Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a new RPG for the Xbox 360. This title is absolutely amazing. It astounds in just about every way possible, and will make you say "THIS is why I bought the Xbox 360.". This game is the beginning of what "Next Gen" is all about. It may have it's small problems here and there, but in the overall scope of things, they are minute quibbles on what is otherwise an absoultely unbelievable title.





Graphics: 9.5/10

Everything about this game looks absolutely stunning. The grass is made of individual blades, and all the plant life (that should) sways with the breeze. Surfaces shimmer or look dingy in all the right places, and if you look up while it's sunny, you can even tell when your character's eyes adjust to the lighting. The horses in the game are some of the most beautiful creatures that I've ever seen rendered, as are the deer. The jumping animation of the horse is a little funky, but walking and running are just too sweet to put into words. The only thing that I don't like as much with the graphics of the game, are some of the character facial models. Don't get me wrong, they look just fine, just not as stunning as the rest of, well, EVERYTHING. It's not that they're bad, they're actually quite good. But when you see a fire that looks exactly like fire should look, and then look to the side and see someone's face, you kind of think to yourself... "hmmm..."


Sound: 9.8/10

Wow. Just wow. Great voice acting, awesome voice overs for everyone, incredible environmental ambient sounds, it's got it all. And it's all in 5.1 surround sound too. Suprisingly enough, though, the surround sound is the only problem that I had with the sound at all, and it's not really a problem. You see, when people are talking, and you want to hear what they're saying, you'd better be facing them (if you're the one talking to them then you will automatically face them, etc...). This is because the sound of their voice will come out of whatever speaker is proportional to where they are, in terms of your location. So if the king in the beginning of the game is talking to his soldiers (not really a spoiler here, everyone sees this after about ten minutes), and he is behind you and to the right, that's where the sound will come from on your sound setup. As I stated, this isn't a bad thing, rather it's really cool, but it can be difficult to sometimes eavesdrop on other's conversations because of it.



Gameplay: 9.5/10

Options options everywhere... How do you want your character to be? Then make him/her that way. This game basically gives you complete freedom over your class and skill choices. You can play the game any way that you choose. You can follow the main quest and advance through the story line, which so far seems great to me, or you can just choose to mess around and sort of live the life of your character. Buy a house, buy a horse, explore through dungeons and the wild... It's all there.


Control: 8/10

The control of the game, I believe, is a part of the gameplay experience, but important enough to warrant a subsection. Oblivion controls fairly well. It takes some getting used to, and after you do, everything becomes basically second nature. The one thing that I'm having trouble figuring out is how to pick stuff up and interact with it instead of putting it in your inventory (like how to throw an apple). If you could control Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, you'll have no issues here. If you had trouble with Morrowind, you may initially have some trouble here as well, but the developers spent a great deal of time with streamlining the controls and making them much more approachable than before. I'm not going to go into detail about what every button does or anything like that because, to be quite frank, it's a waste of my, and your, time. That's what instruction manuals are for.

Replay Value: 10+/10

You'll never run out of stuff to do in this made up world. I like RPGs where there is a story line to it and where there is a definite end to the game, but this is completely the opposite, and I love it. After completion of the game, you could just start again, or use an old saved game, to just set out on your own, and just sort of do whatever you want. Be a hero, a villian, or just a regular joe schmo... in this game it's all good, and it's all up to you. No one's games will ever play out the same, and that's one of the coolest things ever in a video game. Morrowind was the same way, but this is even more expansive. I've already come across several message boards with people just talking about the coolest things they've done/seen in the game. Some of it was "hey that's cool" interesting, while some of it was just "Holy $#!* you can do that!" interesting. The list of things you can do is way to extensive to go into here. You just have to try it.



Overall: 9.8/10 (Not an average)

Ok, the final word. If you're into stereotypical RPGs only (such as the Final Fantasy series), then you might want to stay away, but for all of you who like expansive game worlds where anything you want (basically) is attainable, then you should dive right in. This game, is not, however, meant to be a rental. You won't even get a real feel for it if you just rent it for a couple days, unless you spend HOURS and HOURS of those days playing it. It's a buy title. There's just too much in it to possibly enjoy while renting it. I don't guarantee that everyone who plays this will like it. Hell, a lot of people will hate it, I'm sure. But the main complaints that I've read about and heard are about the frame rate and loading issues. The frame rate is just fine, really, it's when the system starts loading (in real time) the next area that you're moving into that it stutters for a second. It doesn't disrupt anything, however, and is a very small nit pick. The load times between gameplay sections (such as entering or exiting a dungeon) are not that bad. If you want to play a game of this magnitude and not install it onto a hard drive (like the PC users do) then there will be longer load times, which aren't any longer than 20-30 seconds by the way). I seriously recommend this title. It is both fun, and shows off the power of your shiny new Xbox 360 (making your friends drool in amazement).



Jmann2k1