 Rich Rosell from Digitally Obsessed awarded the episode 2 @.@ 5 out of 5 stars and wrote that " this Chris Carter @-@ directed ep [ sic ] oddly enough doesn 't center on the series mythology arc , but instead opts for a stab at the tired ol ' virtual reality genre . [ ... ] The only saving grace here is the appearance of hip conspiracy buffs The Lone Gunmen , who always brighten up any episode they appeared in . " Cyriaque Lamar from i09 called Maitreya one of " The 10 Most Ridiculous X @-@ Files Monsters " . Lamar derided the plot , calling it " Scully And Mulder Do Doom " , and expressed disappointment that the episode was written by William Gibson . Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson , in their book Wanting to Believe : A Critical Guide to The X @-@ Files , Millennium & The Lone Gunmen , rated the episode one star out of five . Regardless of the negative press , " First Person Shooter " became one of Gillian Anderson 's favorite episodes , despite " its reliance on big guns and raging testosterone . " Anderson explained that she enjoyed the opportunity " to show Scully wearing heavy metal and firing oversized weapons . " 
