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| Reviewed by: David Rudy 10 Apr 2006 Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
| |  Elder Scrolls one of the most popular role playing games and probably one of if not the best to grace the original XBOX, now makes an early appearance onto Microsoft’s next generation platform, touting more action larger more sprawling landscapes, tons of magic, action and extremely in-depth character creation. The question is can this be the role playing game, hell the game to put the XBOX 360 on the map?
The gameplay is done in first person mode, however you can switch to third person as well, but honestly my suggestion is to keep it in first person, as third person feels a bit clunky. The controls and ideas behind how to be successful at controlling your character and navigating in the immersive Oblivion world are introduced quickly in a tutorial like dungeon where the story begins to unfold. Now this tutorial is not overwhelming in the slightest but instead it introduced them in a non-intrusive way and quickly brought you up to speed on attacking, sneaking, managing your inventory, equipping items and using potions and other items. The switching in and out of the world map, a marker on your compass to help keep you on target for your main quest is easy to follow and its almost hard to get lost in this world thanks to plenty of help the developers give you to put you on your path. I could go on and on about the character customization, but lets just say that I spent well over one hour customizing my own character, the choices are insane from modifying the chin to the eyes to how pointy the nose its, the choices are limitless. You will also get to select different types of character classes like a mage or a warrior. You can also create your own character class, absolutely incredible the level of customization the game brings. Fighting and action is very well done and one of the best parts of the game to be honest, I was happy choosing a knight as I love going toe to toe in this game.
Graphically this game is phenomenal, especially on a high definition set. From the detail on different NPC’s throughout the game, to the grass flowing back and forth, to the shadows cascading across the rolling hills. The details of the environments are absolutely breathtaking. Armor has its own unique details when you change it and can see these changes on your character, the animations flow smooth and have an incredible framerate. Loading times tend to slow down the game but not as much as you would tend to believe and the loading times are pretty short for the most part.
The sound in the game not only fit perfectly with the style of game, but is just like the graphics, absolutely incredible. From hearing the wind rustle around you to the clang of swords. The orchestra background sound is just amazing and with Dolby Surround sound, the ambiance music truly puts you into the Elder Scrolls universe. From weather sounds to clashing with goblins and trolls, the music surrounds you and puts you into the thick of the action and adventure
Overall this is by far the best role playing game on the XBOX 360, you may say that’s not fair to say because there aren’t any other in competition. Well while that is true, I don’t see any RPG coming out anytime soon that would pull the rug out from under Oblivion. Also the fact that Bethesda is planning on offering downloadable content, this game will continue to advance past it’s out of the box version for a long time to come. In conjunction with XBOX Live to purchase downloadable content, even now the game can be advanced beyond what is currently there. So with all this upside is there any downside, well like I stated before frequent loading times can be a nuisance, and also the lack of several NPC’s in the cities is a bit troublesome but the lack of them is probably why the framerate remains as high as it does. If you are an Elder Scrolls fan, then I don’t need to tell you to buy this game because chances are you already have. If you are an RPG fan, this is a game not be missed, and hell if you own an XBOX 360 this game should be in your library regardless.
Rating: 9.5/10
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Copyright (c) 2007 Rock Star Media Works, Inc. All rights reserved.
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