Morrowind: The Elder Scrolls III

Skill development, for example, is based on actual experience, not simply on killing baddies--as it is in too many other RPGs. In Morrowind, if you want to become a skilled lock-picker, you just have to get out there and pick some locks. Fighting will only increase your combat skills, and then only with those weapons you actually use. (If the game has any fault at all, it is that the fighting is too point-and-click simplistic and provides no feedback on how much damage you've inflicted with each blow.)

The huge range of skills available in the game allows the player to really craft their own speciality; you're not restricted to unrealistic and hackneyed "character classes". The possibilities of the highly flexible magic system alone are worthy of hours of happy experimentation.

But what are you going to do with your potentially multi-faceted character once you've completed your shopping list of must-have abilities? The answer is: "pretty much whatever you like". The Morrowind game world is huge, highly interactive, richly populated and is riddled with feuding guilds, religions and races. There is a rich and complex central game plot, but you might prefer putting off completing it just to dive into the roiling and reactive world of Morrowind local politics.

Finally, the inclusion of the Elder Scrolls Construction Kit guarantees that even if you manage to wring every last drop of play out of the original game, you will be able to design your own adventures or download those created by other Morrowind enthusiasts. This raises Morrowind from the simple "game" designation and makes it a potential cult hobby. If Bethesda ever releases a multi-player patch, a lot of us can kiss all of our free time goodbye. --Damon Wilson