I love them all equally.
Fallout 3 is not perfect, but neither are the originals - especially the second one suffers from the "throw in all the cool shit you can think of" syndrom, just like Fallout 3.
But Fallout 3 has amazing atmosphere and more involving gameplay + fun quests with many different outcomes, which is why I like it.

Fallout 2 for me, fallout one comes pretty close though.
When I eventually get around to playing fallout 3 I plan to play it as though it was just an open world shooter set in a wasteland. Which I've always wanted to play anyway, I figure if I don't hold it up to fallouts standards of humor I can't be disapointed.

Then you may be disappointed too. As an FPS, the shooting mechanics are quite shitty. You don't get good "shooting feedback", as the controls feel sluggish. I honestly don't know how to begin with the game. I'd like to play it as an FPS, but said reason is making things unbearable for me. I'd like to play it as an RPG, but the dialogue is boring, and I honestly don't quite see the point in the leveling system, when VATS makes the game a cakewalk even on the hardest difficulty (unless you decide to take on the populace with a pistol and no armour)
It seems that those who enjoyed it must have found the achievements, perks and leveling system interesting. Shame, because a lot of people I spoke to, who still fondly remember Fallout 1 and 2, think that Sellout 3's storytelling and RPG aspects fall short of the "predecessors"
Failout 3 had some great ideas, but the execution was piss poor. Whoever thought that wearing a lab coat makes you a smarter scientist should tell Einstein that. Hey maybe if Einstein wore a lab coat all the time, quantum physics would be proven!

Did you play it on the xbox or pc and how are the controls slugish?
Also as far as vats go if they make it too easy even on hard don't use vats.

That doesn't make sense. VATS is there for a reason as a gameplay mechanic. It's like saying if Half-Life 1 was too easy even on Hard, I should use the pistol and crowbar all the way through. Sure, it makes for a good challenge, but to me, it's a half-assed job if they unbalance VATS versus real time
That argument works only with cheats. I assume Bethesda didn't put VATS in as a cheat. I don't want to be forced to make this choice just because of an oversight on Bethesda's part, just like what happened to Bioshock (hacking is almost mandatory; you can choose to either hack and spend only a few dollars, or waste ammo blowing up the security systems)
Making choices is about having the difficulty of the process equalized, the pros and cons weighed. It's not about being forced to NOT use a gameplay mechanic. I play the game to have fun, not to go through an ironman challenge that's not even officially included as a gameplay mode
I'm playing FO3 on the PC now. I don't like how sometimes tapping a movement key results in my character taking a big step in that direction. It reminds me of how sluggish the movement was in Thief 3. I understand that there's a need for the camera to match the animation, since FO3 is all about IMMERSION, but I'm very sure there are games (Chronicles of Riddick) where the animation matches the camera's movement, not the other way round

Ive only played fallout 3 on the xbox so far, even though I have bought it for myself on the pc. I didn't notice anything slugish when moving on the xbox though thats probably because it uses analog sticks to move rather then a button. I wouldn't be suprised if stepping to far is something left over from them coding movement to be sensitive to how far you move your analog stick.
As far as VATS go, I see it more like the time control function in Fear. Sure its cool and all to use them but it made the game too easy even on fears hardest difficulty so I made the choice to not use it. The game has to be balanced for a large majority of people to play, if you find something too easy then dont use it or use it sparily and only when you need to.

And what would the majority be? ten year old kids?
EDIT: this is not a personal attack, but more a comment on bethedas lazy ass design

Im not debating bethedas lazy ass design, I believe as a company they have been going downhill sinse Morrowind for creativity. I just find if something doesn't suit you personally and you can't find mods to get it to how you like it, then the second best thing to do short of not playing it is to set limitation on what is causing it to be to easy.
I see this as no different then the ressurection chamber in bioshock. If it made the game to easy don't use it, the game still had a save game function just like all other shooters before it. The fact that it had an addition for those that wanted it, didn't mean you personally had to use it even if it was in the game. I see this the same with VATS its not a make or break game mechanic, you can still kill things without it. It's just there if you want it and because its there it doesn't mean you have to use it at every chance you get if its ruining the game.

I own all of them, played all of them and like most people I know, I was hugely dissappointed with the outcome of Fallout 3. Gaming experience considered, my no.1 would be Fallout 1 because in some way it was and still is revolutional. Then Fallout 2 and then Tactics.

That's why IMO Bioshock was an epic failure. A spiritual successor to System Shock 2? No way.

Well System Shock 1 and 2 both had the same thing; the only difference between the two would be that if you ran out of nanites in SS2 then you would have to reload the game. Of course, even after getting resurrected in SS2 you would only be at 1/4 health and had to find a surgical table somewhere completely opposite of the rez chamber. I haven't played Bioshock yet. How does their resurrection mechanism work? Is it completely without limits like you can keep dying over and over again with no worries or is there some sort of cost to dying in that game?

There is no limit on how many times you can die and no downside for doing so. The enemies even keep whatever health you left them on, the only inconvience for you is having to walk back to the fight.
They later patched in an option into the menu that let you turn off the chamber all together. That seemed to make people happy though it basically did nothing. You could of not used them before by choosing not to but apparently people need their hands held and to be told what they should do and how they should play.

Ahh that's too bad....I was kind of hoping it was like SS2 where finding the rez chamber was like an achievement in itself. I remember going through every level looking for those and THEN praying to god I don't die too often so I could have nanites left over for hacking and buying stuff out of the replicators.

Yeah, it really pisses me off when people complain about there being fast travel in Oblivion. "So Oblivion... We agree that it's one of the worst fucking games you or I have ever played... Yet the worst thing you can say about it is that you didn't like a feature you never need to use? Are you retarded!?"

I actually liked the fast travel feature in Oblivion. I only used it if I was going to a place I already explored on foot. I got spoiled by the silt striders and the mage guild transporters in Morrowind. What irked me about the game was the broken AI and the blandness of the environment.