monkeyman211
21-06-2006, 05:49 PM
Release Date: March 2006
Web Site: www.elderscrolls.com
I have'nt played the first 3 Morrowind games before, but The Elder Scrolls IV:Oblivion is a very well made game. There are 4 guilds you can join all with there own storyline and rewards, and you can rise all the way to the head of each faction. So whether you are into stealing, magic, assassinations or fighting (or all of the above), there's a group just for you. Or there's the Arena, where you can go place bets on fights, or become a combatant and enter the arena for your own honor and glory.
Oblivion is set in ancient times when an unkown enemy has risen and murdered the king and all his known heirs to the thrown of Tamriel. You have a few options from this point, you can follow everything your diary says and finish the game straight away or you can put of the main quest line to visit every city in Cyrodiil, which have plenty of side quests to complete on there own.
Game Play
The game play on Oblivion is a little bit confusing for the first 10 minutes, but once you have to hang of it, it is hard to forget. It has a very clever hotkey control on the D-Pad which can be used for anything like Armour, Weapons or Magic and you have 8 slots to store in. No button goes to waste on the Xbox controller for this game, you can even use the big X in the middle of the control to pick your own music or change other usuall minor settings.
The shear size of the map will have even the most dedicated explores asking "where is the edge of the map", its absolutly huge, the top thing about that though is you can either buy 1 of 5 horses (or all 5 if you like) and travel alot faster though the wilderness, or you can just fast travel to any of the 8 citys and any location you have found on the map, it still moves the time in the game as if you had run it but its so much quicker and easier if you just are'nt in the mood for running for a few hours to get from east to west or north to south.
The game has a smart A.I on it, it allows all the NPCs to level up with you so no matter where you go in the game at any point no fight will be to easy, plus there are differant ranks of each type of species in the game like at lower levels you go against a sharp tooth goblin, but at higher levels you take on goblins beserkers which are usually level matched with you after you reach level 15 or so. 1 Bit of advice, i strongly recommend buying the Oblivion game guide, its the same book for 360 and PC and is priced very cheaply, you will pay about $20 for it but it will be well worth it.
Graphics
When you manage to get out of the first area in Oblivion, you are released into one of the best sites you can think of, in front of you a glistening lake with an island in the middle and a Wharf heading out into the middle, and behind you wilderness and mountians as far as the eye can see. This first bit of freedom you have is the ideal time to just relax and reaaly test out your system (and your tv), when i first played i started on a regular tele and some of the details were'nt proparly recognisable, but the game was still very playable and enjoyable. Then i bought a larger high def tele and once that was plugged in, i will tell you i was very excited because i swear my tele sprung a leak because the water in front of me looked crystal clear, the trees and the grass moved with the wind. Even the NPCs torches if you watched them closly enough move with the wind as well.
Sound\Music
The sound effects in game are loud and each weapon makes its own unique sound when cracking an NPCs skull, or shield or if they manage to block with there weapon. Then you have the marksman, with 5.1 sound you can hear an arrow coming from any direction, the chances of moving in time are very slim but its still pretty cool to hear it coming with its very distinctive sounds before the awaited THUD into your armour or shield. The music is interesting enough, gives the usuall high tempo when an enemy is nearby, otherwise it is very mild and soothing and fits the atmospere of the game.
Online Play
Unfortionaly Oblivion is'nt an online playable game but it has some downloaderables, mostly skin packages and stuff, when you finish quests in game some of them will unlock an achievment, most of these achievments give you some online money to spend towards updateing your skins.
Bad Stuff
The only problem i have had with this game is the cache, pretty much every time you start the game you have to hold down the Green A button till the game start up screen to empty all the cache so the game doesnt take forever to load areas or open chests or, even crash on you. Once you have that figured out, think about your own sound track cause as fun as the standard music is it would probably be a bit more playable with your own tunes playing.
Conclusion
Oblivion is a sweet game, when you start to get into the game you can chew through the daylight hours very easy because you can get so immersed into the game that you forget about the real world. There are exellent graphics and storys to keep anyone involved in playing till your fingers bleed. Priced at $100 its gotta be the best buy on the 360 yet, considering how long you can spend playing before deciding to finish the main quest line.
