Returning From Oblivion

"You can go anywhere you want except for Oblivion. Whatever you do, don't enter Oblivion."

I chewed on these words for a moment before putting my headphones on, the rep from Bethesda standing over me awaiting my response to what he'd said.

"Yeah," I said coolly. "That's fine."

Fine for now, but secretly, I wanted to push the red button.

The site was the stylish W Hotel, a trendy hot spot nestled within New York City's Times Square, and the game was The Elder Scrolls® IV: Oblivion™. Braving the fierce winter wind, I'd battled the elements and arrived to happily discover an Xbox 360 console as well as its companion, a 23-inch Samsung HD monitor, quietly awaiting me. I immediately sat down at the table, the TV no more than three feet from my face, and prepared to immerse myself in what is my most anticipated game of 2006.

"Whatever you do, don't enter Oblivion."

Be nice to the villagers.

Oblivion's entrance is marked by this giant wall of fire (I know this because I spied it on someone else's monitor), but during the four plus hours that I played Bethesda's incredibly ambitious role-playing game (RPG), I never came close to it. In fact, in four hours I managed to complete the very first mission, which is to deliver the "sacred symbol of the empire," the Amulet of Kings, to a monk living in a secluded town.

The rest of the time I happily swam in lakes, wandered through the gorgeous and green countryside, battled wolves and other dangerous creatures, and explored hidden caves that revealed other terrors. All the while I was completely immersed in the fictitious world of Tamriel.

Classic Lineage

In case you're not familiar with Elder Scrolls, they are a series of action RPGs, developed by Bethesda, that allow you to carve your own path through wondrously detailed game worlds. There is a story and you're more than welcome to follow it, but there are also plenty of side quests and places to explore that are "off the beaten path."

In the last game, The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind®, you could join guilds, take all sorts of odd jobs, or just set out on your own, wandering from town to town, killing whomever you wish and stealing whatever your pockets could carry.

While I thoroughly enjoyed bashing people over
their heads and spearing wolves, much of my game
time was spent marveling at the scenery.

It's the quintessential adventure game, the type that most of us have been dreaming about for years, though it will soon be eclipsed by Oblivion, which is not only bigger than its prequel, but, if four hours are anything to go by, far more incredible.

Character Selection

Before you begin your adventure, Bethesda grants you the right to customize your character however you see fit. After selecting a gender, choose one of ten races: Imperial, Khajiit, Nord, Orc, Redguard, Wood Elf, Argonian, Breton, Dark Elf, or High Elf, each of whom has different abilities.

Faced with all of these choices, it took me a good ten minutes to decide what I actually wanted to be (I chose to be an Argonian). Next, I was presented with an even bigger task, to customize my on-screen persona. The game lets you mess around with the face, except clicking that opens up another proverbial can of worms, because now you can tinker with the brow, cheeks, eyes, forehead, jaw, mouth, and nose, and if you click one of them the game becomes even more detailed.

The game environments are amazing.

For example, if all you want to do is customize your character's chin you have to decide whether you want it to be pronounced/recessed, retracted/jutting, shallow/deep, wide/thin, and tall/short. There's an equal number (more or less) for each of those aforementioned features (brow, cheeks, eyes, etc.), so I spent a good half hour just tinkering with all of the options while my fellow journalists were walking by the Oblivion gate and attacking monsters.

Time to Suit Up

Finally, after realizing that these four hours were going to go by extremely fast, I chose to randomize my character, and what the computer came up with, while not the image I had in mind, was definitely good enough. However, this isn't the only time I was faced with making a complex decision. Later on, I had to select one of about 13 birth signs such as The Thief, The Apprentice, The Serpent, The Lord, The Tower, and The Warrior, among others, each one granting my character some special power.

The Lover, for example, lets you kiss people and paralyze them for ten seconds. Then there's The Shadow, which grants you the power of invisibility, but only for 60 seconds per day.

The problem with all of the birth signs is each special gift sounds really appealing, as there's always some situation that I can think of where I would want to be invisible, kiss someone to be an ass, or just heal myself.

