The GOTY edition of Fallout 3 adds even more content to an already epic and engrossing game worthy of any gamer's time.
As is to be expected, the type of gameplay is similar to Bethesda's other epic, Oblivion, albeit obviously more focused on ranged combat. I find the post-apocalyptic setting much more interesting than Oblivion's fantasy setting though; there is a really unique humor to the game which permeates everything. The sly grin of the cartoon "Pip-Boy" comes to mind, as does the British-sounding butler robots which tell jokes with a dry wit. ("War does not decide who is right, only who is left" goes one joke.)
The "V.A.T.S" targeting system adds an noteworthy element to combat, and I use it quite a lot, because slow-motion kills are always cool, and also because manual combat seems a bit sluggish compared to most pure shooters like the Call of Duty series. The different perks that come with leveling up are a great element too; with perks such as one in which a revolver-toting "Mysterious Stranger" appears randomly to help during combat, there are too many to pick them all for one character, promoting experimenting and replay value.
So where did all my time spent playing the game go? I would have to say that most of the time went towards the quests. The meat of any RPG, they are pretty much all done well here, presenting interesting characters and intriguing slices of post-apocalyptic life within their own contained arcs. One could get through the main quest line relatively quickly, but the side missions are often just as interesting, if not more so, than the main quest. There are no bland Mass Effect style side missions that are merely a palette swap of backgrounds with the same objectives repeated ad nauseam.
If for some reason you have waited to play Fallout 3, there's no better time than now to give it a chance, with the GOTY edition already lowering in price for the holidays in some places. I will admit, I was a bit weary of playing a game which I knew was likely to take up hours and hours of my time, but this was a rare occasion in which I hardly even noticed the time passing; I haven't been addicted to a game like this since... well I can't think of anything recent, so if you are looking for a game to get sucked into, this is STILL one of the best games to get, even if it is over a year after it was released.