Among the most famous RPG franchises in gaming history, there is one that just stands out for its unique and cool feel that was never reproduced by any other game: Fallout. Not only did Fallout 1 and its successful sequel Fallout 2 manage to create one of the most believable post-apocalyptic, nuclear futures, but in doing so it managed to draw attention and capture the imagination of millions of fans worldwide, and the computer games industry will be forever influenced by this franchise.

Several years have passed after Interplay's demise, and the rumors that Bethesda was working on the third installment of Fallout caught everyone's attention, even if the opinions were spread between the two camps: pro and anti Bethesda.

Now if we remember properly, up until now Bethesda was famous for Morrowind and Oblivion, two really popular RPGs that brought a lot of innovative aspects to the gaming industry and were famous for offering many possibilities of character development and multiple choices. Still, there were plenty of voices that didn't like some aspects of those two games, things like the sometimes meaningless and too serious, long conversations, or the monsters level scaling to match the main character just to mention a few.

Nay-sayers were afraid that Bethesda will make the same "mistakes" to the "perfect" Fallout universe. But even if everyone had their doubts about the third game of the series, I'm 100% sure that fan or foe alike will try this game, because it's just too big of a deal to ignore.

The results and feelings about this game are just as mixed as before, some liking it quite a bit, some finding it a decent RPG, and some hardcore fans taking it off cannon and swearing they'll never play again... just one more hour... and one more... and one more...

Without any doubt I can say that this is Bethesda's greatest game yet, and that can't be contested by anyone (*I think* - fingers crossed). They've done a remarkable job with the graphics and environment, and the moment you get out of that Vault 101 and look at all the world around you, your jaw will drop because of the size alone if not for something else.

Familiar enemies make a comeback and they look bigger and cooler than ever, thanks to the new perspective of the game: meanwhile, the camera angle has changed from a top-down, isometric look, to a first/third person shooter perspective (you can change it how you like at any time). But this change brings an interesting problem: the strategic, turn based combat that you knew from previous Fallouts is no more.

You can instead use the new "VATS" (or Vault Assisted Targeting System) to aid you in a more strategic combat, or just point and shoot a target in the purest FPS way. I think this fresh new approach is the most criticized part of the new game, just because the old ones were so strategic and all about thinking, and this one isn't. The game pauses when you activate this new system, and lets you pick where to shoot, or perform any other action such as heal yourself, use the inventory, throw explosives and so on. The number of actions that you can perform per VATS instance are measured by the AP stats, or action points. Usually you get 3 or 4 shots at the beginning, and you may get more AP as you level up. The points regenerate then in real time. Of course, the game takes into consideration the part of the body you shoot at, your skill with different weapons, your strength and perception skill, and so on and so forth, but is it really that hard to point at one enemy's head and click?