The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Game of the Year Edition) (Xbox 360, 2007)

The Good

* Huge, lavishly detailed world offers tremendous amount of action and adventure
* Main mechanics like combat, stealth, and magic are fun and well designed
* Impressive artificial intelligence and hundreds of believable characters
* Outstanding symphonic score, as well as excellent voice acting and sound effects
* Tremendous replay value, plus gorgeous graphics to make it easy on the eyes.

The Bad

* Frequent though fairly brief loading times
* You might run into some technical issues with performance.

This is a rare and remarkable achievement--a huge, open-ended, complex, detailed role-playing game that's fun to play and a pleasure to behold. Oblivion not only delivers everything that earned the Elder Scrolls series the devoted loyalty of a huge following of fans, but also significantly improves on the weaknesses of its 2002 predecessor, Morrowind. Morrowind earned recognition for being one of the best role-playing games in years, but the immersive and long-lasting experience it provided wasn't for everyone. Oblivion is hands-down better, so much so that even those who'd normally have no interest in a role-playing game should find it hard to resist getting swept up in this big, beautiful, meticulously crafted world.


Morrowind was a tough act to follow, but Oblivion isn't just better--it's a lot better.

The Elder Scrolls series is known for its sheer size and depth. These are games that you could lose yourself in, spending hours exploring a fantasy world, traveling for miles, or just looking for minutiae, such as rare plants or hidden treasure. Oblivion lives up to this pedigree, putting you into a massive, cohesive, highly immersive world. You get to create your own character--the possibilities for customization seem limitless--and then explore the world as you will. There's a compelling main quest for you to follow, which takes about 40 hours to finish the first time through, but the majority of the game's content is peripheral to that main quest. You can root out evil 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 favorite shop, and, if you can believe it, there's much more.

So the breadth of content is as remarkable as ever, but the most important thing is this: The many types of gameplay in Oblivion are well-designed and deeply satisfying, even when taken on their own. That's the main difference between this game and Morrowind. This may be a role-playing game, but you could play it like a pure action game, or like a stealth game, or like an adventure game, and it'd still be at least as good as, if not better than, games that are specialized in these regards.

Oblivion does a great job of quickly introducing you to all these different aspects of play, successfully engaging you rather than overwhelming you. You see the world through your character's eyes, but a behind-the-back perspective is also available. Initially you just pick a name, race, and gender for your character, and the game opens with you stuck in a dungeon cell, being taunted by a fellow inmate.

Overall Rating: An 11/10

First i agree with every one here that said the game was awesome. But about the "Quick Warning" do not buy this for brand new off of ebay from more than 30, amazon is selling it for that much, i thought i would let you guys know that.

AWESOME GRAPHICS! Very good story line. I like the ability to customize, very good RPG game. Have yet to play Shivering Isles. I give this game a 9 to 10.

Oblivion is a massive game. With all the expansions installed, you can have around 200 hours of gameplay and probably more. You pick your path. Good or evil. You can become a thief, Warrior, Assassian or Magician. It't both 3rd and 1st person. Huge land to travel around on. The shivering Isles give Oblivion a portal in the game to take you to another world that is huge also with a ton more quests. This is by far the funiest game I have played in a long while. I have played the Pc version more than the xbox 360 version. The game does have a lot of bugs. It freezes up a lot sometimes. Make sure to do lots of saving and on different slots. You also need a harddrive to play the expansion stuff on the xbox 360 version. This is a must play game. Even with the bugs, you have to love this game. Awesome graphics by the way. You can see moutains in the distance and actually go there. If you haven't played this game, I would go out and get it today. You are missing out. Also check out Fallout 3, which is exactly like oblivion but with guns and added rpg style shotting or just straight first or third person shooter action.

Oblivion is the best game for the 360 its nonstop fun.There is over 100 hours of straight gameplay. Thats for people who know the game.For the average people this game will last an decade. With the expansion with it too this is too good to be true. If your thinking of a christmas gift this year. THIS IS IT!

Ultimately best graphics for the Morrowind experience! Whether you play straight out or love to cheat, this game has it all! Be good, be bad, be you! You can do just about anything in this GOTY edition, even buy houses to store your gear! "After the mysterious and untimely death of the Emperor, the throne of Tamriel lies empty. With the Empire ready to crumble, the gates of Oblivion open and demons march upon the land - laying waste to everything in their path. To turn the tide of darkness, you must find the lost heir to the throne and unravel the sinister plot that threatens to destroy all of Tamriel.

In development since 2002, Oblivion is another leap forward in role-playing with its combination of freeform gameplay and cutting-edge graphics for the world under The Elder Scrolls." - IGN

My husband and I love this game. We had it when it first came out, but it got a few scratches and stopped working. So we bought another one on ebay. We love the graphics and how many different missions there are. Also that there are 3 games altogether.

best game ever, you can change the weather, make weapons, and summon your own minnions, even stop time, and thats just in the one expanson not the main game or the other expansion. if you can think it you can do it, the only downfall is there is no more levitation

Positives-

Great open ended non-linear RPG. Beautiful graphics, fun combat, and compelling storyline. A must have! Highly recommend!


