If it wasn't for those cool weapons, I would've given this DLC a miss.
Graphics: 9 (plenty of shiny stuff and great smoke effects)
Sounds: 8 (decent voice acting / alien recordings are great to listen too)
Value: 8 (10 hrs of gameplay however it's mainly involves repetitive tasks; i.e. combat)
Tilt: 6 (if it wasn't for the new weapons, I probably would give this DLC a miss)
Actual score: 6.6
The wastelands is a wondrous (?) place to visit as every settlement has a story to tell, every cave has untold 'treasures' hidden deeply, shuffling through dirt after dirt for any ammo ready to use for your next encounter, yes life couldn't be better. Yet, something distracts you from your normal activities; a strange signal emitting from the 'top' part of the wastelands. Could it be more untold tech?
Traversing closer to the signal dodging deathclaws, albino radscorpions and the occasional military robot, you finally reached to the source and lo and behold a crashed space craft. And surprisingly enough, there's no Brotherhood or even the Enclave for miles and miles. What is this sorcery? Is this the holy grail of technology? The stuff where conquerors born?
Welcome to Mothership Zeta – the fifth and final DLC for Fallout 3. Thus far, every DLC hasn't disappointed me too much as everyone feels different; whether be the visuals or the game play, I really enjoyed the romp. The graphical engine yet again proved its might by displaying all things future tech this time; that is plenty of flashing lights, electric sparks, shiny floors and of course, aliens. And to those tech lovers, there are new toys to boot.
Yet the game play isn't very intuitive as the previous DLCs (remember the decision you have to make in The Pitt anyone) as you will be spending a lot of time shooting aliens – plenty of them. Thankfully there are different versions of them however one thing is for certain – aim for the head and watch the fireworks, or disintegration. I think this DLC was more of a tongue-in-cheek than taking it seriously as it got all the alien 'features' like the infamous 'anal probe' and a take on Star Wars episode four' garbage compactor' scene.
However the highlight for me was the alien recordings. There are twenty five to collect and they are pretty easy to find. All of them are very entertaining to hear as some I actually laughed – especially recording number two. If you got the time, I highly suggest locating all of them, or at least attempt to locate most of them. Also, to those achievement lovers, there are four to collect; three from the main storyline and one to collect all the alien recordings and one cool perk to learn.
You also get to meet some captured folks from all parts of our history. This probably explains that the aliens were tracking us for quite some time. Some folks though are quite memorable and others not so. Yet it's highly advisable to play the first DLC (Operation Anchorage) to understand one of the captives though. The dialogue trees for each of them are quite limited save for two. Even then, it's still quite limited – a shame though as the premise for them being on an alien spacecraft was a good idea and it would be even better to get their back story in detail instead of those typical one line responses.
This DLC is definitely combat orientated as there are plenty of aliens and robotic beings to destroy. I'm not sure of the expected completion time however it took me just over ten hours to finish. That's pretty decent for a DLC however as mentioned before, it's mainly combat – that is shoot to kill and don't take prisoners. Also I did spend some time searching for all those alien recordings so I reckon the gameplay time will dramatically reduced if I haven't done so. That said if it wasn't for those cool weapons, I would've given this DLC a miss.