Oblivion is another RPG in the long running Elder Scrolls series. Morrowind, which was the last installment in this series, was out for the original Xbox and got mixed feelings from many console gamers. Although the game was extremely long in its’ single-player campaign; many felt it was not very novice friendly and it often required too much time for you to really enjoy it. This was a very important step for Bethesda, as they took everything they learned from Morrowind and made those extra adjustments for Oblivion.
Oblivion is an extremely long game, but more important than its length is its content. An overwhelming amount of quests, guilds, and other exploration points have been put into Oblivion; giving this game one of the longest single player experiences to date. When you think about it, the game’s massiveness is overwhelming at first but it caters for the casual players very nicely, and can even provide a great experience for those that have either never played RPG’s before nor never liked them.
The basic concepts of an RPG are still here; you pick a character from a big variety, you assign a class for him and you go on with your life in the world of Oblivion. The major three classes that you can focus on are between a typical Warrior that uses sword fighting, a Sneaky warrior which let’s you use sneak tactics like hiding in shadows and even becoming invisible, or a typical Magician using magic and spells. The great thing about Oblivion is that you can be a mixture of all three. You can create your own class and choose what skills you want to focus on. By using your major skills, your character will be able to level up and become a more effective warrior with higher powers.
Then there is the exploration part of an RPG. You are in the empire of Cyrodiil and there are many cities for you to explore. In these cities you can visit people’s homes, the city castles, the markets and different shops and much, much more. Talking to people will lead you to quests and finding treasures based on rumors they have heard. You are provided with a map in which you can travel from one major city to another by a click of a button; or if you feel like exploring the world, you can simply take a horse and ride around the huge and beautiful landscape.
Combat in the new Elder Scrolls game is excellently done. It resembles Condemned: Criminal Origins, as you have a block button and a strike button. It is this basic melee type system that you will be using most of the time. Of course while you are fighting you can use your spells and destructive skills at the same time. You also have the option of using a Bow and Arrow to kill people in stealth from a distance. The combat system of Oblivion is a great way to keep the non-RPG crowd interested; it makes the game seem like a great action FPS at times.
The only small downfall of Oblivion in the gameplay field is the feeling of redundancy from time to time. Destroying Oblivion gates and other tasks will have you feeling like you are just doing that same thing over and over; for example, the Arena quests can get extremely repetitive as you will be doing the same thing 30 times in a row. Still, it is very easy to overlook this since you know there’s a reward at the end of it all.
The controls are smooth and only take a minute to get used to. The default sensitivity is good and the mapping is good for the most part. The trigger buttons are designated for block and attack. The shoulder buttons act as your magic attacks. The B button will bring up your inventory/map/player level/spells/potions select screen. I did find it a bit odd that the developers set the Y button as the jump button but again, no biggie. Horse riding parts controlled with ease as well and controlling this game was an overall pleasant experience.
The graphics in Oblivion are breath-taking. The interiors are amazing in this game. The outside landscapes are huge and overwhelming at first sight. This game has amazing HDR lighting effects and the weather mixed with night and day cycles are life-like.
The cities, outside landscapes, and weather effects all look incredible and when wandering in the Imperial City you will be astounded by the huge castles and statues, likewise the road pavements and building bricks all look great. Oblivion looks definitely does a good job in reproducing a fantasy Middle-Ages universe. The world keeps all the dead bodies where they were killed, all the items you dropped, and other things you left behind as your very own footprint on the world of Oblivion.
I was extremely impressed with the use of bump-mapping in the game’s engine. Your weapons look extremely good due to the bumps and carvings you can see in first person. Your armor and other clothing looks incredible as well, as does the effect it gives to exhibit the wrinkles on a character’s face. Each character looks different and has different facial features, while the animations and physics are also all top notch, that said, your character’s animations in third-person can look somewhat clunky.
All textures are high-resolution, at least at close distances. The 360 does struggle with this game from time to time, and there are occasional FPS spikes, usually in the outside areas, and the draw distance can sometimes make the far view look a little too much on the blurry side. But overall, this game definitely provides an extremely good graphical experience.
Oblivion delivers awesome sounds along with everything that revolves around their audio department. The voice acting is some of the best I’ve heard and most characters carry depth in their speech while the professional actors that provide voices for the main characters bring a sense of realism to the plot-line. There are hundreds of different characters in-game and they all have different personalities when it comes to their dialect.
The soundtrack is simply beautiful. The songs provide a very heroic, emotional, and epic feel to the adventure. They are also memorable and will recall some nice memories upon hearing them again in the future. Everywhere you go a soundtrack will follow and it really helps with the game immersion. The only thing I noticed is that the soundtrack isn’t as extensive as some of the other features of the game, so you will hear the same song more or less often, but again this was not a bother for me personally.
The weapons and the sounds characters make are all realistic and crisp and everything you do makes a sound while the Oblivion world makes its own sounds as well. The ambience is excellent and this game really does shine when everything is working together.
Final Word
Well another killer app I guess. Oblivion’s highest achievement is that it really does what most developers only promise. They took all the Elder Scrolls’ games and learned exactly what had to be done. In the end when it was all said and done, out came a game that caters to the RPG hardcore crowd with the games longevity, and yet it provides an interesting and great experience for the non-RPG playing crowd.
There are a few things that keep this game from being perfect. For me it was mostly the more often than I’d like to see loading screens and “loading area…” screens. Most of it will be noticed in the outside areas where combined with an occasional FPS drop, it can make the experience somewhat lukewarm.
But I won’t let that take away from the overall grand experience this game provides. I can definitely see myself coming back to this game every week or two for another year or so. I keep discovering something new every time I play and that feeling of not seeing the whole thing is killing me.
Should you try this game? You owe it to yourself.
Should you buy this game? You won’t be disappointed, I can promise that.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment