Elder Scrolls IV : Oblivion

Reviewed by Andrew Clark
May 31, 2006

Developer: Bethesda Softworks Publisher: 2K Games Website: Click Here Platform(s): XBOX 360, PC Players: 1-4 (XBOX Live Enabled) ESRB Rating: M for Mature (Blood, Violence)

Environment shot from Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Courtesy Bethesda Softworks.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is the latest installment of the Elder Scrolls series, and the first for next gen consoles. For gamers new to the Elder Scroll series, the first game on the Xbox had wonderful game mechanics, beautiful graphics and hours and hours of gameplay for a truly great role playing experience. This version of Elder Scrolls is no different. RPG fans will get a taste of over 200+ hours of gameplay including quests and loot that enables them free roaming all over the world.

The graphics are stunning, with rolling hills and swords glinting with the sun. The environments are vast and interactive with rich color. Characters are rendered well from facial expressions to the hairs on their head. Monsters and other creatures are also quite animated when they are attacking. At times, there are slight glitches in the scenery. One glitch that has been noted is that sometimes a character will enter a city and the walls, buildings, and other textures will not load. Your character will just be on the grass standing still and the doors are floating. This glitch will sometimes fix itself, other times it will remain, and unless gamers have a save file that occurred before the glitch happened you will be stuck with it. But all in all the game's overall look makes it a worthwhile by and the glitches are just a minor inconvenience.

The game play is spectacular with a huge continent to explore, and unlike most RPG's this one is not linear. Players are not limited to a storyline. Characters are free to roam the world starting main quests, but have the option to run a different path and do other something else. The control system is a simple point and click on the computer ( similar to Diablo) and the Xbox 360 uses the thumbsticks to move around. Various Actions are assigned by buttons which makes it a fairly easy to learn game to play. The characters themselves have many options for look, and abilities which can be customized by how you train them. A block feature was added which will help player's characters survive monsters in the long run. The menu system comes up with the touch of a button and gives information such as mission logs, maps, equipment choice, item use in a large screen. You can actually see what you are wielding, clearly, not squinting at tiny text.

Being that this is a 360 title, and a PC game I am sure that it will offer more things to keep you hooked such as downloads via the Xbox 360 marketplace. I'm certain that there will be expansion packs for the game that will be up for download or purchase and once these come out it will be like a new game again.

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