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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Review by Justin R. "Saber-Scorpion" Stebbins - written 01/20/2008 exclusively for www.firstpersonshooters.net - do not replicate! The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is, like its predecessors in the Elder Scrolls series, an RPG played from the first-person point of view. In this respect, it falls into at least two categories: FPS and RPG. But does this merging of genres result in a brilliant blend that practically becomes its own genre, or a game that falls short of being either a great FPS or great RPG? That's the biggest question that comes to mind when playing Oblivion, just as with The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. The game is often hyped by reviewers as being exemplary of all current-generation role-playing games. But is it really? Is this generation really better than the last? Read on to find out. Gameplay: 2.5/5 In FPS terms, the gameplay in Oblivion is a huge improvement over Morrowind in almost every way. No longer will you shoot arrows at a monster or slash your sword at a rat and, even though it looks like you should have struck it, mysteriously "miss" because some background dice rolls determined that you did. No, in Oblivion, every shot that should hit, strikes its target fair and square. In addition to this, a huge advancement has been made simply by allowing the player to block - to parry an incoming blow with his weapon or with a shield. Basically, now the outcome of a fight rests far more in the hands of a player's actual combat skills - aiming, blocking, dodging, etc. - than in his ability to design a good character. Obviously, this is the way a first-person game should operate, although it's still not a perfect medieval/fantasy FPS, and it could learn more than a little bit from the superior combat system of Dark Messiah of Might & Magic. Perhaps the main detraction to combat compared to Morrowind is the limited choices of weaponry - crossbows and pole-arms are noticeably absent - and the fact that you cannot fight while riding your horse. Still, it's enough to carry the game, right?
Almost. However, the developers may have taken the skill-based combat system a bit too far when it comes to creatures leveling up with you. Seldom now will you ever encounter monsters who are simply too tough for you to deal with at this time, because all of the enemies in the game remain at roughly the same level you are. Although this makes gameplay simpler and more appealing to casual gamers, it also makes it less realistic and challenging, and far less appealing to the hardcore role-player or even gamer. Even in some of the earliest levels, for example, you can head over to the Imperial Arena and pretty much chop your way up to Grand Champion in a single visit, despite the fact that common sense dictates the current Grand Champion should be far more skilled than your fledgling character. Another flaw created by this system is that the random Bandits and Marauders you encounter while traveling the roads are always equipped with armor and weapons suited to your level. That means that by the time you have the best armor in the game (Glass or Daedric armor), every random bandit will be wearing it as well, which makes you wonder why they haven't taken over the Empire yet, since they're obviously better-equipped than the city guards, and easily just as numerous. This detracts from the realism considerably. This brings me to my next complaint: RPG gameplay. Although the system has been improved for FPS gamers, the RPG aspects have been dumbed down even from the already simplistic levels that existed in Morrowind. Despite the loading screens that tell you joining a faction will make you become enemies with other groups, this never actually happens. The same player who joins the largely altruistic Mage's Guild can turn right around and work for the evil Dark Brotherhood, eventually becoming the leader of both. Indeed, the player can easily become the leader of every faction in the game, though don't expect the NPC's to treat you any differently. And even though there are several factions and tons of side-quests to explore, making the game seem non-linear, every one of these quests and factions are as linear as they come. Want to be evil and betray the Mage's Guild, joining with the Necromancers instead? Sorry, you can't. Want to be good and join the Dark Brotherhood only to destroy it from within? Fat chance. Role-Playing games are all about choices, often between good and evil, and in the best ones just between shades of gray... but in Oblivion there are no choices at all, except for the choice of "which quest am I going to do?." The only real freedom you have is the freedom to wander the world, much like in Morrowind. Once you're on a quest, your character nearly always does exactly what is expected of him, exactly as he's told. If you think it seems wrong, the only thing you can do is turn around and avoid the quest, because even though the developers may brag of "a thousand ways to accomplish each quest," there's really only one way to finish it. So much for role-playing.
