Fallout 3 is a PC game. Sure, it's an Xbox 360 game, too. And it's a PlayStation 3 game, I guess. It's also an RPG, technically.

But when you get at the heart of it, Fallout 3 feels like a game designed for the PC. It has the soul of a big-boxed, full-manual, five-CD game from 1998. It has all the complexity and addictiveness of a System Shock, or a Deus Ex--or, yes, a Fallout.

And when I say "game," I mean it in the most ambitious sense. It's the kind of title that rekindles that 90s spark of imagination, when the borders of gaming were less defined, and anything seemed possible. From the opening moment, it's the kind of work that has you thinking: "Goddamn--this is a real game."

Not just another collection of cutscenes and shooting galleries. Not just another roller-coaster ride with a slightly different track. Fallout 3 is a deep, interactive experience; a compelling blend of crafted art, inventive quests and open world freedom.

Less a ride and more a trip down a lazy, apocalyptic river, Fallout 3 has a strong current in its central quest line. But it's the option of abandoning the raft--and killing your raft-mates, and stealing their stuff, and selling it to a zombie trader for a quick buck--that makes it something gamers should not miss.

Above all else, this is a game to savor.

Developing this version of Fallout 3 was a brave choice by Bethesda. When most players aren't even finishing directed, linear shooters like Half-Life 2, creating a vast volume of non-linear content that the majority of owners will likely never experience seems a risky business decision. Why even give us the option of passing by so many wonderfully designed quests?

If I was executive producer Todd Howard, I would have shoved every single shred of dialogue in the player's face. I would have pushed every encounter and bit of backstory onto the main path. I would have squeezed every development dollar for all its worth.

Instead, if you're anything like me, you'll miss a lot of Fallout 3 on your first play-through. After 12 hours of gameplay I was watching the credits, but had barely scratched the surface of the available content.

The game carries you through its multi-faceted wasteland at a good clip, leading you by the nose with main quest elements and big green map markers. For a while you're caught up in the middle of it, ticking off the pages of the quest log like the pages of a good novel. You can get swept up in the story from the first beat.

Though identical in function, Fallout 3's introductory sequence is a huge improvement over Oblivion, Bethesda's last major RPG, both in terms of character development and pacing.

Starting out in the world as a newborn child in Vault 101, Bethesda brilliantly incorporates the process of picking character statistics and learning movement controls into the experience of growing up. WASD movement is learned as a baby, crawling across the floor and making goo-goo noises with the "E" key. A children's book serves as your first introduction to statistics; an early birthday party brings your first weapon in the form of a BB gun.

Fans of the original Fallout games will admire Bethesda's franchise faithfulness right off the bat. The same post-nuclear, 1950s-era style informs both the art and the sardonic humor. In fact, a surprising amount of the same themes found in the original Fallouts are presented in this sequel. You'll run across sentient computers and governmental remnants. You'll face down racist isolationists and disenfranchised ghouls, blood-thirsty raiders and sympathetic super mutants.

Of course, Bethesda also puts its own spin on things. Signature Fallout entities, such as the armor-clad Brotherhood of Steel and the Ghoul Underworld, are explored in detail. A countless amount of story materials exist to be discovered, some of which delve into mysteries already established by Black Isle's previous games.

For example, a computer terminal in a newspaper office--a building that one might simply pass by if they weren't careful, and which serves no purpose other than to provide backstory--contained several articles pre-war articles, one of which explained how the US annexed Canada.

Just knowing that this material exists to be discovered can be enough to make the world feel like a real location, rather than a mess of buildings and AI characters. Even if you don't stop to explore a single house, the fact that there might be something to find behind those doors makes it that much more exciting of a game.

Most importantly, the richness of dialogue options and quest choices lives up to the Fallout standard. And while the quality of voice acting does not always live up to the original titles, this can be partly excused due to the sheer volume. Fallout 3 contains an enormous amount of characters, each presenting a satisfying number of dialogue paths and quest twists. It's a mind-boggling piece of work when examined as a whole.

It can make for some mind-boggling decisions when playing, as well. Save-loaders are going to have a difficult time with this game--those players who can't resist exploring every branch of every quest may find themselves torn, reloading the game repeatedly to take a different path.

Turn the page for more on Fallout 3.