Oblivionreview

This review is for The Elder Scrolls 4: Obvlivion by Bethesda Softworks.
The player is a regular person thrown into extraordinary circumstances when they meet the Emperor of Cyrodill and must help stop the threat of Oblivion, an evil realm that is bent on conquering the country.

This is, by far, one of the most gorgeous games I've ever played. The lighting effects are stunning, the music was excellent, and the landscape was beautiful even though it was a bit repetative in places. It was really an immersive world.

The game loads areas in a really fantastic way.
The graphics for the entire world are not ever loaded at the same time, rather sections are loades as you approach them so that there is never a long loading time. Therefore, the player could potentially run from one end of the world to the other without ever having to stop for a loading screen. This made for a great overall flow to the game.

Something that has been widely criticized is the dialogue between the player and NPCs. There were far too few voices, to be honest. There are maybe five voices for the entire world and it is very common to run across two NPCs having a conversation with eachother with the same voice.

The switches in mood were also very jarring. For example, you could walk by a palace guard who says "Why, hello there!" But when you actually speak to them, they arrest you for having stolen goods.
While the game DID boast some major name actors - such as Sean Bean and Patrick Stewart - I felt that overall it could have been more varried.

The fighting was also a bit bland as well. While the hacking and slashing can be fun, it's difficult to control. Movements become jerky and there tends to be a lot of time where your character is just standing being hit. While I liked the way that all your skills increase as you use them, meaning the more you fight, the better you get at it, I think the animations and movements during the fight were lacking.

I modded this game quite a bit. While I enjoyed the original version of the game, after I played it through I began looking for more interesting things. There was a great texture overhaul that I found on the internet which, after installing, makes the beautiful world of Oblivion positively sparkle.

Also, I added a better cities pack which updated all the cities. This city, Cheydinhal, looks much more complex than the open, almost bland city from the original game. However, there are some drawbacks to moding a game. Frequently they interact poorly with the game and as a result there are glitches.

After doing this review, I'm considering replaying the game with all of the mods I've added -- after I go through and make sure they all work, of course. Thanks for watching my review.

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Gaming

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