Downloadable content for Fallout 3 has been a fine example of a developer learning from its mistakes, with each iteration improving almost exponentially above its predecessors.  While Operation: Anchorage was somewhat acceptable as a first-time outing, things had so improved with each successive DLC that Point Lookout could easily have stood toe-to-toe with any of the official content of the original game as a terrifically high-quality experience.  As such, hopes were high for what gamers could expect from the supposedly final DLC, Mothership Zeta. 

And why shouldn’t they have been?  The concept of one’s Capital Wasteland avatar being abducted by aliens after following up on the now-DLC-standard radio signal seemed so fantastically off-the-wall, even by Fallout standards, that the premise alone should have made it a great experience.  Indeed, the premise is the DLC’s strongest selling point, as you dodge and weave and shoot, shoot, shoot your way through endless piles of mercilessly hostile aliens.  It’s hard not to be at least somewhat charmed by the idea, and to be fair, standing back and watching your axe-wielding, ant-suit-wearing Wasteland maniac physically assaulting a Grey is almost worth the price of admission.  Almost.  The fact that the aliens have been collecting people through all of human history, also helps as you’ll bump into a small handful of historical types, however briefly. Unfortunately, that image really is the only real enjoyment to be drawn from Mothership Zeta, as the total lack of any real storyline – beyond torturous rants heard through many collectible, Achievement-driven audiologs – leaves combat as the central activity to be found here.

And there is certainly no shortage of combat.  In fact, Mothership Zeta is little more than an overly long dungeon crawl, with endlessly similar metallic hallways interspersed with what seems like hundreds of aliens.  It’s an amusing diversion for a short while, but by the time you’ve fried your umpteenth alien, you’ll be dying for a decent opportunity to do something different.  There are some set pieces that provide some respite, and I’ll admit, they’re pretty fantastic.  One in particular, where you and a lackey defend yourself from a near-endless stream of aggressors, is as intense as anything I’ve experienced in Fallout 3, allowing for some really terrific and unique use of trap-setting that would have been really well-served in the original campaign.  However, these opportunities are relatively few and far between, making the gameplay feel more than a little tedious.  Many aliens possess light-distortion shields that make them somewhat harder to kill helps to amp the challenge a tad, but not nearly enough to make this a DLC worth playing.

If you take a much more mercenary approach to this DLC, you might something have value – literally.  With a ridiculous quantity of dead aliens comes a ridiculous quantity of alien-themed spoils, and in no time you’ll find yourself toting around equipment worth a rather large fortune’s worth of caps.  Outside of the financial worth, however, the alien weapons have no real lasting use.  Ironically, they’re decidedly less useful than the Alien Blaster found in the original campaign, which is a tool of infinite destruction as compared to the disappointingly lame firepower you’ll find on tap aboard Mothership Zeta.  If you’ve completed the main campaign and have no need for caps, then the items you’ll pick up through this DLC will do you very little good, aside from what oddly rare ammo you’ll find for the Blaster.

Overall: 4/10

Had Mothership Zeta been incorporated into the main campaign and not as a DLC offering, it’d be an interesting if repetitive combat-focused diversion.  However, as an item Fallout fans have to pay for this thing separately, it’s a pretty rote and tedious slam on one’s pocketbook for very little enjoyment, particularly for anyone who’s powered through the game and is looking for something to maintain their interest in the Wasteland.  The idea of being able to accumulate a fairly sizeable pile of alien corpses is a highly entertaining one, but in the end, Mothership Zeta’s only real value is exactly that: an idea.  Sadly, this isn’t nearly enough to make the DLC worth a purchase, and is a pretty disappointing way to cap off what is supposedly the last such expansion for Fallout 3.

(This review is based on a copy provided by the publisher.)