While the RPG mechanics were certainly still faithful to the original two games, there's a strange blend between simplification and complexity that makes Fallout 3 feel a bit clunky.
While this could be said for almost any Bethesda game (even New Vegas, which was notoriously buggy at launch), Fallout 3 was a particularly bad case. If players want to get the most out of Fallout 3 today, they'll more than likely want to stop by the Fallout Nexus and download community-made patches. Bugs have plagued the game for its entire lifespan. The new direction kept up the appeal of exploring a post-apocalyptic wasteland and retained plenty of iconic elements from the previous games, including the VATS system and Pip-Boy. That isn't to say that Fallout 3 is a perfect game, though.
The way Bethesda transitioned Fallout and Fallout 2 into an FPS RPG is nothing short of incredible. Fallout 3 certainly turned heads for when it was released in 2008.
