the elder scrolls iv: oblivion review

Have a picture of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion?, please send it to us.
Picture courtesy of 16 Bit Retro Gamer.

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

• Overview
• Reviews
  • carlos777uk's review
  • 1 Comment
• Write your review
• Ask a Question

By carlos777uk on 29th May 2006

carlos777uk's Ratings

Addiction Level	6/10
Graphics	8/10
Multi-player	No
Value for money	7/10
Overall value	7/10
carlos777uk's recommendation

Good Points

Bad Points

General Comments

I'm a long term RPG'er and have seen all there is to see RPG wise over the last 15 years. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a disappointing title.

Out the box the biggest gripe is undoubtably the levelling monsters, check the games forums, it's full of moans. This is to say - when you reach say level 10, usually, the early monsters in 99% of other games will have become easy. Not in this. The monsters level with you, to "maintain game difficulty" but in my, and many others opinions this is simply not right.

You can however get yourself a mod to sort this, and I did...which was nice; but there's more.

The games interface feels very consoley. As a PC user you expect actions to be available on hotkeys and toolbars. In fact, having just finished playing World of Warcraft for 6 months, I was very surprised to see that this game doesn't have a toolbar, and only 8 quick slots available! This after using over 30 slots over 4 toolbars in WOW. So, to do almost any basic actions apart from melee and run, you have to menu up, select, and then close menu. Very tedious.

Still, there are some very nice features to this game.

The wilderness looks very nice and graphically the dungeons were very pleasing. Levelling is non conventional in that you must rest at an inn to stat increase but those who prefer D&D like me will never get used to having to trawl from town to town to find spell scroll sellers to learn new magicks from.

The game begins to feel repetitive even when interacting with NPC's as there are only a few actors voices used for every individual in the world! You'll see what I mean when you start talking to a pirate in anvil after speaking to a trader in kvatch! Strange faces and strange voices.

I was warned (having not at all enjoyed Morrow wind) that this would be more of the same and it's a shame I didn't listen! Not for me but rated 7/10 due to some nice storylines that were very captivating, however, I did feel awkward with the whole games mechanics so didn't like it much.

carlos777uk's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!