Now, I must admit that it *is* sometimes entertaining to simply wander around and explore. At first, this in itself can be compelling enough to make the game seem impressive and engrossing. However, you will tire of it quickly upon discovering that there is not much out there to find. Climb up that mountain to that strange set of ruins you see nestled in the high rocks, locate and pick the lock on that chest, and what do you find inside? 4 gold coins and a silver cup. Chalk one up to the randomized looting system. Which brings me as well to the leveling-up system. Like in Morrowind, your aptitude at each skill is determined by how often you use it, which makes sense. However, it also limits replayabiltiy, since if you just use a skill often enough, you can become an expert at it no matter what your class. If your fighter uses enough spells and picks enough locks, with a little careful leveling-up, he can become as good a mage or thief as any wizard or rogue. So why bother playing as the other classes? Ultimately, the game's best "role-playing" point, if you can call it such, and probably it's best selling point, is the aesthetic character customization. The customization of your appearance. In addition to choosing your favorite weapons, armor, and abilities, you can customize everything about your character's appearance from his race, hair, and eye color, to the shape of his nose and chin. You can custom forge him or her to fit your actual appearance, or go crazy and make a totally wild monster if you like. Playing around with the face maker and creating either hideous or attractive (though "attractive" can be difficult to achieve) characters is one of the main attractions of the game, and I easily had more fun with it than anything else Oblivion has to offer. If you have the PC version, the many mods out there only expand the fun, with all new cosmetics and armor. Make a knight or an overtly sexualized elf stripper. Whatever suits you. Now if only you could customize their personality and decisions to suit you as well... Story: 2/5 One thing every single-player-only game needs is a good storyline, especially if it's necessary to back up the lackluster role-playing and lack of choices I just mentioned above. However, anyone who's read a book or even watched a decent movie will come away from Oblivion sorely disappointed. The story is bland, cliché fantasy fare, with forgettable cardboard characters who, despite their celebrity voice actors (Sean Bean and Patrick Stewart, for instance), are entirely forgettable and have about as much personality as a bar of soap. Less than some I've seen, in fact. Sean Bean (even though I like him as an actor) sleep-walks through all his lines in the same bored monotone - and who can blame him? The story has that effect on me too. This is extremely bad for an RPG title. Everyone who has played Baldur's Gate remembers the lovable ranger Minsc, and every KotOR player can talk about how awesome HK-47 is. Obilvion players will probably forget the name of every person in this game within a month.
The tale begins, like all Elder Scrolls games, with the player as a prisoner for some unknown offense. Soon the Emperor picks you up, and after a few forgettable lines of cliché prophecy (although Patrick Stewart pulls them off fantastically) that declare you the Chosen One, as usual, he sends you off to carry some item to another character. This will eventually lead you on a barrage of fetch-quest after fetch-quest, making you feel more like a FedEx employee than a hero. Even those intimidating Oblivion Gates everyone has seen are closed by fetching an item from inside (some kind of magical core). And amusingly, the forces of Oblivion will hold off their invasion of the mortal world for as long as you please, waiting for you to finish every side-quest in the game if you so desire before closing the last gate. Don't expect a sense of urgency created by the fact that the world might be destroyed if you lolly-gag around too much, like in Fallout for instance.
All in all, the only aspect of the story that any work was put into was the background history. The books lying about provide a great insight into the almost Tolkein-esque mythology that the Elder Scrolls series has built. But since that mythology and history is not used to fashion a compelling plot for the present, it's pretty much wasted. I probably would have been less harsh on poor Oblivion if only the writers had put any effort into making a storyline that could interest a player over the age of twelve, since many other aspects of the game are pretty stunning and many of the drawbacks are at least forgivable. But for a single-player-only title that claims to be an RPG, the cliché and predictable yawn-a-minute snore-a-thon they threw together is entirely insufficient. Graphics: 4.5/5 If there's one aspect of Oblivion that is hard to fault, it's the graphics. Technically, at least, they are quite simply beautiful. The scenery is at once both majestic and serene, with shining water, swaying trees, and distant scenery all (almost) fully available to explore. The sun glares in your eyes as you ride your horse through the brush alongside the glittering riverbanks. The characters (with stunningly realistic faces and far better animations than the choppy ones found in Morrowind) walk about and chat (admittedly about the same things over and over), and the weather changes dynamically to sun, rain, and snow. Where the story fails for making the game seem compelling at all, the graphics succeed. In fact, they are the primary thing that carries the immersion across.
