Fallout 2

The Good
Fallout 2 is quite immersive. You are wandering through a post-Apocalyptic world and you feel it -- bedding is usually ragged, furniture broken down. You start out with a spear and you're damn glad to have the spear. Money's tight. Slavery is a constant problem. There are isolated communities that seem Edenic on the outside but have problems under the surface.

The first 4/5 of the game also never breaks mimesis, no small thing. The npcs seem like the kind of guys who would be npcs in this mileau and they react to you appropriately. The writing is a step up from the first Fallout -- I have some problems with the ending but they did try to develop the story in a logical way.

The combat system is superb, the best turn-based system for rpgs that I know.

The best system I know of for creating character, with a point-allocation plan that allows for all sorts of variations. Unlike most rpgs, you can successfully play this game all sorts of ways (although you probably need melee or unarmed combat, as one of your starting - out skills).

Generally good voice-acting.

The Bad
Half-point off for a maze near the conclusion. Mazes almost never work in games unless there's some kind of "trick" to them. No trick here, it's just irritating to solve. (Actually one of the only two times I cheated.)

Half-point off for various limitations of the engine and color palette. Occasionally important things on the screen are hard to see -- the other time I cheated, I discovered an important object was lying near-hidden on the ground beside me. Also, occasionally it was hard to find doors, etc. in the isometric view provided.

Half-point off for ridiculous in-jokes (which I don't like as a rule) and general snarkiness near the end. The final boss, thankfully, isn't exactly the head bad guy, but the head bad guy is rather dumb and predictable and based on a political situation that no one's going to remember in ten years -- assuming anyone's still playing this game in ten years.

The Bottom Line
A long, immersive rpg that will keep you playing. One of the best games of it's kind, actually.