the elder scrolls iv: oblivion review

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Average Ratings

Addiction Level	8.9/10
Graphics	9.2/10
Value for Money	8.8/10
Reviewer Rating	9/10
Overall Rating	8.8/10

93% Recommended13 out of 14 Reviews

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By Quej on 7th Apr 2006

Quej's Ratings

Addiction Level	8/10
Graphics	10/10
Multi-player	Yes
Value for money	10/10
Overall value	9/10
Quej's recommendation

Good Points

The game is massive and there is so much to do in the game world.

Bad Points

Lots of load scences and it keeps just stopping for a couple of seconds.

General Comments

All in all, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a very good game that will keep you busy for weeks. You can choose to do just the main quest or you can choose to do the guild quests, or you can choose to do the many various mini quests or you can simply choose not to choose any quest and still spend hours walking round the huge world map fighting bandits, skeletons, giant rats, goblins (both flying and on foot), wolves, killer crabs ..need I go on. It is simply massive, although not as big as Morrowind, but the main difference is the volume of things to do. Walk through the woods for five minutes and you will stumble across some ruin or bandit camp or something like that. You can also visit the gladiatorial arena where you can either gamble as a spectator or become a combatant and rise through the ranks to stardom. There is simply no end of things to do in this game.

On top of this, the scenery and graphics are immense. Definitely the best game I have ever played on this topic. The attention to detail is immaculate and minor effects like water etc are nothing short of brilliant. I particularly like the fact that if someone shoots you with an arrow, it stays there, sticking out of you for a while (small things please small minds)

Now the bad points . Not surprisingly in a game this large, it has loads of load scenes and it keeps just stopping every now and then for a couple of seconds, which is very annoying. Walk through a door and you will be faced with a load scene, walk into an area where you have not been before ."Loading area" comes up and the action stutters for a second or two. These two things are quite annoying by themselves but then you bring in the fact that every now and then, for some inexplicable reason, it crashes, saying "This disc can not be read, please clean it and restart the game". I took mine back to the shop and they swapped it but the guy behind the counter said this is a common problem and he had it and his did the same. Fortunately, it auto saves every time this happens, but this is a major problem for me. I was under the impression that "Next Gen" gaming would provide better gaming. This is not acceptable for the money being splashed out on these games and hopefully will not be a "common" problem with the Xbox360.

To some up, this game is Morrowind with massively better graphics and loads more action. Would I recommend it? Definitely. It is a must for RPG gamers and will even satisfy the appetites of some action gamers. You are never short of something to do.

The only reason I have not given this game a straight ten is because you can not ignore the loading and crashing and stuttering.

Total Respect: +1