Accurate. It was the best shooter in all of fallout games. So much so that I forget vats even exists or often that it's even a fallout game.
I do like settlement building but you're right that it seems half baked. Shit doesn't fit together like it should.
And you're right that they can't do compelling gameplay. I mostly play FO4 because you do get OP so quickly. I use it as stress relief more than anything. I've gotten the spray and pray as early as level 7. 7! So I just go around mowing down super mutants and raiders. It would normally piss me off how fast it repopulates them to 100% but that's all they are to me, targets to run down.