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(More customer reviews)Simply put, Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion is not only the best RPG of the year, but arguably the next step of the RPG's evolution. Think of it this way: 25 years ago Wizardry I was state of the art in all parts of the RPG - graphics, game design, and character build (stolen straight from D&D). That one game changed the way others were built. Today, Oblivion not only has state of the art graphics but also state of the art game design and character build - essentially, the culmination of 25 years of electronic RPG design. The competition has a lot of work to do to catch up, and it is likely many of the features here will be borrowed for other games. This is a clear 5 stars overall, with the only two flaws being like its predecessors the game is simply massive and the controls can be a bit awkward.
For those who never played it, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind was a great game and major advancement in the genre. (In a sign of how good it was, 3 years after its release the original collector's edition still sells for near its original cost in the secondary market versus other games which might go for 10% of what you paid for them. Incredible.) More specifically, it really reinvented the RPG genre with skill-based advancement - if you want to be a fighter, kill something with a sword - and open-ended quests.
What is most noticable about Oblivion besides the eye-popping but system straining graphics (anything lower than a high end PC from last year will likely have problems, but the upside is this screams to be played on a 45" LCD monitor at 1920x1080p) is that Bethesda improved upon Morrowind rather than reinventing the wheel. Advancement is still skill-based but in general seems more balanced than before as powerleveling only a few skills will generally just get you fighting stronger mobs. Exploring the world through quests and NPCs remains the focus as it should be, but it also doesn't feel like you have to constantly grind FedEx quests to advance. In other words, the open-ended gameplay - arguably the one weak spot of Morrowind - remains open-ended but more managable. Don't fear, however, as with several hundred quests it's easy to lose yourself. If you're willing to put in the game time towards the rumored 1000 hours, the adding on of some long guild quests and other miscellaneous ones can get you a very, very powerful character, or you can simply try to solve the main quest quickly. It's up to you.
The two downsides are the game is massive in all respects and that while simultaneously designed for Xbox and PC several parts of it feel tilted towards the console. First, the size and lack of direction feel a bit daunting, but more importantly there is a tough learning ramp to figure out the game. For instance, your first couple of characters will probably be rerolled as it's hard to understand how useful all but the most obvious skills work until you use them extensively. Figuring out how to build a character around this based on an hour's worth of gameplay (since you do at least get to rechoose everything after the introduction quest) is asking too much. The open-ended aspect can be scary too; even as early as the the newbie quest there's not a lot of linear direction and the hint levels just drop from there. Walkthroughs for this will be immensely helpful, and in a once-in-a-generation event the Prima Guide is actually worth the money. (One note: given how much Amazon has discounted the Prima Guide, if you're looking to save money, consider combining it along with the non-collector's edition of the game and bypassing the collector's edition entirely. For only a couple of dollars more, you'll substitute the immense help of the Guide over the pretty but not hugely important book included in the latter, and while you're giving up a 'making of' DVD you'll save multiple hours of character design even if you choose to ignore the spoiler walkthroughs.)
Second, the game does feel at times like it was designed for a console. This isn't as bad as something that's a console conversion like GTA:SA where a gamepad is mandatory and the graphics are limited by the conversion. However, numerous features like spell selection, inventory management, and NPC interaction all are console-friendly to such an extent where those used to playing on a PC will probably grumble a bit. (It's a bit odd that this got through beta testing on the PC without someone requesting more than the current 8 programmable hotkeys in total that groan under supporting several hundred spells and abilities.) Far more annoying is that while third-person mode is included and playable, it is essentially impossible to use for ranged combat as only the first-person mode has a crosshair to aim spells and weapons. These are minor but noticable nuisances, especially for a game that is otherwise supremely polished.
Still, it's the best of the genre. Bethesda is to be commended for the design, the production (little things like hiring Patrick Stewart for a brief role as Emperor show the quality), and the difficult decision to delay the game for several months to fix things, where so many companies now push out beta editions as gold just to get the game on the market. 5 stars, and there will be a lot of people who don't get much work done for the next month.
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