Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta

2025-12-20
I love how Bethesda established a pattern even back with Morrowind that the first expansion was usually going to be lowkey dogshit, and even then Tribunal with its monotonous, mazy dungeons is the best of the bunch. Oblivion: Knights of the Nine? Boring lore, get to see a nude Ayleid, more dungeons. Fallout 4 Automatron? Make some fuckin' robots. Ok, Todd. And usually the last expansion was the pièce de résistance. Bloodmoon, Shivering Isles, Dragonborn, all absolute standouts.

With Fallout 3 we had the one two punch of solid add-ons in The Pitt and Point Lookout each with their own unique area, energy, and lore. The Fallout 3 party was closing out with a bang and just as everyone's laughing, walking out the front door they run into Mothership Zeta. Oh whaddup, Zeta. Oh christ you reek of booze, dude. What do you mean you want to come in? The party's over, man. What's that? You brought 3 new weapons, and 2 new enemies, that you want me to fight over one fucking dungeon for 2 hours? Dude, no we're all going home.

Zeta is by far the worst of the bunch. It is the same, samey, same-same environment for all of those 2 hours with nothing but shooting the same fucking two types of aliens with the same fucking three alien guns the whole time. As much as VATS rules, Fallout 3 does not excel at combat. It excels at scavenging the post apocalypse like a rat-man, reading lore entries, and talking to potato-faced ingrates with some combat mixed in. You'd think after Operation Anchorage which was "Let's make Fallout 3 Call of Duty" and was actually the worst add-on Bethesda has over done they would have learned their lesson. Nah let's skin that shit with aliens and people will eat that shit up. Fuck me.

For as bad as it is I did--reluctantly--enjoy the little tidbits of lore about aliens abducting people over hundreds of years. And yes the final fight with an enemy space ship is a fun little flourish. But hey, a little paprika on the turd sandwich does not make it taste good.