 Review By: Jared Black |
Developer: | Bethesda Softworks |
| Publisher: | Bethesda Softworks / 2K | |
| Genre: | RPG | |
| ESRB: | Mature | |
| # Of Players: | 1 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | HDTV 480p, 720p | |
| Buy Now: |   |
The A.I. isn’t perfect, of course. As I mentioned, NPCs often repeat the same conversations you’ve heard over and over again. Worse than that, NPCs that join up with you for whatever reason seem to lose all independent thought. So, if you agree to take someone to his or her home, along the way you can visit dungeons and they’ll fight alongside you without question. Although it is a great way to clear out tougher dungeons early in the game, it’s a little strange that these characters don’t even object. At the minimum, having them mutter some random comments (such as “So, why are we here again?”) would’ve helped.
One of the best additions to the series is the ability to fast travel to locations you’ve already visited once, as well as key cities every citizen should know about automatically. The game still gives you plenty of motivation to explore of course, and many of the quests require at least some travel to lesser areas you cannot fast travel directly to. Aside from that, there are still unique locations to find for those willing to find their own adventure, and doing so is easier than ever on PS3.
Combat has been improved over Morrowind, but it’s still not perfect. Weapons are used with the R1 button; press it quickly to perform a quick attack or hold it down for a more powerful blow. As you improve your skill in whatever weapon type you’re using, you’ll gain access to new and more powerful attacks activated by using the trigger along with movement in different directions. Blocking is more effective if you actually have a shield equipped, but even a weapon can be used for less effective blocking. Unlike Morrowind it’s important to time both your attacks and blocks, since an effective block can stagger an opponent and leave them open to your counterattack.
So while there’s now some skill involved, the combat system is still not perfect. Fighting multiple opponents can be tricky, particularly in tight spaces where the camera doesn’t always provide the optimum view. It’s also a little too easy to hit friendly NPCs in battles involving multiple participants, and the game still doesn’t really take into account what area of an enemy’s body you’re hitting. There’s also the complaint many players have had before with the auto-leveling system, where enemies grow in strength as your character advances. This does lead to some occasional imbalances where the enemies seem to outrank your own character, but I honestly never saw it as a big problem and never found a foe I couldn’t conquer.
Of course, you don’t even have to pick up a sword if you don’t want to. Should you choose to be a mage (or at least have some spellcasting ability), you’ll find casting easy and intuitive via R2. There are dozens of spells to choose from, and to keep track of them all you’ll have a hotkey system at your disposal. Various spells, items, and weapons can be assigned to different slots in the ring of slots, which can then be pulled up at any time using the d-pad. Unfortunately the number of slots is fairly limited, so I still found myself having to go into the menu to find the appropriate spell or item I needed. Hopefully, in the next Elder Scrolls title we’ll see a multiple ring system ala Secret of Mana, or at the very least more slots to choose from.
Like Morrowind before it, Oblivion relies on a rather limited (given the scope of the game) soundtrack performed by Jeremy Soule. However, once again the quality is top-notch, and the tracks are so good and unobtrusive that you’ll never grow tired of them. Even more impressive though is the voice acting, as literally every line of dialogue in the game is spoken. Although the same voice actors are used repeatedly (you’ll hear the same two or three voices for each race over and over again), aside from a few cheesy lines most of the dialogue is delivered very well. In particular, Patrick Stewart is of course excellent in his very limited role as the emperor.
Bottom Line:
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is exactly the kind of game the PS3 needs. Not only is it a long, beefy RPG to get PS3 owners (and Sony fans used to long RPGs) through the lean summer months, but it’s also the first multi-platform title to me that truly suggests the PS3’s hardware is superior in the console world.
In short, when taking its beauty, length, and replay value into consideration, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is probably the best game on PS3 right now, whose impact is lessened only by the fact that it’s a port of a year-old game. Should the downloadable content available elsewhere eventually find its way to the PS Store in the coming months, it’s poised to only get better.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 9.5 |
Posted: 2007-04-09 16:35:08 PST