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| The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion |
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Over one
year of playing, so far
It’s been almost a year
to the day since I first installed
Oblivion onto my hard drive, so this could be the longest
period of play-testing ever attributed
to one of my game reviews. But Oblivion is a game that requires
a long period of play to really appreciate
fully – all it’s nuances,
charms and misfires – and the year I’ve spent playing
and studying it has taken me to places I’ve never been, in
a 30 year game-playing career.
Just to put into perspective the sheer
scope of Oblivion: I’ve been
playing for 387 days (of game time – not real time) and have
completed 147 quests. And I have not yet completed the game or found
every hidden place on the map. It constantly
amazes me that, fourteen months
on from starting to play this game, I still
find new places on the map when I play. It delights me to discover
new items and weapons introduced into the game, even though I’ve
been playing for so long. And that’s still
happening to me as I play now. |
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Pros
Years of gameplay!
Wonderful level design.
Amazing music.
Cons
A few but nothing major.
Comment
Arguably the best role playing game ever made |
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| "Visiting Cyrodiil for
a stroll around the beaches of Anvil, or a climb up the Valus Mountains
is almost as good as a real holiday." |
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Keep on runnin'
I completed the main quest some weeks
ago, but new quests still pop up all
the time. The main quest is an
epic in itself
– culminating in a huge battle
involving lots of monsters, swords and explosions – but is
only a fraction of the open-ended
nature of Oblivion as a game.
Oblivion to me is a sandbox
for an alternative life in a beautiful and dangerous land. If things
are stressed in real life: visiting Cyrodiil for a stroll around
the beaches of Anvil, or a climb up the Valus Mountains is almost
as good as a real holiday.
Clearing out monster infested caves is a cathartic experience too
– especially when the rag
doll physics throws them into
the air with a single blow of an electrified mace. The whole feel
and structure of Oblivion’s quest system and interface make
playing a real joy
and it is easy to pick up and play even after a long time away. |
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Deep Immersion
In terms of immersion: Oblivion blows
hot and cold. At times you really
do feel like you're in another
world, with incredible landscapes,
sweeping music
and a solid connection between the controls and the limbs of your
character. But at times you are jarred from the illusion by some
really woeful voice acting,
or a weird story paradox
or bug
that makes a mockery
of what you're supposed to be doing. It happens
quite a bit and you have to
ignore it,
but thankfully it doesn't detract
from the fact that most of the story-telling in Oblivion is well-founded
and exciting
to play out as the writers intended.
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Special Mention
Special mention has to go to a number
of features in Oblivion - a couple of which I think are absolutely
groundbreaking. Firstly: the level
design. It's wonderfully creative.
It's hard to know how good it is until you traversed a good proportion
of it over a long period of time. Bethesda's modellers, texturers,
and programmers should be appreciated
for their work - the landscape
in Oblivion is possibly the most
interesting and varied 3D gaming environment ever created.
Even inside the hundreds of caverns and ruins the designers find
ways of mixing things up so that repetition never sets in. It's
an amazing feat of digital engineering.
The second feature I think deserves special mention is the
sound. Oblivion's musical themes
and sounds are second to none. The music especially is inspiring,
and beautifully produced - especially the main Oblivion theme (heard
on the title menu) and the quiet woodwind themes heard during the
game. Footstep sounds are brilliant
too - not computerised and synthetic, but varied and natural and
changing depending on the surface you're walking on (the snow footsteps
are particularly impressive). These, combined with a myriad of other
ambient sounds effects (birds chirping; rain sounds; thunder) add
up to make one of the most impressive
gaming soundscapes ever created.
I'd also like to mention how good the
interface is too. With so much
going on in Oblivion it would have been easy for Bethesda to mess
it up. Thankfully all works well, feels
great and rarely crashes. |
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Most Worthy
At the end of the day Oblivion is the
gaming equivalent of Marmite: you'll either love
the fantasy setting, or you'll hate
it. If you can get past the fantasy stigma you'll find an ocean
of excitement and experience here
- all of it rewarding and worth the investment of time. I know a
great game when I see one and Oblivion is such a game. And I'll
probably still be playing it a
year from now. |
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The Elder Scrolls
IV: Oblivion
DEVELOPER:
Bethesda Softworks
PUBLISHER:
Take 2 Interactive
PLATFORM:
Windows XP and Xbox 360
RATING:
96 out of 100
Buy
PC version
Buy
XBox 360 version |
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