Nobody's Hero

Fallout is probably my most favorite game of all time. It came out in 1997 and was released by Interplay. It was ahead of it's time back then, including detailed animations, a huge library of sound effects and in-game interactive, dialog driven cut-scenes.
The game was set in the future, around 2161, after Nuclear war with China has devastated the land. You emerge from an underground "vault", on a quest to find a part to fix the water purifier. Sounds simple, but it turns into a quest to save what is left of mankind from a growing mutant army. Although set in the future, the technology in it is a throwback to the 1950's "idea" of what the future would look like. yep, a great game.
The sequel, released in 1998 also by interplay, expanded on the original. 80 years later, your a descendant of the "vault-dweller" or primary character from the first. It looks and plays the same, and while also a great game, it didn't really accomplish any technical feats, it was just a copy of the original with a new map and story.

Now, ten years later, Fallout 3 is about ready to surface and is taking considerable heat from the fans of the original. Interplay sold the license to Bethesda Softworks, and although they have kept true to the canon of the original, instead of an isometric, third person game, they have instead opted for a 1st person.
Bethesda were the first to ever create a fantasy setting (swords, magic) with a first person view and pull it off. They did it gloriously with The Elder Scrolls series. However, that was swinging a sword, not shooting a gun. The big argument is right there. Is it a roleplaying game (crpg) or a first person shooter (FPS)? Fans of the the original say it is an FPS, but Bethesda promises it ha all of the elements of a crpg, just from the character's view. The original was turn-based, meaning you move, then the opponent moves taking turns. F3 is real-time, meaning everything happens at once. Bethesda has some sort of contraption devised they say allows you to mimic the original gameplay style, and also provides accuracy and other bonuses, instead of te typical FPS point and shoot style.
I am very eager to play F3. I have been waiting ten years for this. I recently got to play the tech demo for Interplay's F3 that would have been released six years ago, but unfortunately Interplay went bankrupt after making several bad gaming choices. Anyway, the tech demo, while lacking polish and only being a small area with only a couple features working, had the potential to be the best Fallout ever. It's a shame it will never come to be, and hopefully the new F3 will fill the gap nicely, but I must admit, after playing the tech demo, I am more skeptical now than ever about whether Bethesda has got what it takes to make a true Fallout experience!