It's rare that you find a decently polished product being released in the gaming market of today, but TES IV is a delightful exception. While not possessing the same scope or depth as its predecessor, Morrowind, Oblivion is still my favorite of the two. What it lacks in exotic architecture it makes up for in stunning visuals, a great story, and its very believable world. The quality of this game on its own is worth buying it. For those wanting more info, here's a breakdown of my thoughts on the game:
The Combat: Miles above Morrowind's. Thank the gods, Bethesda scrapped the concept that to hit in combat you must have a certain stat level! This means no more rapid clicking that, despite being perfectly aimed, only occasionally results in a hit. Oblivion's system allows for more energetic, cinematic, and strategic combat as its less focused on being able to hit your opponent as it is about how much damage you really do. In otherwords, you can hit that big bad troll from level 1, but your damage isn't going to make a dent without thought being behind your attack. Still, there is plenty of room for improvement, and admittedly the system still isn't perfect. It can still be more than a bit clunky at times.
The Visuals: Oblivion is closer to Lord of the Rings in it's visuals than Morrowind's exotic and often frighteningly strange designs. Everything from the creatures, buildings, armor and peoples take a more realistic look this time around. Trust me, there's still that unique flavor to be found in some of the baddies you fight, but over all the land looks more like it was grafted out of Gondor rather than Vivec. This does result in Morrowind passing Oblivion in this area, as where the former game had a large variety of cultural designs, the latter only presents "big city, snow city, plains city, hilly city, and coastal city" as the largest distinctions between towns. You'll find most of the structures looking alike, though there are fairly obvious differences in many of them.
The Story: I loved playing the main quest line. Loved it. The voice acting, the dangerous missions. All fun. Can't say much more.
If I had any true gripes, it'd be the few, more nitpick oriented things like the lack of diversity in the Dunmer's voices, how beggars can suddenly change voices when asked certain questions, etc. Over all, this game is more than worth picking up. And the Mods out there. Trust me, they not only fix a lot of this game's shortcomings, but they also add so much more to it. By far, if you want a game that you'll be proud to have on your shelf, Oblivion is it.Get more detail about The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition.
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