Great atmosphere, leveling system is extremely fun but feels like there could be more
the good- textures and character detail look pretty good at a glance. Animations in VATS are amazing to watch and never get old. Relay a great sense of what it feels like to be in a nuclear wasteland.
the bad- technical issues really hamper gameplay. Exploring the wasteland i have had many small freezes and one major when where i had to turn of my ps3. Cracks of white nothingness make constant appearances.
setting- 10
this is the big selling point of the game. When first leaving the vault you really get a sense of fighting for survival. 50's style makes it even more erie. immerses you into the gameplay and gives you a sense of urgency when doing quests.
gameplay- 9.5
combat is extremely rewarding when using VATS. seeing a raiders body exploding when punching them int he face with bloody mess perk is great every time. Real time fps action is lacking because you feel as though your wasting ammo and getting drilled by bullets constantly. Many different ways to complete quests and doing stuff like killing townsfolk stealing, using speech in various ways gives you tons of freedom of how you want to play.
story- 8.5
solid main quest with multiple endings is engaging but over to fast, and after you've done it you can't explore anymore. Side quests are creative and give soem sweet rewards. Seems like there could be more quests and more major cities people to interact with
value- 9.0
leveling is what makes or brakes an RPG game. It is awesome to be able to pick a perk every level and plan out your character by buffing up certain stats. The problem is there's not enough of this. The level cap is only 20 so you'll be done in no time. This is supposed to add replay value by not letting you be a master of everything in one playthrough but it makes playing with one character to explore and do everything meaningless. You'll be stuck at the max level for more than half your play time if you want to do all you can. There feels like there could be more weapon and armor types to. Not being able to customize standard weapons and have specialized ammo/armor seems like something that should be a must for this type of game. With these faults however you'll find yourself still dying to find the next fort, enemy and weapon.
overall- 9.0
the game is overall really fun and worth 60 bucks.Leveling system is fun while it lasts. It Seems like they held back a little bit which would of made this an easy 10. More quests, towns and items would have been a great idea but maybe that's just impractical.