Oblivion is finally here! It’s been hyped beyond belief for the past few months, and in some cases this can be suicide for any title as expectations go through the roof, but in Oblivion’s case you can rest easy. Believe the hype. Oblivion is a massive achievement for the RPG genre and a hefty addition to the 360 gaming roster.
The main story or quest of Oblivion revolves around the Empire of Tamriel. Ready to crumble, the gates of Oblivion are thrown open and demons march upon the land - laying waste to everything in their path. After being caught up in an underground escape from the castle, the emperor literally dies in your arms as you attempt to defend him from a barrage of assassins.
From that moment, you are pulled into the main quest of Oblivion. To turn the tide of darkness, you must find the lost heir to the throne and unravel the
sinister plot that threatens to destroy all of Tamriel.
You’ll most likely notice that the emperor is voiced by none other than the great Patrick Stewart and later good old Boromir himself; Sean Bean has a major role,
lending his voice beautifully to the all-star cast. When a developer has gone to so much trouble in securing fine actors for their game, it really adds a sheen of polish to the finished product.
Now, character creation is normally a really annoying process for me in any RPG. You’re normally given five classes, for instance, all with their own pros and
cons. I’m absolutely terrible with choices like this as a majority of the time each class has a little bit of what I fancy, but I never seem to be allowed the freedom to create a hybrid class of my own. Oblivion shoots this rule right out of the water and allows you to select a pre-defined class - which I might add is cleverly offered to you depending on how you have played the opening scene of the game If you were primarily using your bow to dispatch enemies then the primary offering will be some form of wood elf with a high skill in marksmanship. If you were simply going toe to toe with your foes then you’ll primarily be pushed towards playing a warrior and so on. Astonishingly, you’re allowed to opt out of the predefined selections and to go right ahead and create your OWN class and even name it! Fancy playing as a heavy armour-wearer primarily focusing on blade skills, but also having some skill in destruction or summoning magic? Maybe a mage who also has some skills with melee fighting just in case things get a bit up close and personal? Go right ahead, no forceful character creation here. Pick and choose as you please. Of course, this isn’t to say the pre-defined player classes laid on are limited, far from it. There’s a really nice range here, Mages, Warriors, Thieves, Assassins, Knights, Spellswords to name but a few. You’re also asked to select a star sign you wish to be born under, all of which have their own specific attributes. One sign for example gives you a short burst of invisibility when activated, though can only be used once per day.
Oblivion looks absolutely fantastic. You can tell Bethesda have spent many a painstaking minute ensuring absolutely everything in the game looks as realistic
as possible and really encompasses the fantasy RPG genre. One of the most striking features are the lighting effects being used. Whilst making your way
through the aforementioned sewers after your prison break, you’ll be creeping through winding caverns with only a flame torch for company - the flickering light
laps at the cavern walls with amazing effect and atmsphere. Then when you have made your way through the sewers you’re finally let loose onto the land.
It’s one of those gaming moments that takes your breath away. Hills sprawl as far as the eye can see, foliage engulfs the area around you whilst swaying in
the gusts of wind and the looming sun beats down its superb light onto the landscape. It seems odd, but you never tire of simply climbing to the snowy peaks of a nearby mountain and taking in the sights.
It’s normal to have the "what the hell do I do now?" feeling as the realization that of just how small you are in this massive world sets in. Luckily, you do have a nifty map on your person where places of interest will be marked. You can opt to either get out there on foot and wander from town to town, or you also have the option to ’fast travel’ by simply selecting the town/city and being basically teleported there. Alongside this travel system, you have access to horses - either your own or a stolen one – which make the trip just that bit more exciting as you
gallop down through mountains and hillsides in search of riches and adventure. Quests and the like are clearly worded within the menu system and when a
specific quest is activated, you’ll get pointers both on your map and compass to help you navigate to where you need to be. I actually recommend leaving the main quest for a good while as you get to grips with the combat system and get to know the place. If you don’t, you’ll be eaten alive the first time you enter one of the Oblivion gates to attempt to issue a beat down or two on the demons within.
Oblivion is created in such a way that you’re free to focus on either the main quest mentioned earlier or to simply explore as much as you like, partaking in parts of the main quest as and when you please. You’ll find a large percentage of first-time Oblivion players will play this way, simply taking in the massive land
sprawled out in front of them in their own time and at their own pace. A lot of the time you’ll find yourself seeking out hideaways and dungeons to explore. Whilst
not the safest of places (they’re normally full of trolls and booby traps) they are indeed great for finding new weapons and good old swag to take back to your nearest town to offload. During these jaunts you’re likely to come across herbs and items which will in turn boost your proficiency in alchemy. It’s actually possible to create your own custom poisons and potions by mixing together all manner of herbs, a plus side with this is also the ability to apply the poison to your weapon to deal extra damage.