This is made even more complex because of the classes, of which there are roughly 23. These include types such as the Assassin, Barbarian, Archer, Acrobat, Pilgrim, Thief, Warrior, Healer, Mage, Rogue, and Sorcerer. I appreciate having the ability to make such choices, but damn, I obsessed over them so much that I chewed up another half an hour without even realizing it.

If you're low level and you mess with
some of the non-player characters, they
get really pissed and kick your ass.

Just like in Morrowind, this adventure begins in prison, though instead of being on a boat I was in the bowels of a castle. Empty shackles ominously hung from the ceiling and I could spy other prisoners, however faint, beyond the bars. Across the way, a prisoner was talking to me, droning on about how I was going to die down here, and for a moment I believed him.

Out of the Frying Pan

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps enveloped the dungeon, and in a matter of seconds a few heavily armed guards known as The Blades escorted an aged man to my cell door. The man was Uriel Septim, the Emperor of Tamriel. The guards announced that they were opening the door and that I needed to stand back. I complied, and the entire group entered, but when they reached me, no sword was drawn and no real threats were made.

The Emperor, clearly in his twilight years, had some bizarre connection to me that he could not place (or could he?) and after a few moments chatting he asked me to follow him. A trap door was revealed, and after they entered it I followed at a safe distance.

The plan was to secretly move the Emperor through the sewers to safety, but the passageways had eyes. It wasn't long before we were attacked by bizarre shape-shifting creatures that, upon being killed, appeared human. Even though I'd managed to find a weapon, a rusty old katana, I let The Blades do all of the killing, at least for a little while.

There's never a shortage of places to explore.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck and I was forced to go out on my own, but even though I parted ways with my companions (the ones who were left), I was unarmed and carrying the Amulet of Kings. Somewhere in the land of Tamriel there's a long lost heir to the throne, the one person who can actually wear the sacred amulet (it effortlessly slips off the neck of the unworthy) and I needed to find them. Otherwise the Prince of Destruction would annihilate us all.

Spectacular Visuals

After battling my way out of the sewer, smiting rats and stealing whatever I could find (gold, bones, rat meat, weapons, skulls), I saw daylight. I wandered into the countryside, and, as the scenery came into focus, only one word entered my mind.

Beautiful.

The screen was enveloped by plants, lush and green, alive and healthy. Water, glistening with the sun, calmly rippled on this gorgeous day. The blue sky gave way to a few white, puffy clouds. Mountains stretched to the heavens. Forests, both foreboding as well as inviting, beckoned from what seemed like a mile away. I was completely enthralled by the site of it, and it's because of this wondrous imagery that I completely lost track of time.

Open-Ended Gameplay

The short description of Oblivion is that it's Morrowind on steroids. The basic framework is the same in that you can do whatever you want, go anywhere you wish, and play from either the first- (preferred) or third-person view, except the graphics are fantastic and the combat has been significantly improved. In Morrowind, while it looked and at times felt like a first-person hack-and-slash, its combat system was governed by RPG rules.

Your character was in a constant state of leveling up, and only skilled at using certain weapons, items, and magic, so many times you found yourself swinging your sword at a monster from point blank range, but because combat was still governed by a roll of the "dice" you didn't hit anything.

In Oblivion, this isn't the case. In this game, while you still level up and are better off using weapons and magic best suited for your character, when you bash an orc's ugly head with a club you actually feel the contact. You can't always take someone out with a single head shot like you would in a standard first-person shooter, but the fighting is still very much improved and it makes adventuring a hell of a lot more enjoyable than in previous games.

Time to thump a monster.

One thing that hasn't changed is the ability to be one huge pack rat. Almost anything that you come across can be picked up and stored. Weapons (swords, clubs, shields, bows, arrows, daggers), food (bread, meats, cheeses, fruit), riches (jewels, gold), and miscellaneous items (scissors, bowls, skeletons, boots, shoes, cloaks, hates, shirts, pants) will find their way into your pockets.

Good and Evil

You can carry a ridiculous amount of stuff, though at some point you will become encumbered and be forced to drop some weight, either by leaving it in your house (or houses), leaving it somewhere in the countryside, or selling it to one of the game's merchants.

