Make sure your INTELLIGENCE is HIGHER than (4) to enjoy this game!!!
The gameplay is pretty simple in which there are two kinds of modes: Combat mode and Non-combat. In non-combat mode you simple point and click with the mouse to move your character very much in a Diablo style of movement. In combat mode you, however, you are assigned action points. These action points are given to you based upon your characters agility and they allow you to fire your weapon, reload, or search your inventory. Once your points have been used up your turn ends. Like I said, it's a pretty simple concept, but it's what gives the game strategy and keeps it surprisingly addictive. It also prevents you from moving through the game too quickly as your enemies become tougher, and will require you to level up as well as finding and equipping better arsenal.
Probably, the biggest issue I had with the game was the lack of "perks." While in Fallout 3 you could choose a perk for every level you gained, in Fallout you choose a perk every three levels. This became some what frustrating as I wanted to choose perks early in the game like "educated," but I ended up never doing it, because choosing a perk was so rare that I needed every perk for the combat mode to count. By the end of the game I only had 5 perks, and I needed every one of them. So "Educated" was never picked, because I needed the other perks desperately.
Another issue I had, which wasn't a big issue with me, was the distribution of experience points based off of kills. While killing 8 giant mantises would easily give you over a 1000 exp, killing just as many Raiders (which are more difficult to annihilate) would give you half of that. It's not a big issue, but it doesn't make much sense to me.
I really wasn't very engrossed in the story until near the end of the game, but come to think of it, there really isn't much of a story to begin with. You make the game what it is, by how you invest yourself into other characters, which is really kind of neat. This is why intelligence is so important, otherwise you won't have much to offer the game other than just gibberish. Even with its faults I found the game very engaging, and I'll probably return to play it again in the future.