up at nearly every turn. The action-heavy element is enjoyable at times, though there are several points in the middle of the adventure that it feels like you're just shooting the same creatures while crawling around in the same corridors. There are opportunities to branch off and explore a bit, but you're really only required to do so at one point further along in the relatively brief quest. However, the repetitiveness subsides during intermittent shining moments that really make all the effort seem worthwhile - like giving a young kid a high-powered grenade to play with, unfreezing and chatting up some of the ships human cargo, engaging in a crazy Star Trek-like ship-to-ship death ray battle.</blockquote>Teletext 4/10
.<blockquote>Bethesda still seems to be under the delusion that the gun play in Fallout 3 is one of the central strengths of the game, rather than a peripheral novelty.The less said about the even more awful melee combat the better.
Not even any of the new weapons or items are of any real interest, which given the liberties that could have been taken seems a particular waste.</blockquote>GamerLimit 8/10
.<blockquote>Moving forward and explaining the story is tricky, because once you’re set free from your martian bonds you collect some very entertaining logs containing some of the last words of many of the other humans abducted from earth. They come from every time period, each bringing with them a small anecdote. From a 1600s priest, to a basketball star, to a late 90’s Brooklyn punk with a dirty mouth, each record some of their final moments before the aliens probe them through. The other live characters you meet on the ship will bring you a lot of laughs, and really make you appreciate Bethesda’s ability to create unique and interesting characters.</blockquote>Platform Nation (no score, so we'll just fill in a 10/10 for them).<blockquote>The plot in Mothership Zeta was very well written, and I actually cared about the history of the people I ran across during my trek through the metallic landscape. All of the holotapes you acquire (if you search hard enough, which you will want to do to get an achievement) are worth a listen as well. This was also one of the only DLC where the ending was satisfying in my opinion.</blockquote>GamePro Arcade 3.5 (out of? They don't say, so we'll assume it's 3.5 out of a possible 3.5).<blockquote>Taken as a whole, the DLC for Fallout 3 has been fantastic. But this final round of content just doesn’t feel like the ending most gamers are looking for. Unlike Broken Steel (which should have come first) and Point Lookout (which should have come last), the fun in Mothership Zeta is few and far between. And while set in just as unique an environment as The Pitt and Operation: Anchorage, MZ lacks their sense of purpose.</blockquote>
Also by the Cheat Code one: the vote and the review don't seem to match. 
Love your commentary.
