If Oblivion is supposed to be hell, I'd hate to see what heaven looks like.

THE STORY SO FAR
If I were to tell you the full story of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Oblivion from here on) then you'd probably be on this site for a month reading this review, because it would probably end up being as long as Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings."

So you'll crisscross the land, searching high and low to make sure that the heir takes the throne, and even tackling the mysterious Gates of Oblivion that popup...and boy are they creepy. When I saw my first gate, I was literally dumbfounded and afraid to move. Here is this giant, red glowing gate, which looks almost exactly like Sauron's eye from the "Lord of the Rings" movies. So I approached it cautiously, stepped inside, and hell was all I saw. Once you step into the world of Oblivion, it is all red lightning tinted skies, bursting fires, flowing lava, deranged monsters, and minions of hell bent on your destruction. To close these gates, you have to traverse great distances, up towering spires, and remove a signal stone that will close that particular gate once and for all. However, don't think there is just one, because as the story unfolds or as you simply explore the world, you'll run across other ones as well, and these play in the exact same fashion.

Though the beauty of Oblivion (the game...not the world) is that you can tackle this main story whenever you want. After I started the game, it took me a good five to six hours before I even went to accomplish the task the king wanted me to do. Instead, I was getting a layout of the capital city, finding the odd quest that I luckily stumbled across, and then making a bit of loot playing Indiana Jones as I explored ancient dungeons and derelict forts. After I built up enough money, then I was off to find that monk, but if I ever got tired of the main quest I could simply stop the quest, head off to find another adventure, and return whenever it suited me. For instance, after I sealed the first Oblivion gate and got the heir to a good stopping point, I simply turned off the quest, headed back to the capital, and then decided to be Russell Crowe from Gladiator and partake in the Arena Battles.

There is just so much story to be had with Oblivion. You've got the main quests, random quests that you stumble across or ask about, Arena battles, guild quests (thief, fighter, mage, etc.) and the list just goes on and on. You can even make your own story, by simply choosing to buck the system and just explore, cause you're likely to stumble across anything from bandits wanting money, Oblivion gates, crumbling caves, ancient ruins filled with treasure (and bandits...can't forget bandits) and all other sorts of oddities. For that matter, I liked just running around picking things, grinding them into potions, and selling them at the store for a bit of gold.

The beauty of Oblivion is that the game will last as long as you want it. Do you want to just breeze through the story and leave it at that? You can. Do you want to join every guild? You can. Do you want to explore all the landmarks and plunder all the ancient sites? You can. Oblivion is a massive playground...have fun.

GAMEPLAY
Since there isn't any multiplayer we've only got the single player experience to concern ourselves with.

Once you start up the game, you'll be introduced to a training level (so to speak) that will get you accustomed to the controls of Oblivion, but yet this level is so much more than just a training ground. You start by picking your gender (male or female) and then one of the ten races of the game (if you've played an Elder Scrolls before the races should all be familiar). You've got your three different elf classes, the Orcs, the Khajiit (feline creatures), the Argonians (lizard race of people), and then your typical human characters. Though they are able to do the same things, some are just better prepared and more adept at certain things. If you think you want to be a magic user, for example, you'll lean more toward the Bretons, Dark Elves, and High Elves. If you want to be a warrior you'll be looking more at the Redguards and Nords. But as I said, you can make any character what you want, it's just that some are naturally better at the beginning and don't require any training to make up for any faults in their design.

After you pick that initial stuff, you'll then be able to craft the facial look of your character by fiddling around with various sliders that control everything from the look of your brow, to the narrowness of your eyes, to the largeness of your nose, and everything in between. It reminds me a lot of EA's Gameface feature from their Tiger Woods games, as you can really create some different faces by just tweaking the initial face (though you can't really make any monstrosities as in the Tiger Woods series), but even if you aren't that skilled in artistry, you can always do what I did and use the random feature that will keep creating face after face until you find one that you like. However, don't spend too much time on it, as you'll probably be playing in the first person viewpoint for most of your time spent in the game.

You'll then play a bit more until you stumble across the king and he asks you what sign you were born under. Here you pick one of several different choices, and these factor into what bonus attributes or abilities you have from the beginning. After you complete this training level and see the king get killed, a guard will ask you what your class is. Now, the beauty of this opening is that the game is constantly keeping track of how you play the game, so if you find yourself killing rats mostly with your sword then you'll probably be a warrior class, if you attack mostly with spells you'll be a magic user class, and if you sneak a bunch you could be one of the stealth classes. Though the game tells you what it thinks you should play the game as, you are under no obligation to pick that if it isn't what you want to be.

From there it's off to explore. You can start the main quest, walk around, visit dungeons, talk to people -- whatever you want to do.