Web Site: www.elderscrolls.com
I have'nt played the first 3 Morrowind games before, but The Elder Scrolls IV:Oblivion is a very well made game. There are 4 guilds you can join all with there own storyline and rewards, and you can rise all the way to the head of each faction. So whether you are into stealing, magic, assassinations or fighting (or all of the above), there's a group just for you. Or there's the Arena, where you can go place bets on fights, or become a combatant and enter the arena for your own honor and glory.
Oblivion is set in ancient times when an unkown enemy has risen and murdered the king and all his known heirs to the thrown of Tamriel. You have a few options from this point, you can follow everything your diary says and finish the game straight away or you can put of the main quest line to visit every city in Cyrodiil, which have plenty of side quests to complete on there own.
Game Play
The game play on Oblivion is a little bit confusing for the first 10 minutes, but once you have to hang of it, it is hard to forget. It has a very clever hotkey control on the D-Pad which can be used for anything like Armour, Weapons or Magic and you have 8 slots to store in. No button goes to waste on the Xbox controller for this game, you can even use the big X in the middle of the control to pick your own music or change other usuall minor settings.
The shear size of the map will have even the most dedicated explores asking "where is the edge of the map", its absolutly huge, the top thing about that though is you can either buy 1 of 5 horses (or all 5 if you like) and travel alot faster though the wilderness, or you can just fast travel to any of the 8 citys and any location you have found on the map, it still moves the time in the game as if you had run it but its so much quicker and easier if you just are'nt in the mood for running for a few hours to get from east to west or north to south.
The game has a smart A.I on it, it allows all the NPCs to level up with you so no matter where you go in the game at any point no fight will be to easy, plus there are differant ranks of each type of species in the game like at lower levels you go against a sharp tooth goblin, but at higher levels you take on goblins beserkers which are usually level matched with you after you reach level 15 or so. 1 Bit of advice, i strongly recommend buying the Oblivion game guide, its the same book for 360 and PC and is priced very cheaply, you will pay about $20 for it but it will be well worth it.
Graphics
When you manage to get out of the first area in Oblivion, you are released into one of the best sites you can think of, in front of you a glistening lake with an island in the middle and a Wharf heading out into the middle, and behind you wilderness and mountians as far as the eye can see. This first bit of freedom you have is the ideal time to just relax and reaaly test out your system (and your tv), when i first played i started on a regular tele and some of the details were'nt proparly recognisable, but the game was still very playable and enjoyable. Then i bought a larger high def tele and once that was plugged in, i will tell you i was very excited because i swear my tele sprung a leak because the water in front of me looked crystal clear, the trees and the grass moved with the wind. Even the NPCs torches if you watched them closly enough move with the wind as well.
Sound\Music
The sound effects in game are loud and each weapon makes its own unique sound when cracking an NPCs skull, or shield or if they manage to block with there weapon. Then you have the marksman, with 5.1 sound you can hear an arrow coming from any direction, the chances of moving in time are very slim but its still pretty cool to hear it coming with its very distinctive sounds before the awaited THUD into your armour or shield. The music is interesting enough, gives the usuall high tempo when an enemy is nearby, otherwise it is very mild and soothing and fits the atmospere of the game.
Online Play
Unfortionaly Oblivion is'nt an online playable game but it has some downloaderables, mostly skin packages and stuff, when you finish quests in game some of them will unlock an achievment, most of these achievments give you some online money to spend towards updateing your skins.
Bad Stuff
The only problem i have had with this game is the cache, pretty much every time you start the game you have to hold down the Green A button till the game start up screen to empty all the cache so the game doesnt take forever to load areas or open chests or, even crash on you. Once you have that figured out, think about your own sound track cause as fun as the standard music is it would probably be a bit more playable with your own tunes playing.
Conclusion
Oblivion is a sweet game, when you start to get into the game you can chew through the daylight hours very easy because you can get so immersed into the game that you forget about the real world. There are exellent graphics and storys to keep anyone involved in playing till your fingers bleed. Priced at $100 its gotta be the best buy on the 360 yet, considering how long you can spend playing before deciding to finish the main quest line.