The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Review

It’s impossible to think of a game more deserving of the adjective “epic” than The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. This game is so large, so detailed, and so full of life that it delivers a role-playing experience on par with MMORPGs. Its first-person viewpoint and intuitive controls make for some exciting battles and make a case for the game to be considered an action-RPG more than a pure role-playing game. It has enough interesting content to keep you playing for months, if not longer. In short, Oblivion is not only a strong candidate for game of the year honors only a third of the way into 2006, it is hall of fame material.

You’ll know that Oblivion is different than most RPGs right from the beginning. After selecting a name, race, and gender for your character and tweaking your face to your liking, you’re unceremoniously dropped into a locked jail cell. Not only that, the prisoner across the hall is passing the time by unleashing a steady stream of insults at you. You’re not forced to spend the first quarter hour or so of gameplay picking a character class and tweaking stats or to play as a predetermined character. Instead your put into the game with a chance to play for a bit and try things out before committing yourself to a profession or style of play. Brilliant.

Your first adventure in the game begins with the appearance of the emperor in your jail cell. He is being pursued by a band of assassins and there is an old secret passageway out of the castle whose entrance is inside your cell. As if this turn of events was not unexpected enough, the emperor recognizes you as the mysterious person who has been appearing in his prophetic dreams. You then follow the emperor and his guards into the passage and your adventures begin.

This opening adventure serves as the game’s tutorial and introduces you to the game’s controls and the mechanics of play. You’ll have the opportunity to try your hand at melee combat, spell-casting, archery, stealth, and more as you make your way through the underground passage. At the end you’ll be asked to choose a class for your character and in a very cool touch the game will suggest a class for you based on your play in the opening adventure. For example, if you snuck around a lot trying to backstab creatures, a character in the game will comment that you appear to be an assassin or rogue. Of course you are free to choose any class from the game’s extensive list, and if you don’t find anything suitable you can even create and name your own class built along one of the major archetypes of play – stealth, combat, and spell-casting. In Oblivion, your choice of class determines which of the game’s extensive skill list are your “major skills”. You start out with a bonus to your major skills and can advance faster and further in these skills than you can in the others. This does not preclude you from using the other skills in the game – a fighter can make use of spells and a mage can try his hand at picking pockets. Oblivion also eliminates the whole experience point concept in favor of the much more intuitive approach that you get better in a skill by actually using that skill. Jump around a lot and your athleticism increases. Try to sneak up on everyone and your stealth skill increases. Your character will “level up” in the game, but as a result of building up your major skills rather than amassing generic experience. This system ensures that your character gets better in the areas that match your style of play, which I find much preferable than spending time assigning skill points each time I amassed the right number of experience points. Each skill also has a number of ranks associated with it and as you move up the ranks you’ll gain bonus abilities. For example, as you achieve a higher rank in athleticism you’ll gain new abilities like the ability to attack a foe while jumping.

Oblivion also departs from the traditional RPG model in that enemies and monsters are not assigned levels. As you improve, so do your enemies, ensuring a consistent level of challenge throughout the game. This system has a few consequences, the first of which is that you won’t be able to seek out weaker monsters in an attempt to beef up stats or get easy treasure. Of more import though is the slight chance that if you mismanage your character you may reach a point in the game where your enemies become too much for you to handle.

Oblivion takes place in a huge world, and if you had the time and inclination you could walk the entire land from end to end. I can’t say that I have tried walking the entire length of the land and timed the journey, but from my experience walking between some of the cities I can imagine that it would take you quite a while. You can ride horses to speed your travel time or make use of the game map which will allow you to instantly travel to any location on the map. There are two catches with this, though: outside of the main cities you have to discover a location for it to appear on the map and the game will advance the clock as appropriate for the length of your journey. Because of that first point you’ll want to spend some time exploring the world with the additional reward of being treated to some of the best scenery ever to appear in a video game. The landscapes are jaw-dropping gorgeous and really bring the game to life. Clouds drift through the skies and sometimes gather to form rain, trees and even individual leaves sway with the breeze, and there is a botanical cornucopia of plant life and flowers. Day gives way to night which in turn yields to the rosy colors of dawn. The game’s attention to detail will constantly amaze you. I can remember traipsing through the woods for the first time and stopping to notice the variety of fungi growing on a fallen log which spooked a deer that bounded off into the undergrowth. It was almost magical.

Populating this world is an amazing number of NPCs that each lead their own life within the game. An NPC may work in a shop by day, relax at the local tavern in the evening, and then go home to sleep in his own bed at night. NPCs will greet each other as they pass and often stop to converse. Every NPC in the game is voiced and the acting is top-notch, which really breathes life into every character in the game.

Probably just as amazing as the size of Oblivion’s world is the amount of gameplay it holds. It’s a telling sign that the game’s main quest is as deep and compelling as you’ll find in any RPG and yet you can pursue its missions at your leisure without ever finding yourself without anything to do. There are quests offered by NPCs, caverns and dungeons to discover and explore, fighter, thief, and mage guilds that each offer their own missions, and more. You can even pursue your own goals such as amassing gold by selling goods between the cities, embarking on a life of crime robbing stores and homes, or exploring life as a vampire.

The game runs very smoothly and quite well for such a large and complex game. You will run into quirks now and then, but they stand out more for their rarity than for their impact on the game. I had the game lose my horse once, which was odd and somewhat annoying but my no means did it make the game unplayable. I arrived at a town riding m brand new horse, carefully stabled it, closed the gate, and then went about my business in town. When I left town the horse was nowhere to be seen. I searched all over the place thinking that it must have let itself out of the corral, but alas my horse was no where to be found. When I went back into town, the game informed me that my horse was stabled outside of the town. I ran back out but the horse was not there after all. Now whenever I enter that town I am told that my horse is stabled outside even though he’s never there.

Oblivion is a game that will appeal to both action gamers and RPG fans, and make both groups quite happy to spend a lot of time with the game. It’s one of those rare games that is more of an experience than just a game and you’ll love being long for the ride.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 98%. Roleplaying, thy name is Oblivion.