Negatives-

Pace of progression is very slow.

As is the case with every new Bethesda Softworks game ever to be released, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has pushed the envelope to Dive Rock and thrown it to the unforgiving bottom where all previous games (and Adoring Fans) have fallen. A completely open-ended gaming experience with dozens of side quests. One could easily play for weeks without even touching the Main Quest. With a wide variety of enemies ranging from rats to grizzly bears from grizzly bears to minotaurs and from minotaurs to Xivilai, not to mention bandits, marauders, necromancers and cultists this land is anything but safe. The towns, however, are pretty safe (for the most part) and each has it's own unique style and quests from Cyrodiil's matchless NPCs. This world is HUGE and even though I've logged over 200 hours into this magnificent game I still have more to see and the expansion packs are amazing and definetly worth my weight in soul gems. The game that keeps on giving is filled with Easter Eggs and secrets along with some references to the last game in the series, Morrowind. Also rumor has it that Maiq the Liar might even make an appearance. An overall amazing game with a solid storyline, unique characters, breathtaking detailed graphics and unparraleled gameplay. As an avid gamer I highly reccomend you make this purchase and "Close Shut the Jaws of Oblivion"!

Quite possibly the greatest Action-RPG of all time. If you like games like Zelda... you'll love this game. It is what Zelda for the Wii should have been. Wide open story lines, tons and tons of side quests, killer expansions. The PC version is (slightly) more impressive... but this game shines on the 360... although it came at launch time it is still one of the better looking games on the console.

Gameplay-9.5
Graphics-9
Sound-9
Replay-9.5
OVERALL-9.5

One of the best games for xbox 360! Elder Scrolls gets another smash hit with Oblivion. The world is huge and has so much that you wont be left asking for more after a short week of play. 100% recommended! The graphics are breath taking and really show off the xbox's abilities. While the graphics show off xbox's abilities the plot shows off Elder Scroll's ability to make a fun game with last memories.

Really like this game. Its great! A DEFINITE BUY! I really like the idea that you can be who you want to be, and build yourself up the way you want! The only thing I didnt like in the game, was that there was not enough cleavage and it was 'uber long...seriously, thats a complaint!

game of the year edition has all the addons or expansions. and is very detailed and has an excellent game plot to the whole game in a whole.
if you love rpg then you would love this game.

Wow! this online shopping site, buy.com is very accurate at selling items! Very Fast Shipping and the shipping cost was very reasonable.

Great game. It lets you explore and do whatever you want. It is a very vast game and you can customize a lot of skills.

Besides the fact that the environment is sooo vastly huge, the game play and graphics are absolutely awesome. I have easily 400 hrs into the game and have probably only seen about 60% of the world. Yes, that's how large it is. In addition, with all that time invested, I completed the main story line, and continued to play catching up on other quests and there are still many I did not complete.

OVERALL, this game is so massive and interesting that it is easily one of the top gamer values there is. I loved playing it and if RPG's is your forte then you will to.

ES4(GOTYE) seems to be a great game, or so that's the way my dad describes it. I got it as a present for him, and he can't put it down. From what I understand, it's very much like ES4, but a lot more detailed and expanded. No complaints from him so far, just my mom because he won't get off of the 360 now.

Exactly what I was looking for, the shipping was quick (& free)! The book was in good condition, just like he said, and the game had everything that was supposed to be included with it in good condition. I have no regrets at all for this purchase from this buyer.

Oblivion is a great game and the expansions only enhance on the enjoyability of the game. Sometimes the second disc will have problems installing correctly, but these can be worked through with Bethesda's tech support page. Overall it's a great game, the expansions do increase the load times when the game starts up. But once the game begins, it's a fun from there.

Thanks! I really like it. I think most people will. It is very challanging. Well put together. There is a lot of thought behind it.

This game is hands down one of the best RPG's ever made. There are so many quests to do, you could spend hundreds of hours playing and exploring. The physics in the game are stunning. (I set a sword down with the hilt on a fence which was on a slight hill, the sword rolled increasing in speed down the hill) Combat is very well done from close range to distant to magic. Make your own spells and enchant weapons and armor. I guess the one thing I dont like is that weapons can only be enchanted with a charged damage inflicting magic. So no healing spells on the swords like in Morrowind. Great character interaction and play. Highly recomend this game to anyone who loves fantasy RPG's and has lots of time on their hands.

This has to be my favorite open ended RPG. There's so much you can do, which can easily lead to 100+ hours in the game. I've gotten almost 40 hours and I'm still not bored with it! The graphics in this game are completely amazing, especially in HD. You can make almost any type of character desirable, weather you like hacking and slashing swords, being a mage, or maybe a thief. You can do pretty much whatever you want, even if you choose not to touch the main quest line you can still enjoy this game, although I do like the main quest. In this edition, the Game Of The Year version, it adds two expansion packs which I've yet to try out, adding 40+ extra hours of gameplay and new quests to do. If you've played any of the Elder Scrolls games before, you'll know this game is of quality. Excellent gameplay and amazing graphics is what this game is about and it's worth every penny, so go ahead and buy it. Rent it if your unsure, but you'll probably end up buying it.