Sorry for the double post, but after reading through the article again I found a few things that bugged me. While I do agree that the main plot was lacking and the sideplots certainly lacked complexity espescially in terms of resolutions, some of the details the author picked at made me wonder if they actually played the game.
Little is explained of how a civilian corporation like VaultTec managed to acquire top-secret military research, or why they were allowed to conduct the experiments.
Civilian corporations perform the vast majority of advanced US military research and weapons development, as they have since the 50's. While DARPA and various governmental agencies would often fund or steer the research to a degree, the research and especially final development has generally been performed by private companies and some university contracts. The sole real exception to this had always been nuclear weapons development. The whole "military-industrial complex" referred to in many American conspiracy theories refers to this very kind of corporate-military collaboration - particular in the ways in which it might sacrifice ordinary citizens for the sake of money and weapons development.
Likewise, in the original Fallout the FEV is developed by a private corporation. "The Glow" was a West Tek research facility. In the game, West Tek is described as one of the most important private contractors for the military. It is not at all surprising that the same military that entrusted a small company like West Tek with something like the FEV, even if for only a short period, would trust the company in charge of the largest and most secret military project with it after that. Remember, Vault-Tek was involved in the vault behavioral program. That was a rather gigantic conspiracy in and of itself.
To be clear, all private corporations are "civilian" in that they are run, owned, and staffed by civilians and privately owned. Many companies that develop military technologies, such as the largest military contractor - Boeing, produce products for the civilian market as well and are "civilian corporations."
Final Boss Commits Suicide
This was more of a reference than anything else, as President Eden was in no way the final boss. It was not even a "Boss" in the sense the author is using. Though the real problem here might have been the lack of a satisfying final confrontation, as colonel autumn kind of sucked.
One of the problems with this complaint is, again, that President Eden is not really the main villain. Though he is the voice of the Enclave, it is made clear to any playing the game that his control of the Enclave was tenuous at best and by the last chapter it is out of its control. I think the author, and many player's, tendancy to consider President Eden the main villain or final boss is that the voice acting and characterization is significantly better than Colonel Autumn, whom the player must confront at the very end of the main plot. This, and the relative wimpyness of the colonel, cause many players to forget they even fought ran into him.
Another problem with the complaint is the "misbehavior" of the two AI's are very different. If you noticed the types of brains that were used to construct it's bio-neural brain-puter craptasticness, you'd easily see that the problem was inferior hardware. This results in the almost compltely psychotic and sociopathic behavior of the AI - going so far as to lobotomize its own wards.
Eden is a more traditional failed AI in that it has taken its ideas of purity a bit too far. It is true that this is consistent with the flawed ideas presented by the first incarnation of the Enclave - that is to be expected since they're branches of the same organization and share the same ideology. In fact, that theme is at the core of the antagonists of all 3 Fallouts, and Fallout tactics. The Master, The Enclave (both times), and the Calculator are all pursuing an idea of creating a better or more pure world by wiping away those deemed unworthy and unfit. In all 3 of the main Fallouts, FEV is the tool by which this is to be accopmplished. In Tactics its pervasiveness is one of the primary triggers for the AI's decision to exterminate all surviving higher mamals.
This common theme - of "making a better world" taken to a very dark place is a core of Fallout. It has obvious roots in Western history - as well as some less obvious ones. While the jack-booted callous Enclave may conjure up images of the Nazi SS, it is not a mere coincidence that the represent a 50's-like US government cabal. From 1907 until 1967 there were widespread government created eugenics programs in the United States that included forced sterilization and racial purity laws. The idea of an insane leader/leadership that seeks to make a better world by exterminating some arbitrarily defined undesirable subclass is archetypal in western society.
Now, the complaint that their particular plan wasn't any more sophisticated than the original enclave plan is a valid one - although it wasn't necessarily something the player was going to try to stop. It would have been nice if Colonel Autumns little insurrection had included a novel change in the plans. Perhaps something more like the behavior of "Valhala Sector" in Jeremiah.
both games feature a Vault full of FEV, which by all accounts in the original RPGs are a rare, classified substance
Three locations in the original Fallout were locations of different FEV experiments run by different groups (West Tek, DOD directly, and The Master.) There were large quantities of FEV in two locations in Fallout 2 (though one was the base from 1), used in experiments in multiple locations/subplots, and the origin of the intelligent death claws. It was never exactly a rare thing to run into in Fallout games.
The author does make a few accurate points, but many of them seem lost in the sense that the verdict was set before he had actually played the game. Many of the complaints sound more like they are reactions to second hand descriptions of the game.