A massive RPG undertaking with a whole heck of a lot of pretty slapped onto everything.

The video preview starts in a dungeon and what a great looking one it is at that; the graphics are what instantly stood out for me during the preview. Some people have commented that many of the Xbox 360 games look like great looking Xbox games at best, but Oblivion shows just what the Xbox 360 is capable of and that this couldn't be done on the current systems. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is without a doubt the Xbox 360 game that I would show anyone who doubts the graphical power of the new system.

The bricks in the dungeon are amazingly detailed and realistic. In the preview the character you play as (created by the choices you make while escaping from the dungeon) is shown picking up a set of chains, pulling them back, and then letting go of them so that they swing downwards in a realistic motion and clank and bounce against the walls of the dungeon; the lighting casting shadows in real time off the swinging chain have to be seen to believe (they surpass even those lighting effects seen in the Splinter Cell franchise). It is worth noting that there are over nine thousand modeled objects in the game.

You get to see the Emperor escaping some fate that he doesn't want to befall him, and so he makes a break for it right through your cell. The Emperor is voiced by Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation) and is the first voiceover worth noting since the entire preview is filled with great voiceover work; there is fifty hours of dialog recorded for the game and that takes up half of the game disc alone. The preview also shows that the characters are all nicely detailed and their lips actually move pretty closely to the words they are speaking.

The next part of the preview takes place in what I have to go on the record as saying is the greatest forest I've ever seen; the level of detail is simply amazing. There are tall trees that glisten in the sunlight and swing as if a breeze has actually got them, small underbrush that is equally believable, and even a deer hops into view that you can hunt if you wish (please remember Bambi though). There are also some ruins here with great little touches such as moss growing up the side of a statue. The combat is also nicely done; it doesn't seem too complex and the animation and the fluidity of it all looks as if you could easily have fun doing this for hours on end.

The video preview also shows off one of the two hundred dungeons that the game is said to have. The dungeon has creepy tree roots growing in from the roof, the same beautiful lighting effects prevail throughout every inch of the level, and it even has these cool little traps that can either catch you off guard or that you can use to your advantage (as seen in the demo where it is turned on two skeleton warriors).

In another section the physics are shown off some more, where arrows are shot at various objects and they stick into things they should (wooden buckets) and bounce off things they shouldn't (rock walls). The character even shoots a stationary log that then promptly rolls down a hill because you were the one to interact with it. You can sneak through the darkness (a little eye tells you that you are hidden) and you even get to run across several more traps; spiked logs on chains that swing down and bounce off each other and other objects in the environment.

The video preview also shows off one of the sprawling cities the game will have to move about in. The NPCs contain 'radiant AI,' which basically means that the NPCs can act on their own just like you can do things yourself. The game also shows off the speech craft skill, where you can move a cursor around a dialog circle, and you can watch the subtle expressions on the NPC's face to see if they will respond positively or negatively to what you say. These NPCs can take the same potions that you can, pickup and leave items, and basically whatever you can do they can do too. I even saw a NPC (a bookstore owner) get mad at their dog and then paralyze it with a spell and then later burn it with a flame spell. Speaking of books, there are said to be at least four hundred books that you can read and use to help build up your skills.

The video preview ends with a battle in a city's streets as demons set forth from a gateway into Oblivion run around and attack you and some soldiers. The lightning crashing, fires burning, and rain falling all look exceptional.

I only had one problem with what I saw in the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion preview: it is all too dark. Maybe it has something to do with the realism of the graphics and lighting, but on several occasions (during the dungeon and the final battle during the city at night being two instances) I could hardly figure out what it was I was looking at. It helps the realism of the game