The one thing I’ve always had issues with in many RPGs is the combat system. Now, I’ve been brought up on The Legend of Zelda series as my RPG of choice, so for me it doesn’t get any better or more exciting than real-time fisticuffs. Personally, I feel there’s a lot more skill involved in actually being able to dodge,
parry and block attacks with my shield - choosing my moment to strike, rather than being forced into a turn based battle waiting for ’my turn’ to attack. Turn-based play (in my opinion) just breaks the atmosphere of the adventure and reminds you you’re simply playing a game. Oblivion hits the nail slap-bang on the head when it comes to combat. As a melee based character, you’re able to have your shield on your left trigger and whatever one-handed weapon takes your fancy in your right. The combat is actually very similar to Condemned in the fact that for a melee character, a majority of the skill is timing your blocks and choosing your opportunity to strike. Similar can be said for magical classes in the game, but of course instead of blocking with a shield and picking your moment to plunge your sword into your foe, you have an array of spells at your disposal
instead - some of which have the ability to slow or paralyze your assailant whilst you gain some distance to cast fireballs at a comfortable range. Weapons have
a real ’oomph’ to them with the vibration feature enabled; each slash into an enemy’s shield really has that realistic crunch to it. As the game is played
from a first person view primarily, this just heightens the combat system totally as the realism and ferocity of the battles are right in your face. To assist in the heat of battle you also have access to a "quick swap" affair using the D-Pad in the form of a wheel. The option to assign weapons, spells, items and the like to each of the 8 movement points of the D-Pad is on offer, so when in combat you could quickly switch to say, a heavy two handed mace if playing melee or have eight individual spells available to switch between as a mage. A very clever idea and
pulled off perfectly.
In the world of Tamriel you have the option of joining various guilds. The major guilds within the cities are the Fighter’s Guild and the Mage Guild. Upon joining
the guilds you can request contracts which are basically quests for you to complete to move up the guild ranks. Alongside the contracts, each guild have
a handful of trainers, so the option is there to raise your ability in whatever skill takes your fancy. There are some lesser known underground guilds such as the
Thieves guild and the Dark Brotherhood. It’s not as simple as walking into a guild house and asking to join up, as these are not totally legal in the law’s eyes. The way in which you gain invites to these is interesting and something you will have to experience for yourself, as I wouldn’t want to spoil it. You’ll find from walking around the towns that the inhabitants actually react to your presence. They may
be mid-conversation with another resident, only for you to waltz up - which will normally result in them greeting you. This is also a great way to gain quests,
as just eavesdropping on a couple of strangers having a chat about the goings on of late (then having a few words with them after) will set you up. When chatting
to any NPC within Oblivion, you have the option to persuade them into letting go of some information they might not normally give to a stranger like yourself.
Used with various merchants in the town, this can gain you a discount or allow you to hike prices up above the normal retail price when offloading some of your
bounty.
Within each town, you have to be on your guard. Breaking into houses using lockpicks is frowned upon by the local guards, so if you do choose to partake in
a little thievery - wait until it’s nice and dark so all the locals are tucked up in bed. You have less chance of somebody alerting the authorities if this is so. The residents of the town can be very clever. You’ll notice that if you wander into a shop and start nosing about upstairs, the owner will follow you up in case you’re up to no good. You’ll notice that residents actually have regimes; they will leave their houses in the morning and go for walks - or even head out to work. Shops will normally close when it gets dark, and the owner will leave the store to go home. This can be a great time to practice your lock picking skills. Beware though, if you’re caught by a guard with stolen goods you’ll be tossed in jail quicker than you can say ’the thieves guild made me do it ’.
One of the stand out features for me is that almost everything within the world is an actual physical item. You can walk into (or break into if you’re in a thieving mood) a town house and actually manipulate any item you like, within reason. If you have a closer look at a bookcase you’ll notice every single book is individual and readable, the author of which lets slip some interesting secrets which may benefit you later in the game. You can actually pull each book individually out of the book case and throw it across the room if you like. Quite stunning. This is all
possible due to the much hyped Havoc physics engine. It may not be as high-end as something like the Source engine used for Half Life 2 where I was able to
fashion my own set of steps from a pile of boxes, but it is still incredibly impressive. At one point when testing the physics of the game out (something I can unfortunately spend hours on) I made my way to the peak of a hill and dropped a cabbage down onto the floor that I’d stolen from a house. It began to roll through the grass; I began to follow it and noticed the cabbage gaining momentum and rolling faster and faster away from me until I was literally sprinting down the hill giving chase with a huge grin on my face. This must have looked curious to any local of Tamriel, I’m sure.
Oblivion is an absolutely massive adventure, spanning around 40 hours for the main quest, but with all the side questing to be done the game can easily notch up 200 hours playtime. There is simply SO much to do here that it’s difficult to put it all down into words without going on for pages and pages, or spoiling
magic moments. Explore dungeons and search for treasure, join a guild and work your way up through the ranks. Assist the heir to the throne and take down
the Oblivion gates to become a hero, search out the fabled vampires of the forests, enter into the arena of the capital city and become a champion, take up the challenge of becoming a skilled thief with a huge bounty on your head and massive riches to your name. Seek out mythical Elvin ruins and uncover their dark secrets, hunt deer for meat in the forest, or simply spend time picking all manner of herbs in and around the world to create powerful potions - truly becoming a supreme alchemist. The list really does go on and on here. Oblivion starts out as a game, but evolves into something much more. It becomes your very own customized personal adventure.
Indeed, if it wasn’t for some very slight frame rate issues that occur a little too frequently, Oblivion would be getting a 10 out of 10 from me.
