How surprising, the only game Todd Howard didn't get his hands on turns out to be the best game from Bethesda I've yet to play.
In saying that, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Though the problem of gunplay feeling imprecise and random from Fallout 3 with the addition of ADS (as well as guns just having less RNG spread it seems, though that might just be my perception), it still lacks a punch. The combination of no real recoil plus some lackluster sound design makes most of the guns feel like peashooters. Even the explosions feel like they lack a punch, not helped by the fact you can hit someone square in the jaw with a 40mm grenade and they'll charge at you like nothing happened.
The story of this one is significantly better too. There are significant choices you can make throughout the story that will impact the ending, with multiple routes you can take. Important NPCs can be killed that will change what quests you'll have available and how things shake out. Really it was the only thing keeping me invested in seeing things through. I wanted to see how my choices would impact the world and pan out in the end.
The characters unfortunately remain forgettable. Caesar and Mr. House were the most interesting, but most of your interactions involved either them giving you quests or exposition dumping a bunch of lore if you choose to ask them some questions. You don't really get to just see their personality or interact with them outside of the stilted conversations you'll have with them, but that's common among all Bethesda RPG's so it's not a unique problem with this game.
FInally, the world of Fallout 3 felt way less fleshed out and interesting compared to The Elder Scrolls, and unfortunately that remains true here. There isn't very many interesting landmarks I can think of, interesting discoveries or just generally cool places to visit. The lore isn't as interesting and it really feels a lot less fleshed out than a game like Skyrim. Most of the cool lore is wrapped up in the vaults, so if that is something you like in RPG's you're going to want to seek them out. Otherwise the world building is fairly light and boils down to "this faction controls this area". Nellis is an interesting place to but you'll quickly learn everything about it and its inhabitants.
If you are going to play any Bethesda RPG from the 360/PS3 era make sure it's this one. By far the best out of the 4, and the most fun to complete. Though I still have a soft spot for TES, I can't deny this one is actually engaging from beginning to end.
In saying that, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Though the problem of gunplay feeling imprecise and random from Fallout 3 with the addition of ADS (as well as guns just having less RNG spread it seems, though that might just be my perception), it still lacks a punch. The combination of no real recoil plus some lackluster sound design makes most of the guns feel like peashooters. Even the explosions feel like they lack a punch, not helped by the fact you can hit someone square in the jaw with a 40mm grenade and they'll charge at you like nothing happened.
The story of this one is significantly better too. There are significant choices you can make throughout the story that will impact the ending, with multiple routes you can take. Important NPCs can be killed that will change what quests you'll have available and how things shake out. Really it was the only thing keeping me invested in seeing things through. I wanted to see how my choices would impact the world and pan out in the end.
The characters unfortunately remain forgettable. Caesar and Mr. House were the most interesting, but most of your interactions involved either them giving you quests or exposition dumping a bunch of lore if you choose to ask them some questions. You don't really get to just see their personality or interact with them outside of the stilted conversations you'll have with them, but that's common among all Bethesda RPG's so it's not a unique problem with this game.
FInally, the world of Fallout 3 felt way less fleshed out and interesting compared to The Elder Scrolls, and unfortunately that remains true here. There isn't very many interesting landmarks I can think of, interesting discoveries or just generally cool places to visit. The lore isn't as interesting and it really feels a lot less fleshed out than a game like Skyrim. Most of the cool lore is wrapped up in the vaults, so if that is something you like in RPG's you're going to want to seek them out. Otherwise the world building is fairly light and boils down to "this faction controls this area". Nellis is an interesting place to but you'll quickly learn everything about it and its inhabitants.
If you are going to play any Bethesda RPG from the 360/PS3 era make sure it's this one. By far the best out of the 4, and the most fun to complete. Though I still have a soft spot for TES, I can't deny this one is actually engaging from beginning to end.