The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

With six more months of polish, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion would stand as the greatest RPG ever made. In its current form, it's merely magnificent.

It's funny how little things can make or break a game. Take The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the latest in a proud line of immersive role-playing games from Maryland-based developer Bethesda Softworks.

Though Oblivion is a masterpiece, technological frustrations and nagging inconveniences undermine it at almost every turn. A lesser game would have collapsed under these shortcomings, but Oblivion transcends its limitations to become the best original game available for the Xbox 360 and a top contender for Game of the Year.

The Jitter Bug
There's no sense in splitting hairs -- the performance on the Xbox 360 version is in serious need of a tune-up. The experience isn't uniformly bad, but frame rate problems pop up frequently enough that you'll wish Bethesda had taken more time to smooth out the kinks. We tried everything we could to improve the game's performance: even playing at standard resolution (480i on a regular, non-HD TV) offered no benefit. Overall, the performance just doesn't match what you'd expect out of a $400 console and a $60 game. It's unfortunate, but not ruinous.

Besides the erratic frame rates, you'll frequently clash with incessant loading times. Open a door (and there are a lot of doors in Oblivion) and you'll be greeted by a five- to fifteen-second delay. The loading screens aren't bad on their own, but they add up over the course of the game, becoming a little more irritating each time. In the wilderness, the loading scenes don't interrupt the gameplay, only producing a slight hitch or a stutter. But if your horse is galloping across the countryside at full speed, the loading is quite noticeable -- there's a split-second pause every few seconds as the game chokes on data streaming from the DVD. It's tolerable, but it's a shame.

Though disappointing, Oblivion's performance problems don't impact the experience as badly as they would for a fast-paced twitch shooter like, say, Quake 4. Oblivion revolves around adventure and exploration, so it has a far greater tolerance for uneven performance. That said, it's possible that Bethesda will issue a patch via Xbox Live that alleviates the worst of the frame rate stuttering. We encourage them to do just that: a fine game like Oblivion deserves nothing less than perfect presentation.

Into the Great Wide Open
We wanted to get the bad news out of the way first because otherwise, with a few notable exceptions, Oblivion deserves nothing but praise. If you thought Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was still the king of open-ended gameplay, Oblivion will blow your mind. Right from the beginning of the game, your options are almost limitless, guided only by your preferences and actions. The main storyline quest is available at any time, but you're free to ignore it and venture off on your own. If you want, you can conquer the local Arena circuit, rise to the top of a guild, pick pockets, gamble away your loot, buy real estate, or prey on villagers as a blood-guzzling vampire. Tamriel is a vast place (sixteen miles wide, according to Bethesda) and its choices are nearly limitless.

Most players will initially choose to tackle the main quest, which takes a page from the book of Diablo. The empire of Tamriel is under siege from dimension-hopping demonic interlopers. Naturally, you're charged with rescuing the Emperor's son and halting the invasion. The central quest is supplemented by small sub-quests, such as defending cities, infiltrating religious cults, or entering the Oblivion gates and raiding the invader's hellish home turf.

These latter quests are often the most satisfying, with the harsh, unforgiving realm of Oblivion providing a suitably bizarre setting for sword-and-sorcery combat. Though many of these objectives turn into routine gopher or assassination grinds, you can always choose to chase some separate side-quest until you're ready to resume your primary responsibilities. The primary storyline is by-the-book, but what it lacks in plot it makes up for in depth. It cannot be over-emphasized: Oblivion's size and scope are simply stunning.

The character creation in Oblivion goes into absurd detail, so much so that it's outside the scope of this review. Needless to say, you're free to tweak almost every physical detail of your character, from hair color and style to facial structure and skin tone (though, oddly, there's no way to adjust body sizes or types -- maybe next time). And as in the other Elder Scrolls games, Oblivion employs an "organic" approach to experience and skill advancement. You need to exercise your skills to improve them in Oblivion, which means you won't improve your Blade skill until you actually pick up a sword. This can cause some frustration and confusion early in the game, as the proper path to a solid character design is not always obvious. Just like in real life, experimentation is key.

Comments [4]

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Willi_Wonker

Awesome game, great to play if your between games. You can always get back into it!

BloodyRugburn

Oblivion RULEZ!!! My favorite character type is the Mage because the mage is simply the STRONGEST! I love to make and master different characters - but you should simply stick to one-at-a-time, because making multiples at once adds to more confusion, and cluttered saves. GOooo Bethesda!!! Whoo-Hooo!

The_Muffin_Man

Oblivion is simply... WOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And actually no mage aren't that good, it's better to be a All-Around sort of person because well... combat gives you more strength to hold things, and better health/fatigue. While mage gives you a restoration ability, long range attacks, and the awesome walk-on-water technique. Stealth allows you to sneak up on enemies, steal from chests and people without being seen, and use a bow & arrow to shoot down people. So All-around is the best thing to be in Oblivion... sorry I just got really bored, but all-around is better.

neverliveneverdie

For the final quest in the thieves guild 'Ultimate Heist' I shot the arrow of extrification and went into the Guards area, I got caught and chose to go to jail. Being an idiot, I saved so I can't go back now and the door that opens after you shoot the arrow now says 'you need a key to open this door', so is there anybody that holds the 'Imperial Guard key' or whatever it's called. Because I really am screwed right now. (360 console)

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