Unsolved problems derived from Fallout 3 hamper the premise of being abducted by hostile aliens.
Contains: Strong Gory Violence
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Mothership Zeta is downloadable content for Fallout 3 developed and published by Bethesda Softworks. In this post-apocalyptic space adventure you'll encounter new enemies, new weapons and new environments, but despite the promising and interesting science fiction premise of being abducted by aliens and exploring the alien mothership that's orbiting high above the Capital wasteland, this add-on falls flat on a series of elements, whilst still remaining enjoyable thanks to the uniquely satisfying VATS combat system that includes plenty of gory, head-bursting visuals.
The story is told less than adequately and simply includes boring objectives that all boil down to one basic main objective - defy the hostile alien abductors and fight your through for a way to escape the spaceship. To do this you'll need the help of some characters you bump into, and the information they hold is kind of difficult to believe and blatantly contrived (especially from the likes of a small little girl who seemingly knows the layout of the spaceship inside out), but the numerous options available in dialogue interaction with each character allow for the correct flexibility for your karma and are, as ever within the Fallout universe, well laid out.
Environments start out promising, but the effect won't last the full 4 hour experience as level design proves to be boring and repetitive throughout, and considering the graphics are mediocre anyway and rely on art design to bring about positive points, it's disappointing to see such drab areas that feature all-too-similar colours and layout. The action that takes place within these lacklustre space-inspired environments makes up for some of the disappointment, and a variety of new weapons that range from alien blasters to drone cannons can make erupting yellow blood from your alien foes cool and watchable, especially from the variety of angles that VATS showcases it from. The alien technology allows you to collect various biochemical samples for health benefits in the future, and scattered around are alien captive recordings which contain monologues of some of the abducted people from various intervals in the timeline, shedding some light on your alien enemies at how long they've been experimenting on human test subjects.
Mothership Zeta is a reasonably fun add-on, but is a boring-looking one which offers no replay value once finished. Objectives are bland and mostly focus on pressing buttons and blowing stuff up, and the story is largely absurd and hard to believe given the characters you encounter and their long-term roles onboard the alien vessel. The stuttering framerate is proof that getting a game to run smoothly is one of the most important aspects to get right, but Bethesda haven't learned from their mistakes, and so occasional freezing issues can be expected along with some typical Fallout glitches. But new weapons and new enemies are introduced well, and while you may not want to carry sci-fi alien technology around the ruins of the Capital Wasteland (for obvious reasons), the technology provided for you high above the wasteland of DC among alien invaders is worth the short period you have with them, where one weapon will no doubt be one you use for most of the experience. Battling with typical Fallout 3 problems that plague the main game is not in the least fun, but what is fun, is blowing alien brain matter out all over their spaceship with their own futuristic weaponry.
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OVERALL SUMMARY - 7.5/10
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Good Points: Cool new sci-fi weapons and enemies to encounter, The premise of being abducted by aliens is promising to start with.
Bad Points: Boring and repetitive level design, Stuttering framerate throughout, Contrived characters and story.