It seems that no one is oblivious to Oblivion.

Indeed, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion may be the most widely-known, hyped, paraded, and talked-about role-playing game release in history. It is hard to recall another such game that has generated as much hype or press. It is even harder to remember one that has lived up to the expectations surrounding such inflated anticipation. Oblivion, however, does just that, and more.While technically an role-playing game, Oblivion is in truth best referred to as an experience, and it brings with it a level of immersion that is simply not offered by other titles. Of course, its core genre is that of a RPG, but Oblivion is really in a class of its own. The Elder Scrolls series has always been particularly ambitious, always ahead of its time. Beginning with Arena, evolving with Daggerfall (quite possibly the buggiest game in PC gaming history and yet still widely accepted and loved), continuing with the popular and comparatively bug-less Morrowind, and now culminating in Oblivion, the The Elder Scrolls series has seen steady growth and has only gotten better over the years.

The overall engine and mechanics have been streamlined a great deal from those found in Morrowind. Some aspects of the game have been simplified, while others have been given much-needed complexity. Though many gamers will cite widely-different personal experiences regarding their time spent with Oblivion, most will agree that the developers chose to expunge exactly the aspects of Morrowind that were cumbersome or did not work, and likewise opted to expand exactly those elements that warranted extra attention. For instance, instead of choosing major, minor, and then tertiary skills, players now select seven major skills and everything else falls under the category of minor skills. Similarly, there is no more middle-armor class - every armor type in Morrowind that was considered medium armor was shuffled into either heavy or light armor for Oblivion. Additionally, there is only hand-to-hand, blunt, and blade weapon skills, rather than having these abilities segregated into different types.

The combat system has been made much more robust as well. This time out blocking isn't automatic, as now players must choose when to block and when to attack. Combat was kind of an obligatory chore in Morrowind. Here, it has become the crux of the action, and is actually a joy. Every battle can be won in a variety of ways, and combat is generally much more strategic than deciding whether or not to thrust or slash. In addition, now that magicka actually regenerates without having to rest, spellcasters now have been given a fighting chance. Of course, the game still tends to favor the jack-of-all-trades fighter/spellcaster, but where a pure spellcaster was almost doomed to failure in Morrowind, this is no longer necessarily the case.

Of course, these are just some random differences; Oblivion was built from the ground up, and as such it improves upon many aspects of Morrowind, from mechanics down to the menus. Rather than simply expanding on the previous game's engine, it instead incorporates the best design philosophies present in Morrowind and builds on them, and in the process has left behind the dregs. For starters, in true Elder Scrolls style, Oblivion is as non-linear as a single player RPG can be. Character creation is a robust affair, and is actually now segmented within the game's introductory dungeon. Players will choose a race, name, and class, or they can create their own class consisting of two main attributes and seven minor skills. After players leave this initial dungeon, they are given free reign to do as they please. The world, or at least Cyrodiil, is their oyster.

Cyrodiil, the slice of Tamriel upon which Oblivion takes place, is huge. Morrowind was reported at ten square miles, whereas Oblivion adds six more on top of that, with far less water, making for more content-laden land. Back is Daggerfall's map-driven fast-travel system, though this time around the system is given less detail than in Daggerfall, which makes some sense. Beginning with Morrowind, quests - save a scant few - were not timed. However, every quest in Daggerfall had some sort of time-limit attributed to it, and as such traveling could cost precious hours. In Oblivion, like was in Morrowind, time is usually not of the essence. This is a double-edged sword, however, as time-sensitive quests add an element of reality and tension to the game, and this is definitely something Oblivion lacks when compared to Daggerfall. The reason this was done, though, is obvious - every quest in Oblivion has a feeling of being much bigger than just your average random fetch quests which were the bread and butter of Daggerfall. As such, penalizing a player for taking too long on a customized plot-oriented quest does not make much sense in a game such as this, however the lack of time-sensitivity removes a layer of tension that may have benefited Oblivion.

Still, there are some quests which require the player to act quickly, more so than in Morrowind. There is an unbelievably large variety of intricate quests, which range from locating someone's lookalike, to investigating local murders, to slaying vampires, to locating precious heirlooms, to…well, the list goes on and on and on and on and on. There are hundreds of quests, many of which do not fall under the main plot line, and are simply present either to fill the back story, serve as atmosphere, or grant the player certain rewards to aid him or her on the main quest.

