1. Took the simple, compelling storyline of the first Fallout and turned it into a epic masterpiece. Like taking "The Hobbit" into the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Have to find water to save your vault? Cool, but not as cool as sacrificing your life for the aid of humanity, vis a vi, the Calculator. This game is focused around the fate of the U.S. and the two huge Brotherhood factions. So legit.
2. Took it to the next level with units. For the first time, Robots and Reavers appeared. And there's none of that retarded Robco garbage: this is Terminator style. The storyline by itself is probably my favorite aspect within this game, and it shines here. The entire Reavers story at the end is so interesting.
3. Vehicles: Hummers, Scouts, Tanks. Wow.
4. Energy weapons were doubled in this game, making them much more important and adding another interesting way to play.
5. Modding. You can play the entire game with a deathclaw if you know how to code a little. No joke.
6. Random encounters=way more of them, much better ones.
7. Being able to play with a squad just made the entire game so much more compelling, tactical, and fun.
8. And people say Tactics wasn't cannon. Get out of here. If Tactics isn't cannon than Fallout 2 isn't canon. There are clearly inconsistencies between the first two games anyway. gamesas obviously didn't design the games with a trilogy or multiple story line involved so what's the point of debating over whether something is "canon." Get over yourself. I'll take Tactics over Bethesda any day of the week.