The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

One of the finest western RPGs ever released.

Looking back over the last year there’s one thing that seems odd about all the excitement surrounding The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. That is, why so many people got so excited about it, after all it is something of a hardcore RPG – not the kind of game that normally gets the massed ranks of gamers excited. To some extent the same thing happened with Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. Both GR and Elder Scrolls franchises had loyal followings, but nothing compared to the fandom that has surrounded the development of the next-gen iterations.

It has to be the graphics. While so many higher profile franchise such as Halo have remained in the shadows, these minor games from the last generation burst onto the scene showing off the graphical capabilities of Microsoft’s new console. There was a definite wow factor about the games; we only had to post Oblivion screens here for the hits to go through the roof. The game appealed to graphics whores, myself included, but if you’re tempted to enter the world of Oblivion on that bases then you’re bound to feel a little disappointed.

Oh don’t get me wrong, Oblivion looks pretty good compared to most games. But when you see the game moving, with its low frame-rate and ugly middle-distance textures you may feel a little let down. There are problems too with some of the character models, often they don’t seem to be lit correctly, resulting in their mouths appearing strange when you talk to them. There are some very pretty graphics in the game, the draw distance and artistic design are both very impressive, clearly a lot of work has gone into the way the game looks. The water effects are excellent, as is the lighting most of the time. It’s that old mixed bag again. Sometimes Oblivion pulls something stunning out of it, at other times something bland. Graphics whores beware, the game will roll the D20 of shiny next-gen graphics and you won’t always get a hit.

So there we go, graphics out of the way now and we can talk about the important stuff like how much fun the game is to play. If you’ve been playing any of the popular MMOs recently you may find the world of Oblivion rather strange. Don’t think of level-grinding, there really is no point. Bethesda has made a rather critical error with the way levelling works. Much of the game makes you feel as though you exist within a living breathing world. But aspects of the levelling system can destroy that illusion.

Characters level up based on advancement in their major skills. All well and good, but if you don’t take care to level these skills evenly and work on your minor skills you will find that the game becomes much tougher. Whenever you level up, the world does too, meaning that if you’ve levelled based on none-combat skills, the world becomes a much tougher place to be. The levelling is perhaps the only part of the game that feels artificial and does spoil some of the enjoyment. I can understand how as you progress through the main story the challenge would get harder, but the point of becoming a powerful warrior or mage is that the ordinary folk of the world no longer are any challenge to your mighty power.

But level up a few times and you suddenly find that rare items are now so commonplace that even highwaymen you meet are clad in the finest armour and are trained in combat way beyond their meagre profession. As the world levels up around you as your own level increases it just seems very odd and not quite the correct way of doing things. Bethesda really should have treated the levelling differently, with harder quests with tougher enemies being offered when you increase your level, but not the whole world levelling with you. This system hurts power players the most, as they get little reward for level grinding. Sure, some skills change for the better as you level up, but some aspects of the game become rather broken. The marksman skill for example is one of these. As you level up so do enemies and you find that it doesn’t matter how elite a bowman you become, you’re not likely to bring down an enemy with a couple of sneaky shots to the head.

And seeing as I’m in complaining mode right now, how about the all-seeing eye of the local law enforcement? My main character is a law abiding citizen of the realm, though I have been arrested, accused of stealing a horse that was actually one I owned. This seems a common problem, with a few glitches like this putting your character in danger. But who cares about a few little glitches in a game with such a broad scope? Right that’s the bitching done, now lets get into the great things about the game.

The control method on Xbox 360 works wonderfully, it’s simple and intuitive. The menu/map/inventory system works a treat, making it very easy to sort through belongings, create new potions and equip weaponry. Controlling your characters movements around the world and actions in combat are equally well handled, meaning you’ll be fighting the enemy and not the joypad. I found using a sword and shield most satisfying, with the left trigger raising the shield to block, the right trigger swinging the sword. The animation, first-person point of view and the dynamic movement when hit makes for an exhilarating combat experience. If I had one niggle it would be it isn’t entirely convincing when your weapon hits the enemy, compared to the effect of being battered oneself, but despite that combat in Oblivion is a lot of fun. Using magic or a bow is equally entertaining.

Normally I’d finish a game before reviewing it, but you’d have had to wait months for the review otherwise. I’m about 30 hours or so into the game, having involved myself a little with the main plot, many different quests for the fighters and mages guilds, become a member of the Blades, started a gladiator career, got involved with many local quests and raided quite a few dungeons. I’ve also created a second character for the purposes of writing this review to try the darker side of life, looting, killing, thieving and generally larking about like a real bad egg. During all of this time Oblivion has never been any less than a whole lot of fun.

Oblivion is non-linear in a way games such as Grand Theft Auto aspire to but don’t get close to achieving. After all, they offer only shades of dark grey, not a chance to choose your path between good and bad and all points in between. There are few games that offer the freedom that Oblivion has. At a very basic level Oblivion offers hours and hours of interest in just exploring the world and taking a look around. Then you’ve interaction with the NPCs who offer some entertaining chat and the occasional quest. That’s before you’ve got involved with guilds that offer more dramatic quests to get involved in. Add to that the main plot, with it’s scary Oblivion gateways into a more hellish realm and you have a game packed with things to see and do.

The open-ended aspect of the game extends to the quests themselves. Take item A to point B quests are rare in this game, even the simplest quests offer more interest than this. Many quests offer freedom to complete them in several ways. For example, in one town you become involved with a plot by several people to remove the corrupt captain of the guard. Along the way you’ll have to make decisions on how to proceed and which is the best solution based on your own sense or morality. Another early quest where you become involved in one sad characters paranoid plotting can end in any number of ways depending on the way you handle him.

With all this going on, despite the major problems with levelling, the world of Elder Scrolls IV really does seem alive. I love the way NPCs will stop in the street and engage in conversation with each other. It’s particularly gratifying if their topic of conversation is the resolution of some problem that your character was involved in. At times hearing conversation like that made me wish there was an option to join in the conversation with “That was me, I did that, aren’t I great?”

This is a game that sucks you in for hours and hours at a time. It’s amazing to see the different ways it will draw you in. There’s the incredible intensity of a tricky dungeon raid or a scary foray through an Oblivion gate to the dark horrors that exist within. Then there’s a relaxing time spent wandering in the wilderness looking for plants to create potions with. For those with wanderlust, sometimes the joy of finding out what’s beyond the next hill is worth the admission price alone.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a triumph of modern adventure gaming. To call it a role playing game is perhaps too limiting, it implies too much about stats and rolling D20s rather than getting stuck into the action. Oblivion is an epic adventure, a milestone in gaming and a rare treat. That a game so complex and unashamedly hardcore has garnered so much attention from the mainstream gamers is a signal to many that dumbing-down and blinging-up everything isn’t always the path to success.

Here we have a game that is intelligent and uncompromising yet wonderfully easy to get involved with and enjoy. Yes there are problems with the levelling system, without these issues we’d be in danger of this actually being the proverbial perfect game. Perfection or not, Bethesda has created a milestone in gaming with Oblivion, a free-form adventure of such a high quality that I cannot do anything but offer our highest score. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is not perfect, but it’s the best game in town, avoid it at your peril.

This review comes courtesy of our friends at Boomtown.net .