You can still kill or attack anyone you want—in theory, if you don't like a merchant's prices, just murder him and take all of his goods. In one very special case, I decided to bash this woman in the face after she asked me if I wanted to party with her and her friends.

Unfortunately, there are consequences for being a serial killer. If you're low level and you mess with some of the non-player characters (NPCs), they get really pissed and kick your ass. In fact, unless you're packing some serious weaponry it's best to play nice and go along with their ramblings, especially because they've been programmed to pursue you over great distances.

Beware the Locals

Towns and castles are almost always crawling with guards looking to cart you off to jail, or simple townsfolk who don't take too kindly to outsiders. I once wandered into what I thought was a peaceful place only to discover two gentlemen who didn't like me being there … I won't go into details, but if you've got a taste for blood, tread carefully. The people and creatures of Tamriel aren't so easily destroyed.

In addition to killing enemies with a standard weapon, you also cast magic. The game is packed with numerous spells and they all have different effects. One heals you, another fires bolts of electricity at your opponents, and others do all sorts of nifty things. Thankfully, assigning spells to either the D-Pad (the game allows you to map functions to its keys) or the right bumper is easily done. The game's excellently constructed item screens break down spells, items, weapons, and other goodies in your possession.

During my adventure I killed an innkeeper, slaughtered crabs by the shore and stole their meat, destroyed wolves (they're all over the place and are mean little bastards), tried my hand in the art of persuasion (a character's face will perk up if you're doing a good job, so there's a frame of reference to go by), swam in the lakes, and climbed mountains.

Vast Environments

Just like in Morrowind, I walked, and walked, and walked some more. There's a lot of ground to cover, but that's one of the many great things about Oblivion. When you see a snowcapped mountain two miles away, you can not only walk up to it but climb it as well, and during your ascent you run into villages, monsters, and secret passages. Nothing is in this game for show. If you see it, chances are you can get to the top of it.

No shortage of sword fodder, either.

Unfortunately, because the game is so ridiculously enormous, walking to and fro can at times be rather tedious. You always know where you're going because there's a compass at the bottom left portion of the screen, but walking opens you up to all sorts of dangers. Thankfully, Bethesda has put horses into the game and they greatly reduce the traveling time. The horses control decently enough, although they're not as fun to ride as in Activision's GUN™.

I'm also happy about lock picking. In Morrowind you collected lock picks, and whenever you wanted to use one you walked in front of a chest and pressed a button. In Oblivion there's a mini-game where you have to move past the tumblers and your lock pick will break if the lock is too complicated or if your character's lock picking skill isn't up to snuff. It's not incredibly difficult, but I felt a great sense of accomplishment after picking especially tricky locks.

Fantastic Detail

While I thoroughly enjoyed bashing people over their heads and spearing wolves, much of my game time was spent marveling at the scenery. Indeed, Oblivion is a fantastically detailed game. Tall plants sway in the breeze, water ripples, the sun reflects off body armor and produces a wondrous glow, the night sky is littered with the burning cosmos, and dawn is equally beautiful.

You also have to consider the sheer size of the game world. There are occasional load times, but it's hardly a distraction. It's not like you need to go through a door and wait for Oblivion to load the next area. You can see all the way to the horizon. It's definitely a remarkable achievement.

Then there's the audio. The sound of fists striking metal and swords slashing flesh, that's all well and good, but the music is just amazing. Written by Morrowind composer Jeremy Soule, the game's soundtrack is both epic and elegant. If you love the Morrowind theme like I do, you'll thoroughly enjoy the remix that plays at Oblivion's title screen.

Bethesda was still a little vague on the release date—when I asked if the game would be released in March, they wouldn't give me a yes or a no, just that they're still on track for a spring release. [Bethesda has since confirmed a March 20 shipping date. —Ed.] Considering that there may be some last-minute tweaking to do, I'm more than willing to accept a delay if it means its developers will make it even more incredible.

Article by Chris Buffa, GameDAILY Senior Editor