Now, since this is a RPG, you have to be able to gain experience and level up...right? Yep, you would be correct, but unlike other RPGs where you get experience points for doing battle and then level up after you reach a required number, you actually level up in Oblivion in a much more unique and refreshing way. In Oblivion you level up by - gasp -actually using your abilities. As you do battle with your sword your blade skills will slowly get better and better. If you repair your armor yourself then your armory rating will go up. Every skill in the game progresses and improves in this same manner. Run to improve athleticism, cast certain spells to improve those governing abilities, buy and sell stuff to improve mercantile abilities, etc. Now, not every skill will lead to you leveling up. Though every skill can improve through constant use, you can only gain levels by raising those main skills associated with your class. For example, I'm a Monk, so I can only gain levels by improving my hand-to-hand, marksmanship, security and sneak skills just to name a few. After you improve enough, you'll be instructed to sleep and reflect on yourself, which will open up a screen that will allow you to upgrade even more enhancing abilities, like how much stuff you can carry, the amount of health you gain at each level, the amount of magic you have, and so on and so on.

The controls will take you a little time to get used to, but for the most part they are easy to grasp and once you do you'll be flipping through menus (and there are a bunch!) and battling with ease. Many people complained about the last Elder Scrolls game having combat be too simple, but I'm pleased to say that Oblivion has tweaked the combat, and though not perfect, it is more engaging and fun. Your right trigger is used to swing weapons and fire bows, your left trigger is used to block with a weapon or shield and after improving as a marksman can be used to zoom in. You've also got your right bumper that will use whatever spell you currently have selected.

As a marksman, I experience the game more like a FPS, what with weaving side to side, lining up shots with my bow, and coming in for the kill, but I've experimented with both the spell and fighting sides as well. It isn't so important to any other class besides the magic users, but you can hot link your directional pad, so that whenever you push in a desired direction (8 ways to be exact) that hot linked action, whether it is a spell or bringing up another weapon, will instantly be assigned to what it is supposed to be. So if you are battling with a fire spell, but find you need to heal, you can choose the hot link for your healing option and instantly press the right bumper to use that ability without having to go to a menu to swap them out. You can use hot link for every class, but the magic users seem to need them more than any other class.

When you enter combat with a fighter, the game turns into an enjoyable ballet of grunts, parries and slices. You can use the right trigger to perform a quick slash, but by keeping it held down for longer you can do more powerful blows. Since the camera bobs and weaves as you fight, the game gets really visceral as you'll be anticipating when to strike at your opponent and when to hold back, block to catch your opponent off guard, and then move in for a vicious slash.

The game also has several interactive minigames that are vital to two skills in particular. To improve your security ability you'll have to get accustomed to picking locks. Whenever you attempt a lock, you'll bring up a locking picking game a little like that found in Splinter Cell, though this one is harder and can break picks. I understand how to easily do the Very Easy locks, but anything outside one tumbler and I find it too difficult, so I just let the game auto attempt locks for me. Another minigame skill involves your persuasive ability, which basically means can you butter up a NPC (non-playable character) enough to get them to answer things they might not have before. Once again, I find this portion too difficult, so I choose not to use it or just bribe for my info. The game works by having a swiveling circle with various things you can say (Admire, Boast, Joke and Coerce) that you'll have to use to hopefully make them open up to you more. You judge how receptive the NPC will be to you by watching their face, so if they smile on an option their points will go up, a frown or scowl will mean your points will go down, and a blank face will usually net you nothing.

The rest of the controls for the game boil down to the left bumper being used to grab objects, the back button used to wait, clicking the right thumbstick to bring out the third person camera, clicking the left thumbstick to make your character enter stealth mode, the A-button used to activate objects, the B-button to open your journal, the X-button to ready and sheath a weapon, and then finally the Y-button to make your character jump.

Though I love RPGs and was instantly giddy when I heard talk about Morrowind for the Xbox, after I started the game I found it all too daunting and eventually found myself quitting. With everything that game had to offer, and no way to easily do anything in the game, I just left the game feeling as if I was missing out on something, but I just couldn't handle not being able to do something and always feeling like I was playing the game wrong. Though there are many improvements over Morrowind, the new map abilities are easily the best thing about Oblivion and the single feature that should have every Morrowind objector who was in my boat coming back into the fray.

By bringing up your map, important locations are marked as you play. For instance, as you explore a town, markers will come up to tell you about important houses or what a specific store is, so this way you are never left aimlessly wondering about. Now, in Morrowind, you only had two means of travel: walk there or take a giant tick to the closest location and then walk. With Oblivion, however, though you can still walk everywhere you want, you also now have the option of riding horses (a speedier walk essentially) and my favorite means of travel, which is the instant teleport. When you look at your world map you'll see various markers placed around the map, and by clicking on them (as long as you aren't indoors or being attacked by enemies) you can instantly warp there - as if you had walked there yourself - and the game will pass the time as if you had actually done all the work yourself. So while you had to play Morrowind how the developers wanted you to play the game, Oblivion lets "you" choose how to play.

