VATS System in Fallout 3 Was Inspired by Spectacular Crashes from Burnout and Star Wars: KOTOR - Todd Howard Talks About Sources of Inspiration

At Bethesda, we hadn't done gunfights since the old Terminator games. So creating shooting in [Fallout 3] was a real challenge. And shooting is not the same as melee combat. We understood that with the time and resources we had, we wouldn't be able to make shooting at the level of Call of Duty or Battlefield. That's why we came up with the V.A.T.S. system — Vault-Tec Automated Targeting System

That's how we came to V.A.T.S. I remember we were discussing the idea, I told Emil, and he suggested: "Look, this is how it can work." We were a little inspired by Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, where the battle is turn-based, you can set actions in advance. And there was also the game Burnout — a racing game where you can arrange accidents. So, take the Crash Mode from Burnout, only instead of car parts — there will be eyes and other body parts! We even had a mini-presentation with this: "Imagine that the parts of the car are organs!" We realized that this should be done a little with "overkill", with the effect of spectacle, but at the same time — with the ability to stop time and make a tactical decision. And it was at this time that the player felt the characteristics of his character — much stronger than in the process of ordinary shooting. Although we thought about other mechanics of the character.

Well, you know — [Fallout 3] is still not the best first-person shooter, even for its time. In this parameter, the game was a little "flawed". But overall, everything turned out very well.