Players can get lost nearly anywhere in Cyrodiil simply because there is so much to do. It is possible to fast travel to various locations and breeze through elements of the main plot, however it is just as easy to get stuck in one small town doing quest after quest just to experience what the game has to offer. Factions are back, though there are seemingly less than there were in previous series titles. The achievements available for the Xbox 360 track a player's progress through the five main guild-like factions, as well as plot milestones. These guilds each have their own duties and commissions for members to reach higher ranks. Each guild also now has a clear delineation from the others. The Fighters' Guild acts like a melee-oriented Fighters' Guild, the Mages' Guild's woes and requests are all magic-oriented, and the Thieves' Guild actually acts like a Thieves' Guild for once - a welcome change. Sneaking and thieving has been given a large overhaul now as well, as stealing is much more difficult than before, owing in part to the much more robust A.I. found in Oblivion. NPCs will now follow the main character around, particularly if his or her general presence is known, until he or she is out of sight. NPCs will make certain to keep the player under a watchful eye, most especially once they acquire infamy for misdeeds.

There is so much content that one could literally write a book on the merits of Oblivion - speaking of which, there are many texts to read in the game, all of which matter in one way or another. Some are newsletters, some are the requisite history texts, while still others serve as important plot or subplot devices - such as a diary or a love letter from one suitor to another. There are some that contain hints pointing the player toward a particular puzzle solution, or giving them hazy directions or clues pointing them toward a particular area of interest. The texts are very interesting, overall, and there is a lot less miscellany thrown about them.

From a technical standpoint, playing Oblivion on the Xbox 360 is an absolute dream. The game has one of the most pleasing aesthetics ever pressed on disc, and playing in full widescreen high definition only furthers the immersion of the experience. Audio is done just as well, and the voice-acting is excellent, with the only minor complaint being that many of the voices sound very similar.

The developers at Bethesda have done an amazing job at making this game feel as if it was made to be played using the Xbox 360 controller, rather it feeling like a PC game that has been shoehorned on the console. Playing through the game feels comfortable at every step. Aiming is done with one analog stick, movement with the other, and attacking and blocking are handled by the triggers. The button above the right trigger is for casting the active spell. There is no longer an annoying "casting" mode, as now the player can can cast spells on-the-fly, though it does lower his or her guard while casting the readied spell. The directional pad allows for the assignment and use of hotkeyed items. Almost anything can be hotkeyed, including weapons, spells, or items. If the player hotkeys a potion, touching that direction on the pad will use the potion. If they hotkey a weapon or spell, hitting the appropriate direction will equip that weapon or ready that spell. The four buttons act as action, jumping, canceling actions, and such. Start both pauses the game and access the menu used for saving, loading, or qutting out of the game, while the back button allows a player to wait for a an adjustable period of hours (provided there are not enemies nearby). The controller is also conducive to the new lockpicking and persuasion mini-games, which make these two aspects a much less clinical, stat-driven affair.

Of course, the game is not without flaws, however minor. One such shortcoming is the issue of grass growing due to pop up. While walking about in Cyrodiil, it will appear as if bushels of grass sprout up from the ground. Also, there is definitely something odd about how the Xbox 360 loads and caches data. A few times, the console actually locked up during this review, particularly toward the tail-end of a long marathon session. Often, loading a new area will be quick and painless, but at other times, a player may stare at the loading screen for upwards of a minute. Another possible complaint is that the city architecture does not differ as greatly as perhaps it should. In Morrowind, each major city felt and looked unique, but in Oblivion, they are all quite similar-looking. NPCs tend to say some fairly useless and repetitive things, particularly to each other. The A.I. is quite good, and ambient conversations are a nice touch, but the fact that they repeat as often as they do can be a little weird, and the voices themselves are much too similar. Indeed, it seems that only a handle of voice actors were brought on to provide speech for hundreds upon hundreds of NPCs. The actual voice acting is fine, but there is scant differentiation - it is often difficult to tell who is actually speaking during one of those side conversations, unless you are staring at the speaker.

Even so, the pros far, far outweigh the few cons, and the loading issue is not a game-stopper by any means. There is so much to do in Oblivion. There are horses to ride, vampires to slay, ladies to impress, lords to betray, shops to lift, quests to undertake, houses to buy and furnish, potions to brew, items to enchant, spells to make, and men to murder. If you choose. You can choose to do absolutely none of those things and still progress through the game. That is the beauty of Oblivion, as it has been with every Elder Scrolls adventure. Players are rewarded as much as they want to be. It is quite possible to blow through the game in 30 hours, but it is equally possible to play for 400 and still not have done everything there is to do in Cyrodiil. Also, considering that there is already a Download Content option to download stuff from Xbox Live, as well as an already announced promise of downloadable armor with which to outfit your horse in the near future, the popularity of Oblivion will almost assuredly mean expansions, which will only add to the already huge world and what it offers. Until then, players will have a lot to chew on with the core game, which is without question one of the best and most rewarding experiences ever to be made available.

Score: 98%

Mar 28, 2006 | 0 comments
Roger Helgeson