Sometimes, in a great while, a game comes along that pulls you into its universe without prejudice. Games like Super Mario 64 and more recently Knights of the Old Republic have dragged me into their world and I lose track of my friends, my family, my responsibilities and time in general. Possibly foolish, I know, but it’s safe to say anyone reading this knows what I’m talking about. However, when I received Oblivion, I admit I was skeptical. Being one of those souls who were immediately thrust into a rut and spinning my tires in Morrowind I didn’t know what to expect. At the same time it was impossible to ignore the previews and heavy anticipation that followed this title so with all these things in mind I started up the game and began my journey.
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, or just Oblivion from here on in, starts off with your newly created character in jail (word to the wise, take the time to create a custom class you impatient bastards out there). Not knowing rhyme or reason as to why you are there in the first place, all of a sudden the guards come down the stairs. Coincidently (or not so coincidently) your jail cell hides a hidden passageway which leads out of the Imperial City. Well, trouble is a-brewing, and the royal guards (a.k.a. the Blades) need to escort the Emperor out of the city via this passage and rather than pass the time playing with rats, you follow them down the passageway. Along the way you, well, kill rats for a while until eventually the escort runs into problems and the dying Emperor realizing your potential requests a favor of you. I won’t digress any further but your quest is epic as only video games could deliver.
"what do you do once you escape? Whatever the hell you want really"
|
Now since you’re a being in a mythological middle ages setting, what do you do once you escape? Whatever the hell you want really. The game started off slow and a bit boring for me being new to the series, but once I started craving more than randomly wandering and killing, I went to the nearest town where I interact, buy, sell, receive quests, etc. About 5-6 hours in is where it really began to pick up for me; I was multi-tasking with different quests stored up (easily switched between at any time), wandering from area to area (warping to ones I already went to) gaining better armor/weapons/spells, and generally losing myself in this remarkably detailed universe.
Besides for the main quest which is huge in its own right, the mini quests make up the game in my opinion. In addition to the staple missions of "go and kill so and so a creature" or "retrieve this object" there are missions of all types available. Missions which require you to spy on people, steal items from right under someone’s nose, uncover hidden plots or root out evils causing distress to people. There are good and evil ways of performing a lot of missions -- will you choose to serve the greater good or yourself? Also there are the guilds which add considerably to the game. Are you a kleptomaniac? If you have a penchant for stealing, eventually the Thieves guild will approach you discreetly and attempt to recruit you. Are you a murderer? The Dark Brotherhood will pay you a visit. Are you a brawler? Try the fighter’s guild. Do you have dreams of running for the position of Gandalf? Join the mages guild. This game is epic in a way that Tolkien himself would have a problem not noticing.
Most importantly it’s all great fun, and if you love dungeon crawlers, RPG’s, action or strategy, there is something for everyone here. During one of my past playing sessions, the world changed as not only spring came into bloom (the plant life grows as the seasons change!) but a gate to Oblivion itself (think hell) opened and monsters rained down on a normally peaceful city. My "Drewish" Breton rode into battle on my recently acquired white horse (I paid for it myself thank you very much) when I ran headfirst into the gate and took on any demons I could find. I then eventually closed the gate after losing a few men, and took the battle into the city where with the help of a Tower Guard battalion, that were constantly and continually knocked unconscious, we stormed the castle and I had a showdown with a greater demon. I eventually won with my brave strategy of attacking and then healing in a safe corner of the room that the demon could not fit in. All the while I was picking up ingredients to make potions with, leveling up my sword/magic/armor skills, and finally carrying all the loot I could to the shop to see who would give me the best prices because come on, who isn’t a bargain shopper? Let’s hear it for mercantile skill sets! Despite my nerdy, complicated sounding, rant all this took place in a span of a few hours. Just so happened those hours cut into my sleep time, that’s all.
What keeps the player so attached in this world is the graphics. This game is damn pretty, no doubt about it. The amount of detail in each hero, enemy, and otherwise unaligned NPC is nothing short of impressive. The armor is bright, shiny, and detailed along with weapons and enchanted items give off a nice glow whenever applicable. The mouths of the characters move right along with the speech and sync up pretty nicely for the most part. It appears to be a little off only if you happen to walk by two characters in the middle of conversation and if so it is just slightly off there.
