A "maybe Monday" update?
Okay, I just picked up "Mothership Zeta" for Fallout 3 and played it straight through in around 4 hours. If you like the game, you'll like this add-on, though it's much more linear than previous packs; There really aren't any side-quests to speak of (except for maybe one, but I don't want to spoil it), and it's all contained in one "area": The spaceship itself.
On the plus side, there's more weapons, some new beasties to use them on, and new stuff to carry too much of. Encumbrance isn't too big a deal, since for some reason alien food is weightless as is their "currency." On the negative side, the game felt a lot like an old round of the original "Doom" at times: Go here, flip this switch, you can't go through here until you do X and Y, and when you do Z a whole lot of monsters are going to jump out at you so be prepared. There's even (practically) a mini-game in part of the add-on (though it is pretty fun, so long as your enemies don't get stuck in a loop on the stairs).
There were also a few bugs. I had to reload from saved games more than once when an NPC wouldn't go where they were supposed to or unlock what they were supposed to, and one of the messages to add flavor for the game (message #17, I think) seemed to be missing half of the audio (unless that was supposed to be a joke. I'm not sure).
And those who took the "Mysterious Stranger" perk will be glad to know that he's like Santa Claus: He can be anywhere he's needed. I just about died laughing when I thought about the appearance he made. I wouldn't have minded finding him as a fellow abductee, actually. Another odd thing: If you remove your spacesuit while not in an atmosphere, the resulting explosive decompression is not only embarrassing, the game dings your karma score for it, too, for some reason.
So I'd still rank "Point Lookout" over "Mothership Zeta," if just for "Lookout's" freedom of movement and the tie-in back to the Capital Wasteland. "Zeta" is a fun diversion, and it'll challenge even level 30 players at times, but it doesn't really "feel" like part of the Fallout world (well, it is in orbit around the Earth, I guess) unless you closely associate 50's alien invasion films with our post-apocalyptic setting.
And just to cap this Fallout update, someone mocked up an existing soda machine to look like it dispenses Nuka-Cola, and it appears that there's a project afoot to heavily mod the game with a lot of neat-sounding missions and other bits of radioactive interest.
Now, some light linking:
- The question is no longer, "what can be fried," it's "what can't be fried?"
- "The Matrix Online" went dark on August first. If you were playing at the time, you experienced something like this. If you want to see the last hour (with some possibly coarse commentary), Giantbomb.com liveblogged it.
- Cobra Commander and Chairface Chippendale have filed suit to prevent a company from using robots to put ads on the moon.
- A few people e-mailed about last entry's Annie Lennox remix, wanting to identify this song, "Shining Light," which has a very nice 80's-Diva-but-not-dated vibe to it.
- And we'll close with a game: Lock-n-Roll. Pick dice based on number and color to lock them into your scoreboard in an attempt to score points. I stink at it, so it must be good.