The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition

"Outstanding gameplay & content, but 1.2 GotY patch created some new bugs"

Oblivion is not an easy game to review due to the downloadable content and the Shivering Isles/ Knights of the Nine expansions for non-Xbox Live players like me. This is based on the Game of the Year Edition of Oblivion on the 360, and it's also available on the PC and PlayStation 3.

When you start off the game, it's nice to have different abilities of character races. You have a choice of 10 different races, each with strengths and weaknesses. You have an Argonian, who can breathe underwater and can't be poisoned. Then there's a Breton, who are good at summon and healing magic and can resist magic. Then the Dark Elf, who is a hybrid attacker/offensive spellcaster. The High Elf is more of players who use aggressive magic with little concerns of themselves. The Imperial is a standard race who excel in social skills. The Khajait is a speedhouse and can see in the dark. The Nord is a pure powerhouse who is in some ways better than an Orc, but the Orc has Berserk which is useful in a pinch. The Redguards are also good in physical combat. Finally, the Wood Elf is great as a scout or stealthy player, as well as alchemy.

As you progress in the underground jail and know the plot unfolds, you will be able to pick a birthsign and later on once the Emperor dies, you'll pick a style of play. The underground jail and sewers is basically a training ground to get used to the controls. Once you get out of the sewers, you've got a long main quest to follow.

The physical layout of Cyrodiil (which is the region in Tamriel) is pretty large and expansive that it can take a while to get from point A to point B. Fortunately, you can fast travel to cities and landmarks you've found by pointing your cursor to the destination, as long as you aren't in combat mode or in a dungeon that is not easily exited.

While the main quest is available, with the Achievements included, the game also packs in a ton of quests and guild-based quests to do. Fighters and Mages guild are provided at the start, and you can also put your life on the line in the arena to build your reputation and earn Achievements there. The Thieves Guild is a bit more complicated to do because you either must have a criminal record, or have stolen enough goods to join them. Finally comes to the sinister Dark Brotherhood quests, where you carry out assassination contracts. To become one, you must murder an innocent civilian and then find a place to sleep. After sleeping, the leader of the Dark Brotherhood will arrive and gives you the first assassination mission.

Since I'm talking about the Game of the Year Edition, I'll have to talk about Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine. I haven't tried KotN yet, but Shivering Isles I did and it's a very remarkable quest. In addition to that expansion, Bethesda Softworks added 10 Achievements just for the Shivering Isles, which is just getting further into the campaign. This pack may seem to be a DLC, but it offers 30 hours of must-play material. Dementia and Mania each have a unique look as well, which is a welcome break of Cyrodiil's beautiful blooms and seeing the hellish gates of Oblivion.

Unfortunately, I have to list the problems in the game. Even with the HDD installation (thanks to NXE), which did reduce the load times by a lot, the game still stutters and lag during larger maps. Going to combat only to die due to the "Loading Area..." text appear is no fun at all, though this occurance would be extremely rare. Even with the Game of the Year Edition game update, the game fixed some bugs but now created new glitches. For example, I had a permanent glitch in which when I moved backwards in third-person view, the camera just spins to face my character instead of staying behind my player. This glitch persisted 24/7 on that edition even if I turned off the game and turned it back on. True, 3rd-person mode is barely functional in Oblivion, but that took the cake.

And don't get me started about the enemies who scale to your level. This throws the sense of accomplishment of levelling up, which takes nearly forever just to get to Level 2. The only reason to level up is to get better equipment and face badder enemies. Fortunately, you can adjust the difficulty level to your liking, and it's slider-based like tuning the brightness and internal volume.

Still, even with those issues, Oblivion is an outstanding time. And the two expansions for non-Live players helped expanded it even further.


Pros: Deep gameplay, tons of side quests, original concept for Shivering Isles

Cons: Game stutters a lot on the 360, occasional glitches, enemy scaling level system


Graphics (out of 10): 9 Cyrodiil and the Shivering Isles are great to look at, even if some stuttering is present.

Sound: 8 The score is beautiful overall, but once you talk to a lot of people, you'll realize that only a handful of actors were used (in addition to Patrick Stewart's voice at the start of the game). Sheogorath's lines in Shivering Isles is hilarious in a good way.

Gameplay: 9 This is a great first-person action game overall. The third-person mode isn't the best, but I never used it much.

Story: 9 The main quest will keep you sucked in until the end of it. Of course, the main quest is just optional to do.

Replayability: 10 Guaranteed to suck your life away regardless of your tastes.

Final Word: It's not perfect, even as a GotY Edition, but the content in Oblivion is off-the-charts.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/05/09

Game Release: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition (US, 09/10/07)