First of all, sometimes the people here really really overact sometimes
That said, Brotherhood of Steel on the PS2/Xbox really is not such an extremely bad game, it is just a very average use of the franchise and what really angered a lot of fans here the most was that its production was possible by cancelling Van Buren (Interplay had hoped that focus on the console market would pay off)
There are actually elements of F:BOS that I liked such as the secret Vault Tec vault (why shouldn't they have their own private installation) and the Attis army.
Even the plot device wasn't that bad; the Super Mutants looking for a cure for sterility. In the game it is not even called FEV, rather it was something else the Vault Tec scientists created to cure mutation induced sterility, the manual later turned it into yet another supply of FEV.
Well, personally, I don't actually think BOS is THAT bad of a video game (it would fall more into the usual "good concept, poor execution" deal). However, I'm new here, and I don't want to get into trouble early on in my NMA posting, so I looked around ("Lurk and Learn"), and one of the "no-nos" that is commonly referred to is "don't say BOS is a great game", but considering some of the reactions, it might as well be "don't say anything nice about BOS". So, I thought I'd let that in mind. Personally, I'm a fan of some video games that get maligned so dang easily, like "Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest".
I also want support in following my actual playthrough of the game, which'd probably be my first major activity on No Mutants Allowed, so I had to find some kind of hook to get people interested in this whenever I finally get a copy for my XBox.
I do agree that the fan anger, at that time and probably still today, more than a decade later, lies in the fact that Van Buren was cancelled, and instead fans got Contradictary Shooter RPG.
At least it was a lot more original than Fallout 3's crappy storyline that ripped of Fallout 1 and 2, and got a by the numbers "I search for my father because I love him/need to know why he left, and he directs my life" bit tagged on which apparently easily impressed journalists mistake for good writing. (You couldn't even be pissed at the asshole)
Just do be ready for a lot of average and juvenile written dialogue and humor that is mostly the same level found in Fallout 3.
Oh, don't get me started on Fallout 3. I only bothered to play that one after I was able to get a copy for my PS3 dirt cheap (I'm planning on getting the GOTY edition just to see if the DLC was better than the main game personally), and this was long after I got to enjoy the wonders of New Vegas (plus, NV was an Obsidian production, meaning it felt more like an authentic Fallout game, while 3 was Bethesda's
Take on What Fallout Should Be).
The main story plot was extremely linear, and although the other games have a linear start, you do have the freedom to choose how you get to the destination. And, don't forget the most common resolution for the Lone Wanderer and Vault 101 being exactly the same as the Vault Dweller and Vault 13... "You're a hero, and you must leave."
However, thanks for warning me about the dialogue for BOS. I hate juvenile attempts at being "badass", like the 3DS version of Driver: Renegade where you have Tanner saying "So long forever, asshole!" and "Oops, sorry shithead!". So, I'll be sure to brace for cringe-worthy moments.