Falling out with Fallout 3

What on earth happened with Fallout 3?!

I read the reviews that made it sound like an improved Oblivion (one of my all time fav's), but that turned out to be a totally invalid comparison. Sure they're created by the same studio and are essentially the same genre, but it's like comparing raisins and sultanas and asking which is the best dried grape.

So I'm disappointed to start with. I'm wandering round a bleak landscape, I don't understand why I'm earning XP and 'perks' as it doesn't really seem to fit with the game. Surely this is closer to something like Half Life 2, a superior FPS with a great storyline?

But then I get further into the main quest and I'm getting really engrossed. I'm higher up the levels, I'm looking forward to the level 20 perks being available to me, I've found cool new weapons that I'm itching to try out.

And then....

WTF?!

Well; then that was it. I'd completed the main quest almost by accident. I'd watched the end sequence play and I'd started to get a little worried when the credits rolled. And then I was at the main menu with an option to continue from my last saved game.

So I went back and played out the ending a different way. Same result. Game over, no gaining my level 20 perks, no discovering all the locations I'd yet to find. No using my cool new weapons! Nothing.

I don't think I've ever felt such bitter disappointment when I've actually finished a game!

Which leads me back to my main reservation when I started playing - XP and levelling up. Why? What was the whole point in developing my character's skills, just for the game to end and not allow me to explore the rest of the environment?

I honestly cannot believe that any RPG designer would think this was the right way to end the main quest. By ending he game completely? Are you serious?!

Still, even with all that, my advice would be to buy the game. It's a beautifully realised world and worth investing time in. But, please, when following the main quest leads you to a place called Raven Rock, STOP! Save your game, put the main quest to one side and go do all the things you fancy doing in the rest of the Wasteland. Your Bobblehead collection demands it! :-)