Crosmando: Brian Fargo is a genius, I was recently playing Stonekeep and others and realized how Interplay stuff was way ahead of it's time. As far as I'm concerned Fallout 2 was the last "Fallout" game, with Tactics as a spinoff. Fallout 3 was an atrocity.
I guess if you compare it Fallout 1 and 2 it is an atrocity but on its own merits its not too bad. It's definitely more interesting then vanilla oblivion and It has a nice atmosphere, and nice exploration.
They should have just called it something else though. Or at least not continue the numbering which suggests it is in the ilk as the first two.