BIOS: Technology Means Business

Oblivion is the fourth title in the best-selling Elder Scrolls series, and brings the role-playing game (RPG) genre to new heights with its combination of freeform gameplay and cutting-edge graphics. If you’re an intelligent gamer looking for more than the usual, buy Oblivion now - you’ll love it!

Oblivion (Best Current Price: £24.75) is the fourth chapter in the award-winning Elder Scrolls series that includes Morrowind (2002), Daggerfall (1996), and Arena (1994). It features a 3D engine that can render stunningly realistic environments, groundbreaking AI for all characters in the game, and the same open-ended gameplay style that has made The Elder Scrolls one of the most critically acclaimed franchises of all-time.

Since its unveiling in fall 2004, Oblivion has become one of the most talked about games. Certainly the company’s most ambitious project ever - and one of the most gripping games we’ve ever played - Oblivion is an epic, open-ended single-player role-playing game. The powerful combination of unprecedented graphics (you’ll need a top-end card to get the best from it) and freeform gameplay even allows you to unravel the main quest or explore the vast world at your own pace.

Oblivion is a single-player game that takes place in Tamriel’s capital province, Cyrodiil. You are given the task of finding the hidden heir to a throne that sits empty, the previous emperor having been killed by an unknown assassin. With no true Emperor, the gates to Oblivion (the equivalent of hell in the world of Tamriel) open, and demons begin to invade Cyrodiil and attack its people and towns. It’s up to you to find the lost heir to the throne and unravel the sinister plot that threatens to destroy all of Tamriel.

In keeping with the Elder Scrolls tradition, you have the option to experience the main quest at your own pace, and there are plenty of opportunities to explore the vast world and make your own way. Numerous factions can be joined, such as the thieves or mages guilds, and each contains its own complete storyline and the chance to rise to the head of the faction and reap further rewards.

The game also features a new AI system, called Radiant AI, which gives non-player characters (NPCs) the ability to make their own choices based on the world around them. They’ll decide where to eat or who to talk to and what they’ll say. They’ll sleep, go to church, and even steal items, all based on their individual characteristics. Full facial animations and lip-synching, combined with full speech for all dialogue, also helps NPCs to appear convincingly life-like. The only downside is that there’s no animation when they talk to you, which somehow takes a little edge off of the realism.

Perhaps the greatest feature of Oblivion is that the imaginary world it creates lets you completely lose yourself, allowing you to spend hours exploring, travel for ‘miles’, or just look for minutiae, such as rare plants or hidden treasure. It puts you into a massive, cohesive, highly immersive world where the character you get to create at the beginning of the game can be customised beyond belief. While there’s a main quest for you to follow, which takes about 40 hours to finish, the majority of the game’s content is peripheral to that main quest.

You can root out goblins and other nasties in hidden dungeons, join and climb the ranks in a number of different guilds, visit all the different towns and try to solve everybody’s problems, compete in a long series of gladiatorial battles to the death, break into someone’s home and rob them in their sleep, get caught and face the consequences, contract a disease that leads to vampirism and then try to find a cure, buy a house, steal a horse, invest in your favourite shop, and more - much more!

And while it’s inherently an RPG the familiar keyboard-and-mouse controls allow you to play it in a number of ways - stealth, adventure, and action - all of which offer a totally different gaming experience. For instance, you can kill your enemies with destructive magic, weapons, or bare hands, or simply sneak or run right past them. Obviously not killing anyone or anything won’t help to improve your character class or allow you to acquire weapons, armoury or potions. I played the game in stealth mode and found performing sneak attacks extremely gratifying - especially the way arrows can be retrieved from their victims.

Oblivion is all about great depth and variety, and the way you can create almost any kind of character you want and do whatever you want makes it a totally compelling and gripping gaming experience. You’ll need a high-spec machine to get the best from it, but Oblivion seems to takes the idea of a virtual fantasy as far as it will go. Recommended without a doubt!

[9.5] - Editors’ Choice

[Best PC Game Pricing UK]
[Best PC Game Pricing US]