I really, really was not looking forward to Fallout 3. I felt I had to buy it because the first 2 were some of the best games I had ever played but my expectations were very, very low. Needless to say, Fallout 3 is the best game I've played in the past few years.

This game captures the atmosphere, quests, characters, and humor of the first two games. I love how they've taken a lot of the 2D objects that we've come to know and love and transformed them into 3D. You can really tell that Bethesda did their research and are fans of the original games. People may complain that the game is brown, tan, brown, and some more brown but so were the first games. In my opinion the game should be brown, dirty, and dingy and it is. I don't imagine beautiful green grass and spring flowers following a nuclear apocalypse, sorry.

VATS exceeds my expectations as well. It feels like the old turn based system and improves on it in certain ways. I love how the game kicks into slow-motion and changes up what view you see as you go through combat. I'm trying to play the game strictly through VATS and feel that the pace of Action Points accruing and the more tactical feel is very, very cool. I'll duck behind a door, maybe throw a land mine in front of it, and sit tight while my Action Points regenerate. 

The NPCs feel like they have a personality which is a far cry over what the NPCs felt like in Morrowind and an improvement on the "main" NPCs in Oblivion. There are bad guys, there are good guys, and there are a lot of more generic NPCs that populate the isolated settlements and towns. All of the NPCs look significantly different and there have been a few that I was tempted to kill simply to steal their clothes. The quests have been different, fun, and full of the dark humor that made Fallout such a hit in my mind. I don't want to ruin anything but suffice it to say that many of the quests could have been pulled directly from the first game.

I think this game also strikes closer to home to me because I am from Bethesda, Maryland. I know many of these metro stops and locations that are found in the game (a lot of them are fictional) and was kinda spooked to find the metro stop that is next to my house. I love how they took D.C., the capital of the United States and symbol of freedom and utterly destroyed it. It really strikes home when you're wandering along dust strewn streets amidst dilapidated buildings and you hear patriotic music blaring form an Enclave robot.

The music in this game is excellent. It has that creepy, happy feel that we've come to associate with Fallout.

Whether you're a fan or not, I highly recommend this game. There are going to be people who hate it because it's not isometric, not turn based, and is developed by a company people hold a personal grudge against. To those people, I'd say broaden your mind and be receptive to new ideas. The old Fallout isn't going to come back, so take the plunge and head back into the wasteland again. You won't be disappointed.