8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Not quite as good as Morrowind but still solid
Date of Review: Feb 26, 2008
The Bottom Line: Good open-ended RPG for anyone who has a 360
Bethesda is known for constantly trying to push the envelope in gameplay development. As a result, their games are often long, involved, and occasionally hampered by a small glitch.
In terms of gameplay, Oblivion seeks to improve on its predecessor, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. The combat is more involved than hitting the right trigger over and over, and traveling between cities can be done with just the click of a button. The AI is done incredibly well, NPCs will walk around their daily routines, engage in conversations, and go home to go to sleep. Another good change is that you can longer kill anyone required for a quest- they only get knocked unconscious. Quests are also better organized through the journal and conflicts between guild quests is kept to a minimum.
While Oblivion makes a huge leap forward in terms of gameplay ,the story and immersion fall short of Morrowind. The game also uses a levelled loot system, meaning that a level 1 character has absolutely no reason to delve into a dungeon except where required for a quest. The story is much shorter and much more straightforward than Morrowind, with no big plot twists and no real epic conclusion.
Overall, Oblivion is a good solid game for anyone who likes American-style RPGs. It isn't as groundbreaking as Morrowind was, but it still continues to push the idea of what an RPG can be.
