After watching the promo for “Fallout 3″ on G4 yesterday, I was less than enthused. It looked a little clunky, to be honest, and it certainly didn’t seem that appealing.

I was wrong. So very, very wrong.

I got some hands-on time with Bethesda’s revamp of the Fallout series today, and it’s gorgeous. What looked muddy on the G4 broadcast was vibrant and full of life.

But graphics are fine and all, but how’s the game play? It’s crisp and strong. Controls are responsive; the sensitivity of the joysticks can be altered to your liking, and the default settings felt right for me. I wasn’t wildly veering off to one side or the other as I mowed down raiders.

VATS — the system that lets players take aim at an enemy’s specific body parts or weapons — was cool. It’s a nice compromise between the old turn-based Fallout games and the shooter feel of this new installment. The system may be a little clunky against groups of targets, but there weren’t crowds of baddies in the demo, so I can only guess.

Unfortunately, I only had 30 minutes to play. It was enough to see a handful of bandits squatting in an abandoned schoolhouse. Megaton, the main city, is rough-and-tumble, and the ruins of Washington, D.C., are impressive — complete with a ruined Washington monument on the horizon.

A pair of concepts that really captures the game’s look and spirit:

Really, really impressive.

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