The first fallout games has so much cooler deaths, in the newer games, blowing off the limbs and exploding the body is all you can do.
Earlier fallout games has much cooler melt effect and you can shoot big holes in your enemies. for example, a critical hit in the right arm leads to the arm flying off and leaving a big hole were the arm used to be, showing off the ribs and cool stuff. But you can't take bodies and push them down the stairs like in New Vegas :(