Point form for your reading pleasure. Cuz you have a busy life!
AWESOME: Stunningly beautiful post-apocalyptic environment coupled with excellent artistic design. "The future of the 1950's" captured splendidly.
AWESOME: VATS targeting. You'll raise a shout of glorious victory the first time you hit an opponent with a deadly critical. Though repetitive, this feature takes forever to lose its charm.
AWESOME: Well thought out, entertaining missions.
AWESOME: Respawning random encounters can keep the game alive for a long time.
AWESOME: Character creation system revolving around s.p.e.c.i.a.l stats and an irreverently humorous "perk" system.
AWESOME: Totally reworked scaling system means you can go anywhere at any level (almost), but the whole world doesn't level with you. Those of you who hated Oblivion for this reason may rest easy.
AWESOME: Balance in choices. There are benefits of consequences at every turn. You can't do everything in one game because a great number of things are mutually exclusive.
BUT!!! With this many awesomes, how come I didn't rate 9 or higher? Well... because it does get a bit repetitious. Though I say this after 100+ hours. I definitely got my value out of it, but there's something I just can't put my finger on. Something that feels "the same" throughout the whole game. Once I stopped playing, I stopped utterly and haven't been motivated to pick it up since. Hell of a good ride though.