An immersive adventure.
However, it seems after spending days hooked to the damn game, that it was my play style and not the game which was at fault.
Fallout 3 requires you to lose yourself in the environment, to let go of the linear ways of thinking that so many other games restrict you with. Im not saying fallout 3 doesn't contain linear plotline elements, or that linear games can't be fun too, but to fully enjoy fallout 3 you need to be the architect of your own fun.
Do a mission, but then just wander out into the wasteland - check that ruined house, that burnt out diner, that church with bodies pinned to it. In this way you'll start to place values on the things important to your style of play. Like to blow things away? You're gonna need to raid and search for ammo, scavenging when you can and weighing up which weapon to focus on for each fight; a nice tactical nod to previous itterations of fallout. The game does a great job of giving you the freedom to explore and scale up the difficulty as you level whilst walling off areas too challenging for the first hours of play.
Interesting moral choices are at the heart of the immersion, and contribute to the feeling of being a survivor in a ethically ambiguous setting. I find myself in a ruined museum, on a mission to retrieve an important historical document, and also looking for items of value so i can buy some medical supplies. i run into a mercenary who offers to team up who has a very unique and powerful weapon. Do i outright murder her on the spot thinking she may betray me at a later point anyway? As a do-gooder i decide to let her assist me, but when i notice her health falling i do not intervene, letting her fall i take her weapon and ammo forfeiting anything she may have had to tell me or give me and pressing on alone with her weapon in my hands. This is just a small example and there are much larger and interesting choices to make throughout the game. But exploration is necessary, as the main story line could be completed very quickly if you desired.
The Pip Boy is a great way of accessing all your information, if a bit clunky at times. VATS isnt as much of a I WIN button as you might think, and it certainly loses some of its power as you find yourself facing against groups of raiders or super mutants armed to the teeth. The importance of information in the game and the considerations you have to make when trading and scavenging are all meshed beautifully into the gameplay.
Fallout 3 is a great game, infused with great atmosphere and humour. It certainly has been hyped alot, and i failed to understand how this was true initially, but alot of care to detail has been paid. Slight drawbacks are briefly - slow run speed, some empty expanses of the map on the way to locations (but there are loads of these), not as much random combat / npc encounters as i might have hoped.
BUT with the release of the modding tools and lots more content for support planned, you would be missing out not to enjoy this game in your own way. there is something for every style of play!