Bestheda tried hard, but couldn't pass all the feeling that you had playing Fallout to the new generation
Even Fallout 1 dont giving a close up when you access pip boy, or being in a isometric view, it had much more feeling than FO3. When you confronted your enemies in FO1 or 2, you always tought "bastard, if this guy picks up a minigun from his back, I'm pretty **** up". And if this guy were a super mutie, well, you would probably run. But, in FO3, when you see a Super Mutant, well, it is just a green big guy running toward you, and he'll die if you just give him 3 shoots with your weapon of choice, without coasting you some stimpacks or many bullets.
Another bad aspect, is the conversation. I have just one word to describe it: weak. I think that Bestheda did a great job with the graphics, a great job with the music, but with the conversations, they have failed badly. Failed in the writing and failed in the facial expressions. While it was acceptable that the talking heads in FO 1 & FO2 just had 3 or 4 expressions, this gives a completaly idiotic look to all the conversations in a new generation game. You speak with a character: "Hey moron, I'll shoot you", and he'll look to you with a very dull face. Then, try to say "Ok, I was just kidding big guy, I love you", he'll make the same face to you. The only good part about the conversation is the voice acting. What you can't see in the facial expressions of those people out there in the wasteland, you can see in their voices.
Ok, about the battle system: It is kinda of clunky, but it is playable. Even if I saw a lot of people complaining about VATS, the proto-turn-combat-mode from FO3, I dont find it all that bad. Of course, the fact that the head is the only real good place to shoot makes VATS kinda of boring, since in FO1 & 2 you could do a real good damage shooting the person in the groin (ouch) or in the eyes. Now, for the FPS mode, Bestheda failed again. It is almost impossible to shoot something far away from you, and it doesnt need to be very far. If I'm in a cliff, and my enemies are in a road down the cliff, well, the thing is to use VATS, wait til' your Action Points come back, then use VATS, and so it is. I know, I know, shooting in real life isnt easy, and the game tries to be real, but hey, I bet that in real life I can shoot better than in FO3 FPS mode, since I prefer my hands to control weapons than FO3 control.
Ok, these are the bad aspects to FO3, and I think the worse is this: isnt really a good Fallout game, since it lose the main aspects of Fallout. The good aspects, well, amazing graphics (with the exception of some textures when you get close to some objects), amazing music and effects and a not so bad combat system. You can have a lot of fun exploring FO3's world, and learning what Bestheda think that happened in these parts of the USA after the Great War :)