The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Review (Old)

This was my first review which I wrote for another blog a while back.

Gameplay Too start with, this is just an amazing game. I don't want to spoil much to do with the Main Quest in case you may not have the game yet. After you have chosen your charachters class, starsign and race, you will be thrust out into the open wilderness. This is when you begin to realise the true meaning of 'Freedom'. The first thing you will notice is how amazing the graphics look when you are out in the open. The various parts of the map are greatly detailed and honed to perfection. The wilderness is completly full of varying types of trees, grass and of course- Rivers, lakes and oceans. The controls are extremely easy to use on the Xbox 360 Console, as it plays out like any normal First Person Shooter, although this game can also be played in Third Person view, but it is easy to tell that it was made to be played in First Person View. The Framerate also keeps steady during most of the time while playing, just stuttering when it is loading a new area or when there is large-scale battles taking place. There is supposedly bugs or glitches in this game, but you can avoid most of them if you want, such as money or duplicating glitches. The game will also occasionly freeze, I have put in around 50 hours into this game within 1 week and it has froze only 4 times. Some of these may put you off the game a bit, but it is well worth your time to suffer these things now and again, and have a truly amazing gameplay experience. The Main Quest in this game is deeply engrossing, it just completly grabs your attention from the moment you start the game. Unlike most games of this kind, Quests in this game are not clear-cut. Normally you would expect something like this: Ask somebody for a quest, you are told to go and kill someone, you kill him then come back for your reward. In Oblivion the quests almost always have more than one objective, which makes it alot more interesting and encourages you to do more quests. There are also many Side-Quests, and many of them are just as good, or better, than some of the Main-Quests. The Radiant AI system is truly amazing, you could just follow a random NPC about the cities all day, seeing what they get up to in their spare time. The first time I broke into someone's house while they were sleeping, I was suprised to see that they had a guard-dog in their house that destroyed my level 1 Warrior. Graphics What can I say? The graphics are just awe-inspiring. Every tree, every blade of grass, every weapon, every piece of armour have all been produced in the highest quality of graphics that I have seen in a game. The wilderness in this game looks utterly brilliant, with the water reflecting all the buildings and rocks. I will not say anymore about the graphics, as i'm sure you have already seen them. Sound Like the graphics, the sounds are stupidly good. The music completely gets you in the mood for exploring, with the vicious battle music kicking in just at the right time when an enemy plans to attack you. When you hit someone, it actually feels real because of the *Thud* you hear. This changes depending on who or what you hit, such as a wall or a creature. All in all everything just sounds just as it should and how you would expect it to. Conclusion Considering everything that is right and wrong with this game, if you are thinking about buying it, I recomend that you do. I am currently playing it more that I have played any of my other Xbox 360 games, and I know that I will still be playing it in the months that follow. The Collector's Edition of the game is also very nice, it opens like a book and includes some nice extras. I played Morrowind and I didn't like it all that much, but this is like a completely different game. Nearly everything in it is done right, and it was well worth the money for me. Rating- 9.8