Review of 'Oblivion'

The image to the left is taken from 'Oblivion', a computer game developed by Bethesda Softworks. It is not a staged "mock-up" screenshot - that is what the game actually looks like, and it is visually very, very impressive.

'Oblivion' is an RPG (role-playing game) but differs from most RPGs in that is a first person game (you view the game from the direct person of one person, instead of a top down view of everything going on) and involves some intense mouse use and button pushing. (In computer game terminology, the game is 'twitchy', which means that it takes some action and coordinated mouse use to succeed, as opposed to games that are more turn based and less intensive.) This first person perspective makes the game intense at times - as you creep along a darkened tomb with a flickering torch and something jumps out and hits you in the side while roaring...... well, I jumped a few times while playing this late at night.


The plot of the game involves a threat to the world of Cyrodil from a placed call (obviously) Oblivion. Portals are opening up around the countryside allowing monsters to stream through, threatening the peaceful citizens of the world and overwhelming the military. In a carefully orchestrated plot, the Emporer (voiced by Patrick Stewart) is assassinated and you are charged with finding his sole heir (voiced by Sean Bean - who was Boromir in the LOTR movies) and saving the world.



The game is entertaining and notable for several features:

1) The graphics are amazing. I think the overall graphics are the best I have seen in any game ever. I especially like the outdoor graphics - the grass, brush, trees, rocks are all just right. The grass and leaves move with the breeze.




The game has snow, rain, clouds moving across the sky. When your character walks on snow you hear a crunching sound, when walking across a stream you hear a light splashing sound.

2) The gameplay is very open and non-linear. By this I mean that while there is a main quest to be completed that it is not the only available to do. On the contrary, in Oblivion, if you want to ignore the main quest for weeks and enjoy the rest of the game, that is ok. Or do parts of the main quest, then leave it for days and come back later. There are so many other things to see and do that it is almost inconceivable to me that someone could 'complete' this game. There are hundreds of dungeons, caves, tombs, forts, camps, etc. to explore. And your character can be developed in any way you chose - the game has some preset classes (knight, wizard, thief, etc.) but you don't have to use them - pick what skills you like to use and combine them into a custom character. (Have it your way......) There are really no limitations on how you develop your character or choose the paths to adventure.



3) The amount of choice available in the game can be overwhelming at times. Where do I go next? What do I do? Many of the quests in the game just naturally come along - you sell some loot to a merchant, she asks for help with a competitor whose prices are suspiciously low, you follow this other merchant to his supplier and then discover the source of the cheap merchandise (grave robbing) and find the supplier to put a stop to it. But the supplier suspects you are on to him and has set a trap for you in a local graveyard.......


The bottom line: A very enjoyable and fun game. Absolutely worth the money. Lots of replay value. Amazing graphics and sound effects. Lots of choices. The game does have some bugs in it and will occasionally lock up and crash. It also requires a very serious PC and graphics card to run it (or an Xbox360).


This game is rated "T" for Teens and is not for small children or the squeamish. There are large sections of blood and gore in this game. If you cannot handle those scenes do not buy or play the game.



Note: In the interest of full disclosure, my brother-in-law was an artist who helped develop this game and I playtested the game before its release.