2K Games and Bethesda Softworks have not only made a wonderful game with Oblivion, but it is without a doubt the best in the Elder Scrolls franchise. Oblivion's predecessor, Morrowind, was a great game all itself. The creators at Bethesda only made it much better than Morrowind. The main problem with Morrowind was the combat system. When I played Morrowind, and was engaged in combat with another, I attack the person, but it almost always had the same effect, not striking the person and causing damage. Even at point blank range, so to speak, you know that you hit them but it had no effect. The only way to know you hit the person was a yell of pain and the sound of your sword in contact with the enemy, which was very rare. The other was the frame rate, it wasn't perfect, but which game has a perfect frame rate. It got annoying at times, but it wasn't that frustrating. Bethesda has fixed all of those problems. The combat system is loads better. The combat is at its best, you hit your enemy every time, knowing that you inflicted damage. There is also the way of how much damage you can cause to the enemy. In the case of having a sword equipped you can just press the right trigger, it will do a quick, but less damaging strike. But, if you hold the right trigger it will do maximum damage to the enemy.This srategy also applies with using the bow. The combat system works very well, and at times it can be a long and intense battle, depending on the weapon equipped. They fixed the frame rate to be better, but it still hitches up at times, but won't be annoying as much as Morrowind. I noticed a few graphical glitches in texture, but its not bad. There are some other noticeable glitches like the infamous falling through the floor into "oblivion"(ha,ha), another big one is noticeable in the merchant stores scattered in Cyrodiil. You may see a piece of cloth or outfit on display in the stores being outstretched to abnormal lengths. Now for the story. The game has a compelling main quest storyline taking you to all over Cyrodiil to the hellish-like realm known as Oblivion.
WARNING: May Contain Plot Spoilers The game starts out with your character in prison, we do not find out why he is prison. You can walk to the cell gate to converse with a rather rude Dark Elf cellmate across the hall. After insulting you, guards come down the stairwell, along with Emperor Uriel Septim. The emperor asks the guards to open the cell. The guards ask you to stand back or they will kill you. After opening the gate the guards along with the emperor walk in. The emperor asks to speak to him. He tells you that you were the one in his dreams, saying that you have an importance to the empire. After chatting for a bit, the emperor knows there is assassination attempt on his life and he asks you come with him. The guards open a secret passage in your cell, leading to a underground passage to escape from the assassins. As you walk in the passage, the assassins seemed to have known of the emperor escape, and so they ambush you, the guards, and the emperor. As you fight off the assassins after the death of a guard and taking her weapon, you continue on with more ambushes. The last ambush ends up with the emperor's death. The guards ashamed that they weren't strong enough to save the emperor, agree that the emperor saw something in you and gives you a key to go on by yourself and escape through the city sewers. Spoilers End Here Once you escape the sewers, you are open to the world of Cyrodiil, with your mouths dropped to the floor. The world is incredibly detailed and very open. Once you escape the prison, you have the choice of completing the main quest or you can whatever you want, and I mean anything you want. You can go out and start slaughtering the citizens, or you can rob the citizens, you can go in any of the various caverns scattered around in Cyrodiil and plunder the caves and kill everything in it, including vampires, goblins, ghosts, wraiths, zombies, and many more various types of creatures in the game. You can do various side quests from people that are in need of help or you can spend the next 15-20 hours doing the main quest. There is literally hundreds of hours of gameplay in Oblivion. You can join either the Fighters Guild, the Mages Guild,or the new Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood. The Theives Guild involves you stealing small things from you advancing through the missions and even stealing an Elder Scroll. The Dark Brotherhood is my favorite one. It involves murdering people. It is not one of those, walk into the guild and say you want to join. I has a creative way of you entering the Guild. The way it works is, that if you kill someone, and it has to be a human NPC, you will be visited by a Dark Brotherhood member, after waking up after sleeping. The Dark Brotherhood member will ask you if you want to join or not. If you wish to join, he will tell you to go and murder a certain person, to see if you are worthy for The Dark Brotherhood. After you kill the person, he will come to you again and say