Most Ambitious Game: Fallout 3

Recreating the D.C. area as a bombed out nuclear wasteland and making it teem with life can’t be easy. Bethesda, the developers of Fallout 3, modeled the game largely after their 2005 hit Oblivion, a game of similar scope that focused on kingdoms and demons instead of the post-apocalyptic human struggle. Still, the act of discovery is better in this game; it’s easy to divert from the main quest just to find out the story behind one museum, monument or ghost town.