Stylistically speaking, I am very grateful they decided to stick with a more toned-down, realistic rendition of a medieval/fantasy world. Perhaps it is the fact that Oblivion is set in a human kingdom instead of a dark elf one, but where Morrowind presented you with twisted houses built into giant mushrooms, Oblivion presents Lord of the Rings-style pristine medieval cities and quaint villages. The clothes are more realistic as well, and ultimately would create a convincing medieval atmosphere were it not for the freakish elves, orcs, and animal-people wearing them. The only place the atmosphere really fails are in the details. You'll notice a glaring absence of animal life smaller than deer (no birds at all?), and the inside of the forests are filled with grass. Although the developers liked to brag that they studied environments around the world in great detail, I've been in forests all across at least America, and the forest floor is never covered in grass. The trees could stand to be closer together as well. Sure, I'm being relentlessly picky, but after the bragging Bethesda did about their realistic environments, I was expecting a bit more. The final flaw is the unimpressive spell effects, as every single type of magic simply comes across looking like colored smoke, much like in Morrowind, and it disappointingly never looks more impressive (or even any different) as you level up, since there is little variety in spell types. Still, all in all, the graphics are the one thing Oblivion excels at. Sound: 3.5/5 Jeremy Soule once again provides the score for Oblivion, which can be instantly recognized in the opening sequence. Unfortunately, his music provides the most glaring thing about Oblivion that is not as good as its predecessor. Even though we had to hear it over and over a million times while wandering through the dreary, rain-soaked ashlands of Vvardenfell, every Morrowind player probably loved the sweeping dramatic theme that Soule provided for the lackluster game, and indeed, it really helped make its blandness seem more impressive. Unfortunately, the theme is both shortened and quickened in Oblivion, depriving it of much of its grandeur. The atmospheric and combat themes are less memorable as well, although they are still pretty good, if repetitive. All in all, not a bad score, and it suits the atmosphere well, but it doesn't quite live up to Morrowind's. Weapon sounds and creature noises are certainly fine, and so is the voice acting, though it can get very grating after a while, since all of the NPC's who are of the same race and gender are played by the same individual. Indeed, even some main characters end up played by Mr. Generic, the man who lends his voice to all male Imperials, including every single guard you encounter in the game. Somehow having the main character of the Dark Brotherhood sound like every single soldier in the Imperial Legion doesn't quite seem to fit (although you have to admire the guy's lungs - he must have recited a lot of lines!). As I've already mentioned, the celebrity voice actors do a fine job with what little they have to work with, but there are only three of them (the Emperor, his son, and the main badguy) - not enough to make up for the endlessly repeated NPC voices.
Overall: 3/5 I'm sorry to say that Oblivion was pretty disappointing. If you've never played the series before and have zero experience with role-playing titles, you'll probably find it quite engrossing, but for someone with any expectations for an entry in the genre, Oblivion presents little of interest. It truly is far too overhyped by both fanboys and the main industry reviewers (mostly the console-based reviews). The game's main selling point and the primary goal of most players seems to be its character creation, as thousands of people go online to download mods and post screenshots of their carefully-crafted manikin performing his linear quests in a cardboard world. Even I have spent more time performing this Sims-esque task (indeed, many Oblivion modders also mod The Sims 2) than I care to brag about, and if it were not for the mods available, I would have shelved it long ago. So if you do buy the game, buy it for the PC... and I hope you are easily entertained.
AVERAGE SCORE: 3.1/5
FINAL SCORE:
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