"The main jewel of Oblivion is the world itself"
|
The main jewel of Oblivion is the world itself. Huge and far spanning in a way that would make Peter Jackson blush; the landscape is the crowning achievement here. You walk through Lush Forests and Sweeping Mountain passes right onto glistening waterfronts under a beautiful blue sky that just blankets someone in tranquility. That is of course until you pass through an Oblivion gate and your inner DOOM fan jumps for joy. Sharp Jagged rocks amidst a dangerously attractive sea of lava bring you out of your comfort zone as you pass through ruined towers slightly off their foundations as if ravaged by earthquakes.
As you enter each landscape you can’t help but notice how far video games have evolved. 85% of the detail of everything that stretches miles in front of you is already on screen. The land and sky of course but also most of the trees and structures that are in your path are on screen if they aren’t covered by a rolling hill. The use of fog is limited to objects which are many miles in the horizon or when twilight or dawn is about and that is not only understandable but even somewhat welcome as you can almost smell the sweet morning air.
On a higher end computer of course everything looks better, as you can dedicate more memory to things on screen via use of sliders in the menu but every now and again on either system there is a hiccup. By hiccup, I mean that other 15% or less that isn’t on the screen. Every now and again you’ll be walking through the forest when BAM! Fully grown trees pop right out of the ground like a piece of gum on a checkout line conveyor belt in a grocery store. To be fair this is considerably less than in prior iterations of the series, of course, but you can’t help but lose a tiny bit of the escapist feeling when it happens. Well, nobody’s perfect.
"There are hundreds if not roughly a thousand characters in this game and every single one of them speaks."
|
Guess what, everybody has a voice! There are hundreds if not roughly a thousand characters in this game and every single one of them speaks. If you go up to a character in any town you enter into a one on one conversational mode if they aren’t trying to kill you. In each town nobody sounds the same. I have gone through town upon town looking for someone who sounds the same and I really can’t. If there is even a slight possibility that they duped a voice for someone in a different town I couldn’t find it short of being able to make direct audio comparisons with a recorder. Granted, a few people don’t have much to say, but that’s just plain impressive.
What’s even more impressive is the use of the actors signed onto the project. Patrick Stewart has finally been contracted into a decent middle-ages period fantasy game and shines as the Emperor and Sean Bean is perfectly cast as Martin. I couldn’t help but snicker as I noted he made the jump from a Boromir character to an Aragorn-like character but that’s neither here nor there.
Finally, the soundtrack does an average job of rounding out an impressive audio experience. The themes are broad and sweeping as bold heroic themes are present when you start the game, exploring the wilderness and as the story progresses. Calm, soothing themes are present as you go into one of the many tranquil towns. Loud, more driving themes activate as you head into battle. A nice mix altogether, though nothing too memorable or that I’ve found myself humming. It just seems somewhat lackluster for an otherwise excellent game.
I have to admit that it was strange at first to play an RPG mixed with FPS elements but it’s a combination that works well in this circumstance. Control is mostly tight and refined on both systems and the hotkey spell system mapped to the D-Pad isn’t nearly as cumbersome as it might appear. I can live with 8 spells in my rotation at once even if I wish there was a better way to execute than using the right shoulder button. Save for a third trigger and a third trigger finger on a third hand, I doubt they could do any better for me. The blocking system is nice although I wish it were a little more responsive. My only real qualm is that I really don’t care for the bow-and-arrow mechanics. Until you get the hang of it which takes a considerable amount of time it feels clunky and un-inviting.
The new third person view is an interesting addition. Within the staple of most games where the character has a sword, this was a new inclusion into the series. Well, I’m here to say I think it’s great. Great only when you are riding a horse, looking at your armor, or taking screen captures. Being such a huge free forming game with the setup that Oblivion has, just doesn’t work with the third person view in my opinion. However if you are an MMO player you may consider this option somewhat viable.
The game lasts forever and a day. It is longer than any Final Fantasy, Knights of the Old Republic, Mario RPG, and Jade Empire combined! If you wanted to do everything that Oblivion had to offer in a week you couldn’t even if you gave up everything including sleeping and eating! To do so you would need a whopping 200 hours! You just can’t beat that kind of value. This game is the closest you can come to an MMORPG without a subscription fee. The possible amount game time alone is worth the price of the disc.
What is the bottom line here? This game will sell systems. It will please die-hard fans of the series to no end. It is better than all existing 360 games, at the time of writing, save for Geometry Wars. It has been made more accessible so that anyone can take a stab at it. It isn’t perfect; it doesn’t do anything revolutionary in the world of gaming, but if you have a 360 or an up-to-date barge, go purchase this game. If you’re a fan of adventure, action, RPG’s, or even just great games in general, Oblivion is great fun and certainly worth a shot.
Achievement Difficulty 
