Swissdictator:
Normally I’ve been a PC Gamer. The Civilization series and the old TIE Fighter being the biggest culprits.
However since I was recently given a PS3 around Thanksgiving… I can now actually play nice games without investing in a much of RAM… (as I have a decent vid card)…
First up…
ASSASSIN’S CREED II PS3
GRNDL:
The “expansions”/DLC are merely the areas/levels/story glips that were removed from the game to allow it to ship faster. (shorter/smaller) games means less testing. Ubisoft have been doing that since Splinter Cell, IIRC.
Hrothgar Goldgreed:
No, each DLC (there are two, coming out in January and February) is a short story in itself about an historical event. You won’t simply be accessing new areas.
I enjoyed reading your review, recognizing several of the things I figured about the game as well. For me, this was the Game of the Year. Fallout 3 was mine for 2008, so I’m looking forward to your review about it!
PS. Don’t forget the DLC. At least play Point Lookout, Fallout isn’t complete without it. While you’re at it, technically you’ll have to play Broken Steel as well - when you’ve reached the DLC’s new level cap, you’ll really have maximized your character 
Swissdictator:
Fall Out 3 - Part 1 of the Review
I’m still playing it. I don’t know how far in it I am… which isn’t a bad thing thing.
I’ve never played a Fallout game before, so I can’t compare to previous versions.
Graphics
Rather nice actually. While Assassin’s Creed II had a lot of color, and stunning scenery… Fall Out 3 certainly has a ruined wasteland down. While the ground itself is a bit “meh” for the most part, they do a convincing job of terrain overall. When you converse with people, the mouths move to the words… although not perfectly. It’s good enough to not distract, though it is a bit below Assassin’s Creed II (to be expected, ACII is newer).
Where the graphics really excel is in combat. Regardless of the weapon, combat looks very nice. This is where they invested the effort in graphics. Combat is quite a bit more gory than ACII. I haven’t tried the perk “Bloody Mess” yet, and it is still decently messy. I might take that perk for laugh factor.
Water also seems decently rendered, as I’ve always been under the impression this is hard to do.
Overall on Graphics A-
Replayability
I haven’t even finished and I can see many different ways it could play out. I’m currently playing evil. VERY evil. Think, Genghis Khan would be proud evil. You can be good, and even be classified as neutral. There is even different options and approaches available depending on your gender. I currently have the “Lady Killer” perk which allows me to have more dialog options with women…and to do more damage to them in combat…
The game will branch differently depending on if you’re good or evil, at least I assume it will considered one of the quests I was given early on (to rig a nuke to explode or to disarm it). I still have yet to go to the guy so I can detonate it from a safe distance.
It’s a sandbox with A LOT of things to explore. Plenty of potential combats too. Random encounters as well. So it doesn’t leave you wanting. Between the various dialog options, the large world, etc it is fairly impressive to what I can probably do!
Miscellaneous
Save often. Utilize multiple save files in case you need to go further back! Trust me, when you get surprised my a duo or trio of super mutants, you will thank me! It’s not that the game is overly hard, though it may be on higher difficulties. The game is very capable of leaving you surprised, that’s what the best challenge is.
One stroke of genius, is fast travel between certain points I’ve discovered. For example once I’ve been to Megaton, and a few locations, I can basically instantly travel back to megaton if I’m outside. This really helps get around running back and forth on the same trail and allows it to be more exploring and questing. ACII had something similar, which was also nice.
This is more of an RPG, with skills you can advance, etc. Which allows you to really impact how you play the game. I’m currently loving the power fist, so I’m investing a lot of points in unarmed combat (which the power fist benefits from). The second time through I will invest less in “Melee” early on.
Also: There is something insanely hilarious about turning a teddy bear into a high speed projectile of death. I love it. This game certainly has a dark humor to it, as well as poking fun at the Cold War, 50s sci-fi, etc. Thematically it is right up my alley.
More to come later, just giving my initial impressions.