Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta Review
| Game Name: | Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta |
| Platforms: | Xbox 360 |
| Publisher(s): | Bethesda Softworks |
| Developer(s): | Bethesda Game Studios |
| Genre(s): | RPG |
| Release Date: | 08/03/09 |
| ESRB Rating: | (M) Mature |
| Price: | 800MP |
| Demo: | Add to Download Queue |
I’m a bit bummed. I shouldn’t be, as I just finished a decent piece of downloadable content for Fallout 3, but I am. It’s been a great ride (and technically it isn’t done for me, as I still need to finish the rest of the game), but Mothership Zeta is the final piece of DLC for Fallout 3. That thought makes me sad as when I finally do complete everything, there will be nothing more to look forward to. I don’t want to walk away from the Capital Wastelend…ever! The world is just so rich & full of exploration. As a history buff, I found myself exploring every nook & cranny, looking to see how various modern day items & places I’m familiar with looks like in the post apocalyptic future. It’s this OCD, look-at-every-single-thing mentality that actually created my biggest complaint about Mothership Zeta…
As you traveled through the Capital Wastelands, you may have come across many different hints that indicate we’ve been visited by beings from other planets. You may even have stumbled upon a crashed alien ship with a corpse still near by (that happens to be the location of the Alien Blaster, thought to be the most powerful weapon in the original game), which confirms that we are not alone. Mothership Zeta seeks to expand on that & explain a bit about the aliens & what they were/are doing here on Earth. Once you have the DLC, not long after you load up the game, you’ll receive an “ominous” radio signal. Following it leads you to the previously mentioned space craft. Once you arrive, you’re instantly beamed up into a very functional & very real spaceship. You’re knocked unconscious & blearily awaken to find a few weird creatures standing over you, speaking gibberish. That doesn’t last as you fade back into the blackness & awaken in a holding cell. As you awaken, you discover you have a roommate. It turns out your cellmate is Somah, a fellow Wastelander who doesn’t want to be here anymore than you do. She has a plan though, & after staging a fight & overpowering the guards, you & your companion are free! Time to find a way off the ship!
The first thing you will notice is that this isn’t the Capital Wasteland. No duh, right? Seriously though, even Point Lookout followed the same post-nuclear war motif, whereas this is a futuristic spaceship. Everything is high tech, with lots of flashy lights & buttons galore. Think space ship console circa 1955. It’s right out of the Futureland area of Disneyland. This is both bad & good. The good part is it looks really cool, albeit a bit claustrophobic. The bad part is as I said, I have this OCD, touch everything I can, frame of mind; so I spent a lot of time looking at every console, button & light only to find they didn’t do anything.
Fortunately, this is more of a personal taste issue. The content itself was very good. You’ll get to fight many aliens which follow the “little green man” stereotype. Probably my favorites were the Abominations, a ghoul/alien mash up. I did find I needed to be careful as I ended up losing some karma in a couple of instances without realizing what I did was a bad thing. As you explore the ship, you’ll find many recordings (sort of like journals) that give you a bit of insight, not only about what the aliens are doing to those they capture, but how long they’ve been visiting us. I’ll leave that for you to discover, but let’s just say that they’ve been around since before the big war. You’ll also get a chance to explore the entire ship, including their stasis area & their labs where they conduct their experiments. Yeah, these guys aren’t nice! They even have a cargo hold where they store things they have picked up off the planet. Without spoiling too much, I’ll just say that you’ll have access to many of the weapons & ammo you are familiar with from the Wastelands as you try to stop this menace & get back home.
Every piece of new content should have some new items & equipment & Mothership Zeta doesn’t disappoint. With new weapons like the Alien Disintegrator & Cryo Grenade & armor like the Spacesuit & Samurai Helmet, there are some cool things to check out. Probably my favorite item to get was the Alien Epoxy. This allowed me to repair my equipped weapon without having a duplicate. Plus, I found TONS of it. I think by the end of the game, I was carrying over 100 of them (not including what I used)! Some of the equipment I never got to check out as I let the people who were wearing it live. There’s a few more items that I found that came in handy, but I’ll leave that for you to discover…
To paraphrase Shakespeare: to buy or not to buy, that is the question. The answer? Yep, this is a keeper. While it didn’t have that certain magic that Point Lookout had & it’s a bit claustrophobic at times, it’s still a worthwhile (final) addition to Fallout 3. For $10, it’s about a 6 hour romp in a completely different environment that you won’t find anywhere else in the game. You’ll meet new people, some from the present & some from the past. New equipment, new items, & a battle to the finish in an effort to stop the Extra Terrestrials’ master plan. Next stop, New Vegas…
Add Mothership Zeta to your queue here.
Love Fallout 3. Did not get this Expansion. Maybe when i get a chance to play the games i have now.
Actually if you need to get all the expansions, the game of the year edition is coming out on Oct. 12 and it'll have every expansion as well as the game for 60$US. So might be a good deal, but unfortunately I already own both the game and the two starting expansions so probably will just sit that one out. Unless you can just copy the maps off the disc, then maybe a rental would work too
Yeah, always sucks when you spend your money on a game or DLC and then they do some crazy crap like that and just re-release everything on a disc for the original price that you got the game for.
I remember when the CoDMW variety map pack first came out and I got it right away and recently they implemented a price drop on it. The only good thing about getting DLC when it first comes out is you play it right away of course so by the time it comes out on a new game release, or for cheaper, you have already played the crap out of it unlike some people just first getting the DLC.
Yep, same exact thing happened with Oblivion GotY edition. It didn't include every single add on. But it did include the two largest add ons in the game, that expanded gameplay immensely. Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine.
I loved what Fallout has made with all the Expansios, there are with a great quality, i will wait for the game of the year edition, but also the free gift of the theme is great
Oh yeah, I remember that they are giving away the premium theme to those who bought all the expansions separately. I'm curious to see how that theme will appear when it is released, even though I won't be getting it myself. It better be awesome and most likely will be depending on how they work it.
I read somewhere sometime this past weekend that the premium theme is already out isn't it? I'd like to get a peek at it if someone has it or even a screenshot of it from another website, just to see if it's even that worth it heh.
I haven't heard much about the premium theme, I know it's only available to people who bought all the DLC, which that in itself is a good chunk of money. It might be one of the best looking themes out there though, and they are keeping it tight under wraps for the unveiling.
Looks like it is showing now on the fallout 3 downloads. Unless that is an old premium theme that I have never seen before, it looks new to me. It just has the wasteland in the background with the friends backgrounds different areas and rooms from the game. Still looks pretty cool though, and the price was 240 msp. But this could be a theme that was already out and I just never saw it
Wait, there are more addons than just those two for Oblivion? I wasn't aware of that…which other ones are there?
Those are the two largest add ons that give the most features. Especially Shivering which adds the whole new land. But there are numerous other add ons such as the wizards tower and thieves den that add in a dungeon or two, along with a few enemies and new weaponry. Those are pretty small though which reflects their prices.
Ah it must look that cool I guess, good to know it's in fact not out yet though, I try to keep up with all these things for when people show up at working complaining or asking about what they did or didn't get in their game heh. I mean I have played Fallout 3 when I received it via GameFly but I of course didn't download the DLC if I wasn't planning on keeping it.
GOTY for the win.
yeah, My aunt bought it full price ($60) for me 3 months ago… I didn't want to tell her that she paid too much..
I'm pretty sure it's a game hard to wait for so. It'd make sense.
no… I don't really like it…
You got it "free" then I guess? Highly anticipated is better suited.
if you say so…