I chose to use this feature only for fetch quests (where it would be way too time consuming to run from place to place) and when exploring ruins. For example, I'd go to a ruin, search through it, loot it, and then once I found I had too much stuff I'd simply leave the ruins, quick jump to the market district to sale my goods, and then I'd jump right back to the ruins and continue the good fight. The reason you shouldn't rely on the quick jump too much is because if you aren't footing it for some of the time, you'll miss out on all the caves, ruins, and forts that you could be exploring; though like I said, you can play the game how you want, so if that isn't your cup of tea then quick jump to your heart's content.

Also, if you have to leave and you want to place a mark where you've been, you can do that too so that you can easily find the exact place you just were if you have to, say, go sell some stuff at the market.

Though the menu system is hard to grasp at the beginning of the game since there are just so many numbers and pages to worry about understanding and navigating, things will soon become second nature and won't give you a hassle at all.

GRAPHICS
Gorgeous! When you start the game off in the prison, you'll by hypnotized by the bricks (of all things) and how detailed they look. However, you haven't seen anything yet, because once you step outside into the world and see everything there is...I dare you not to just stand there and gawk.

The draw distance is incredible, and though it is low textured to give you that appearance and only becomes high textured the closer you get, it still does an excellent job of making this world feel real and expansive by not having a mist of fog in your face that obscures everything.

The trees are lush, the grass is beautiful, the characters look nicely detailed, the sky is like a painting, and above all things the architecture is absolutely phenomenal. The towering spires, the erected statues, a simple inn in the middle of nowhere, and ancient elf ruins are a sparkling marble that reflects the sunlight. I think I enjoyed plundering ruins so much because they are all just so graphically detailed, and I loved seeing what statue I'd run across next. For that matter, my absolute favorite one so far is this cave that leads you into an ancient civilization that was apparently flooded before its people could escape, so you've got half filled corridors, roots growing everywhere, and a waterfall falling right across the door opening. I really felt like an explorer discovering some lost civilization, and I have to admit, it was a little touching to read the quickly scrawled notes saying how the water came and got everyone, and then seeing the left behind remnants of these people long dead. Oblivion just manages to inspire this in the player. Viewing a sunset, watching the Blades salute the new heir standing at a little monastery in the mountains while snow drifts across your face -- it is moments like these that just make me love this game.

If there were any complaints about the game graphically it would be that there is some pop-up and a bit of chugging as things load up from their system queue, but I didn't really notice this all that much except for when I was riding a horse and things had to come up quicker since I was moving through the world at a faster pace.

SOUND
The voice work is sadly the worst part of the game. For every Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean (I think it is him playing the heir) you've got some half done line reading that will have you skipping it as soon as you hear it. The writing for the voice work is also give or take, because though some of it is pretty wretched, you'll occasionally get an answer like "Yeah, I heard a rumor...that you're an idiot" that will inspire a chuckle or so.

The sound work is great though. The clanking of weapons, the roaring of fire, the drizzling of rain, and the screeches of enemy creatures...I can't complain about any of it.

And the music...oh...this is one of the best videogame scores I've heard. A full orchestra provides the dazzling music, which manages to always be perfect depending on what type of situation you are in. The battle music is quick paced while the downtime music is slow and reflective. Much like the show Lost, which can manage to make me feel something just by music and images alone (poor Boone and that haunting piece of music that goes with that scene), the exact same happens with Oblivion. When you see this great imagery on the screen and you've got this wonderfully done music pulling at your heartstrings, you cant help but be immersed and thinking, "Wow, this game is something special!"

I'M SPECIAL!
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion hits the Xbox 360 in both a Regular Edition and Collector's Edition. The Collector's Edition will set you back an extra $10 bucks, but it could be worth it depending on your love for the material. With the Collector's Edition you get the game, a making of documentary, The Pocket Guide to the Empire (a 112 page guide to every aspect of Tamriel), a giant poster map of the game world, and then finally an authentic replicated Septim (the currency of the world). The coin is really well done, the poster could come in handy, and the Pocket Guide is expansive though perhaps a bit superfluous, but I could see myself giving it a read as I continue to fall more in love with this game.

CLOSING COMMENTS
I have to say that as of this writing, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is the game that no Xbox 360 owner should be without. I could continue to rave on and on about my travels and how much I love this game, but frankly, my hands are getting tired from all this typing. Of course, it doesn't hurt already having a deep love for RPGs, but I could see even RPG newbies running out to buy this game. Though the Xbox sadly lacked of RPGs outside of a handful (Morrowind, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Fable, Bard's Tale), I could actually see myself forgiving the 360 if it takes a while for another RPG to come out, because this sucker is massive and will easily take you hours upon hours to see everything this game has to offer. I can't recommend this game enough -- easily my favorite game for the Xbox 360 so far, and probably one that will stay that way for months to come.

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