that you are now a member of The Dark Brotherhood. It is a fun guild to join. The sound is another great aspect of the game, from the striking of the swords to the thud of a book falling on the floor. It makes the game seem much more real. Even the NPC characters have unique voices from one another. It is a wonder of how many characters have there own unique conversations and how much work was put into it. The graphics are, I think, the second best graphics for the Xbox 360, with Gears of War having the best graphics. The world is very detailed, even the weather has a great effect, from raining to snowing. There are a lot of different climates in Cyrodiil form the prairie, to mountainous regions, to swamps, to forested areas, and snowy climates up north. All in all, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a great game that no Xbox 360 owner should not have. If it weren't for the games glitches and frame rate I would have given it a perfect ten, but if you put those aside you will have and unforgettable gaming experience
WARNING: May Contain Plot Spoilers The game starts out with your character in prison, we do not find out why he is prison. You can walk to the cell gate to converse with a rather rude Dark Elf cellmate across the hall. After insulting you, guards come down the stairwell, along with Emperor Uriel Septim. The emperor asks the guards to open the cell. The guards ask you to stand back or they will kill you. After opening the gate the guards along with the emperor walk in. The emperor asks to speak to him. He tells you that you were the one in his dreams, saying that you have an importance to the empire. After chatting for a bit, the emperor knows there is assassination attempt on his life and he asks you come with him. The guards open a secret passage in your cell, leading to a underground passage to escape from the assassins. As you walk in the passage, the assassins seemed to have known of the emperor escape, and so they ambush you, the guards, and the emperor. As you fight off the assassins after the death of a guard and taking her weapon, you continue on with more ambushes. The last ambush ends up with the emperor's death. The guards ashamed that they weren't strong enough to save the emperor, agree that the emperor saw something in you and gives you a key to go on by yourself and escape through the city sewers. Spoilers End Here Once you escape the sewers, you are open to the world of Cyrodiil, with your mouths dropped to the floor. The world is incredibly detailed and very open. Once you escape the prison, you have the choice of completing the main quest or you can whatever you want, and I mean anything you want. You can go out and start slaughtering the citizens, or you can rob the citizens, you can go in any of the various caverns scattered around in Cyrodiil and plunder the caves and kill everything in it, including vampires, goblins, ghosts, wraiths, zombies, and many more various types of creatures in the game. You can do various side quests from people that are in need of help or you can spend the next 15-20 hours doing the main quest. There is literally hundreds of hours of gameplay in Oblivion. You can join either the Fighters Guild, the Mages Guild,or the new Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood. The Theives Guild involves you stealing small things from you advancing through the missions and even stealing an Elder Scroll. The Dark Brotherhood is my favorite one. It involves murdering people. It is not one of those, walk into the guild and say you want to join. I has a creative way of you entering the Guild. The way it works is, that if you kill someone, and it has to be a human NPC, you will be visited by a Dark Brotherhood member, after waking up after sleeping. The Dark Brotherhood member will ask you if you want to join or not. If you wish to join, he will tell you to go and murder a certain person, to see if you are worthy for The Dark Brotherhood. After you kill the person, he will come to you again and say that you are now a member of The Dark Brotherhood. It is a fun guild to join. The sound is another great aspect of the game, from the striking of the swords to the thud of a book falling on the floor. It makes the game seem much more real. Even the NPC characters have unique voices from one another. It is a wonder of how many characters have there own unique conversations and how much work was put into it. The graphics are, I think, the second best graphics for the Xbox 360, with Gears of War having the best graphics. The world is very detailed, even the weather has a great effect, from raining to snowing. There are a lot of different climates in Cyrodiil form the prairie, to mountainous regions, to swamps, to forested areas, and snowy climates up north. All in all, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a great game that no Xbox 360 owner should not have. If it weren't for the games glitches and frame rate I would have given it a perfect ten, but if you put those aside you will have and unforgettable gaming experience