The atmosphere is here, gameplay is ok but it just lacks content and your decisions do not matter at all
I finished Fallout 3 a couple of months ago and it is not an experience that stays in mind. That doesn't mean its a bad game. In fact it is very competent and can keep you interested for long hours.
It starts nicely with yet another vault you as an infant. We see the character birth, his first steps, birth day and finally your father dissapears for you to have a reason to get out.Its all fine. Later you meet with familiar groups like the Enclave and The Brotherhood of Steel. The main quest is to find your father and ultimately to finish his project which is suppose to purify all water in the wasteland. The story is not without if flaws but is pretty excint overall. The bad thing is the ending is a letdown. Also the whole adventure feels like a breeze. Even at the beginning of the game you can pass through fortified areas and an encounter of a supermutant is pretty common
Like in other faullout games you collect junk to get some money. Actually its nothing new, wasn't anything new. Only in first Fallout games some of this junk actually was needed somewhere else. Here every object is junk and therefore exploring is extremely dull because after a while you know that there is nothing interesting in a locked chest or secured by a terminal.
The gameplay is your typical light RPG but there is a twist in the combat part. You can activate VATS which is automated targeting system which freezes time and lets you shoot whichever body part of the enemy. Everybody will go for the head and it was like that before but now you would like it to be more meaningful. Shooting a hand with a gun will make the enemy drop it but shooting anyother part will be pointless since nothing happens but his life bar will drop. You can also choose to fight in real time. Then you have your normal shooter but its an extremely generic experience. The enemies do not react when being attacked at all. They can't be knocked down, they do not limp, they do not care if they are hit or not. A great example is fighting wild animals in the wasteland - you swing your knife and its lifebar goes down but it will still blindly attack you. No self preservation instinct?
The exciting part about combat is that decapitations will happen all the time. Once you are good enough shot you can make everyones head explode.
One of the biggest letdowns is the Power Armor. In Fallout 1 and 2 getting a Power Armor was a beginning of a completely new game. It was like getting a private jet - everybody is slow and vulnerable in their cars and you fly above all that. In Fallout 3 the Power Armor is just an another armor in the line with stats barely better then the last used armor. In fact when I found a Power Amor it was so damaged that it was worse than the ranger armor I had. How can a solid mechanical armor be worse than some generic bulletproof vest. Also the armor is suppose to be fully mechanized and powered by a reactor on your back. Only the model is hardly bigger than a normal person. Bethesda missed a lot on what made the original great.
The other thing is the consequence of your action. The original idea was that in every city you can help people or leave them be and this will show in the end. Now comes Fallout 3 and there is a group of ex slaves that has a fort somewhere. You can help them to move to the new place by repelling mutant attacks (for them to merely survive) and than clearing a bulding in downtown DC. What you get in the end is a photograph of them living there. And that it. Now, I know back in the time it was a picture and a text. We were suppose to use our imagination because they couldn't possibbly make videos of all the possible events (2 or 3 outcomes per one of around 8 locations). But how in the world Bethesda is expecting player to feel acomplished if he worked (thats a accurate term) so hard to be rewarded with a picture without any commentary.
The graphics in the game are very good. Its hard to say if they were captured accurately but judging them on their own - they are very pleasing. Of course the environment is gray and some bulidngs are duplicates but it all good in post nuclear world. The art director did a good job on that.
The music is barely audible. The developers went with a silent world to make the adventure more tense. Its a good move if the adventure itself can keep you interested. After all a normal person exploring the wasteland wouldn't be accomplanied by a orchestra to compliment his achievements. Its pretty realistic that he would have a radio and here in Fallout 3 you can choose one of a few stations. After a while the sound of the laser rifle will become so repetitive that you will need some music.
Overall Fallout 3 is a very good game. It is just that you will not see the same elements that made your experience in Fallout 1 and 2 such a great time. And while shooting and exploring is a lot of fun (although exploring feels pointless after a while) the conclusion will render your whole game pretty irrelevant. The chances are however that you will have a very good time while it lasts