The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Review

That's not to say you can play Oblivion like a pacifist, since the main quest and many others are combat-intensive. But all the fighting in this game is probably one of the best parts. Visceral toe-to-toe melee battles have you carefully negotiating the distance between you and your opponent while switching between quick and powerful attacks, sometimes pausing to manually deflect your enemy's blows with your weapon or shield. Specifically, melee combat feels faster and smoother than it did in Morrowind, since in that game, it was possible to whiff blows against enemies while still appearing to hit--in Oblivion, close combat (as well as ranged combat) looks and feels much more solid. Your foes are generally quite smart, too. Humanoid enemies will taunt you when they're winning or turn tail and flee if they're near death. If you're faced with a number of foes, you can try to draw closer ones into the line of fire of the ones in the back--but be careful, because ranged attackers will lead their shots, forcing you to dodge and weave during battle, rather than simply keep moving.

The combat in Oblivion is surprisingly fun and exciting, whether you fight head-on or from the shadows.

A stealthy approach can be a tantalizing alternative, since sneaking up behind an opponent, pick-pocketing him, and then finishing him off with a single, deadly sneak attack can be at least as satisfying as slugging it out. And there are a wide range of magic schools to choose from, as well. Blast your foes with elemental spells, summon demonic aid or otherworldly weapons, charm your enemies into laying down their arms, debilitate the toughest monsters into simpering wimps that even a magic-user could beat up, make yourself invisible or really fast, and on and on. Whether you're playing on the Xbox 360 or PC, you can select a number of spells, items, and/or weapons for easy access in the heat of the moment.

Of course, there's much more to the game than combat against a wide variety of scary-looking bad guys. Simply exploring one of the game's towns and interacting with its populace can be a remarkable experience. Characters don't all stand around like they did in Morrowind; they're on a schedule, so they'll go to work in the morning and go to bed at night, and you can catch them going from place to place, talking to each other about recent rumors, and so on. They'll regard you differently depending on your personality and appearance, and you can compel them to like you better using everything from bribery to a fun little persuasion minigame in which you must guess at the other character's disposition and act accordingly. Every line of dialogue in the game is delivered in full speech, and the quality of the voice acting and the writing is generally excellent.

Almost every character in every town is unique, apart from the generic guards you'll find patrolling around (though every city's guards are different, clad in their respective armor and uniforms). There isn't always a ton to say to each character, but the fact that there are so many different lifelike characters in this game is staggering. It's exciting to stop and chat with each new person you meet, especially since a lot of them might send you on a quest of some sort or tell you where you can find one. Their faces are expressive, their eyes glint with life, and their lips move well with their speech. They could have used more body language, though, since they stand almost perfectly still when you're speaking to them. These aren't necessarily the most realistic-looking characters in any game to date, but they're up there.

Also, the way the quest system is structured in Oblivion is a huge improvement to the way quests were handled in Morrowind. In this game, anytime you're given a quest, you're prompted with a clear summary of what the quest is about and what you're supposed to do or where you're supposed to go. All your pending quests are clearly listed as part of the game's well-designed menu system, and you can set any of them to be your active quest, which automatically marks your objective on your map and gives you a compass waypoint to follow. This means there's next to no time wasted confusingly wandering around, looking for the right person to talk to or the next place to go.

In fact, you can instantly travel to all major metropolitan areas right from the start, or any other landmarks you've previously discovered. Through the "fast travel" feature on the world map, Oblivion simulates the amount of time it would have taken you to hoof it from point A to point B, so if you'd prefer to quickly teleport from one town to another instead of go by foot or on horseback, you're free to do that. This might be jarring at first, both to Morrowind fans and new players, but it turns out to be a great feature that helps keep the gameplay fast-paced...if that's how you like it. Certainly, the game rewards you for exploring on your own, since you'll find all kinds of uncharted places worth visiting. And in general, the way the quest system is structured is ideal for making you feel like you always have clear goals, yet without it feeling dumbed down or easy.

There's a lot to do in the game, but it's easy to keep track of your objectives thanks to a great quest system and map interface.

On that note, the game's level of challenge feels just right by default, though you can adjust a difficulty slider if you want to make it easier or harder. There's so much to do at any given point that even if you do get stuck on something, you can always come back to it later and go do something else that's fun and rewarding. The game's fine-tuned challenge is achieved in part because the enemies you'll encounter out in the world will get stronger as you do, though in practice, this doesn't come across nearly as contrived as it sounds. Growing more powerful in this game feels suitably rewarding, as it should in any role-playing game. As you find new and better equipment or spells, gain mastery over your skills, and increase your ability scores, you'll clearly get the impression that you're becoming much stronger. One of the great, new features in Oblivion is how all of the different skills in the game have different levels of mastery and corresponding perks--for example, when you reach journeyman level with blunt weapons, you gain a chance to disarm your foes with a power attack. Or, a journeyman in marksmanship can zoom in to snipe at foes with his or her bow. The strongest spells are limited to masters of their respective magic schools, and so on. When you advance to a higher rank in a skill, you get an immediate and significant payoff that wasn't there in Morrowind, where your character grew stronger much more subtly.