While Fallout has always been about exploring a Mad Max-esque world after a nuclear war, there have always been a few hints that humanity is not alone. Mothership Zeta confirms this, and is one of the most straightforward DLC packs of the set. What starts as an unintelligble radio beacon in the wasteland turns into an ambush, and it’s not long before you’re beamed aboard an alien starship. It’s mostly a run and gun affair from there, with only one possible ending as you blast through hordes of sci-fi aliens.

Like most of the previous DLC packs, the main draws of Mothership Zeta are the chance to play some new quest lines and gain new equipment, an endeavor that should last you about three hours or so. While there is some room for exploring, the alien ship is a surprisingly linear experience that involves escorting a few NPCs to important areas and letting them do their thing, then you press ahead to kill more aliens and loot more stuff. While there are some audio recordings scattered around to tell you what the aliens are doing, there is only a little beyond that in terms of plot; it mostly amounts to "aliens are here and they’re evil, so kill them and go home."

That said, the starship is pretty well laid out and has some nice if repetitive visuals. A few space scenes are particularly nice on the eyes, and you’ll meet a pretty diverse cast of characters. The aliens and their sentry bots are obvious enough, but there is also a wild west cowboy, a medic from the real Operation Anchorage, and even a samurai who speaks authentic but somewhat archaic Japanese; his inability to be understood by anyone else (including presumably the player) leads to a pretty amusing plot point later on.

The new equipment is quite fun as well, though the majority of it consists of alien weaponry for the Energy and Big Guns skills, offering either extreme accuracy or incredible firepower per shot. There are some new pieces of armor you can obtain as well, though they’re more for style than practicality; they include a long overcoat, wild west duds, and even samurai armor. Unfortunately, some of them are hard to find and you only get one shot at it since many parts of the ship can only be visited on the main play-through of this DLC pack’s set of quests. Combine this with the sheer amount of loot you’re going to get, and it’s a little disappointing... I had to leave a lot of nice stuff behind.

Ultimately, this means Mothership Zeta’s strong points are that it’s a fun way to kill a few hours, and it offers some really nice items for your character, both in terms of practical fighting with alien energy rifles and stylistic ’character design’ choices like the samurai outfit. This is good, because the rest of the DLC pack is poorly presented; minor to moderate glitches abound, and the layout of the ship sometimes encourages ’attrition’ shootouts; you line up opposite some aliens and take turns shooting one another. Combined with a laughably bad plot (it’s not even bad in a good way, it’s just bad), it’s fair to say the presentation isn’t why you’re buying Mothership Zeta. The real reason would be the new equipment, combined with a few hours of alien blasting being a good way to pass some time. While Mothership Zeta is probably the weakest of the DLC packs and hardly a fitting way to send Fallout 3 off, it is a decent experience and worth considering for purchase.

Next: Some post-review help with bugs and other general advice.