I want to know which software is the best to make world maps and characters for games. Should I use 3ds max or Maya or something else. Please advice

For the 3d side of things (forgetting price at the moment) i'd go for 3ds max which has a nice set of features for anything you are modeling as well as it is supported in quite a large range of game SDKs (which is a big plus, it's simply plug and play editing).
The downside though - price. It costs loads, so if cost is the issue maya might be better, it's been a while since i've checked prices on 3d software but yeah.
There should also be some free 3d programs around there somewhere.
Actually you could see if you can grab a copy of gmax - made by the same company as 3ds max but they've dropped support for it, it has been made especially for game design so have a search and you could grab a copy, it's free too.

-HellFire