I find this take on 3rd hilarious, since that's exactly how I'd always viewed it, until someone in my current group pointed out the reason they always play things so combat heavy:

The combat rules are so detailed that it's practically a tabletop wargame. (and thus, he felt it was RP-light and combat heavy when compared to other current RPGs)

I guess it really does boil down to the players rather than the game itself! :)