The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is one of the most highly recognized, popular, and awarded medieval fantasy RPG’s, with a first and third person camera view, that offers a massive map with nearly unlimited free roam capabilities that allows players to be whoever they want to be and do whatever they please. When players begin playing they shortly find themselves searching for the next heir to the throne of Cyrodil which will take them high and low through Tamriel to find one.

Character creation has endless combinations and possibilities. Facial construction and adjustment has tons of details which can be altered and changed to create whatever character you please along with complexion, beards, hair color, and hair style. Oblivion offers ten races to choose from at character creation as well. Argonians are the lizard man like race which stand out most in the arts of stealth and stealing, Breton which are considered the masters of magic, Dark Elf whom are skilled in the arts of swordsmanship, archery, and destructive magic, High Elf or also know as Altmer who match the skills of Breton in magical arts, Imperial which tend to follow the path of the warrior and are masters of various weapons. Khajit are the cat like race who match the abilities and skills of the Argonian in subtlety, The Nord are hardy north men who prefer the path of the warrior, Orcs are the fearsome warriors who are masters of weapon and armor smithing, the Redguard naturally talented fighters with diplomatic abilities, and finally the Wood Elf or also known as Bosmer who excel beyond any other race in marksmanship.

Each race as you can see has their own perks and strong points which players can build on to create their own personal character, but just because a specific race is more of a brutal crazed warrior like the Orcs doesn’t mean they can’t learn spells or a variety of other abilities. With this being known players can have an all around master, an Avatar, of all abilities and skills if enough effort and training is put into a character.

The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion offers a huge assortment of weapons and tiers of weapons in those specific categories. For example you can have your basic sword then have two handed sword or single and two handed swords of different materials, qualities, or magic abilities allowing for a huge combination of weapons that can be used. The same system is used in armor as well everything from light leather which makes less noise and allows players to navigate the terrain a little faster as opposed to someone wearing a full set of plate armor. Armor can also be found in different materials, qualities, and grant different enhancements through magic. A nearly endless list of accessory items can be obtained as well such as rings and necklaces which often will be imbued with magical properties allowing players to have something like a heal spell, the ability to cast a fire ball, or even something simple like radiate more light from your character.

Warriors, Mages, Thieves, Assassins of the night, or a jack of all trades are bound to levels of skill mastery. Proficiency in skill builds as players use their skills more and the levels of mastery are set as such, Novice is 0-24 skill, Apprentice is 25-49 skill, Journeyman is 50-74, Expert is 75-99, and Master is 100 skill. Each level of skill mastery whether it be in magic, stealth, or combat offers perks granting your character an increase in damage, the chance to stun, or be less fatigued by attacking if it’s a weapon. Being able to take more damage, move faster, or be less fatigued if it’s armor. Other perks are offered for the skills like Alchemy, Athletics, Sneak, Mercantile, Speech craft, and Security.

Magic plays a big role in Oblivion due to the fact there are so many selections of magic. Destruction focuses more so on inflicting damage with elements like fire, frost, and shock damage ore reducing enemies resistances to those types of magic and its governing attribute is willpower, Alteration focuses on spells that allow players to breathe or walk on water, open locks, shield themselves from physical and magical damage, or alter their own or the enemies encumbrance its governing attribute is willpower as well. Illusion has the ability to charm, control, conceal, create light, silence, paralyze, command or affect morale or aggressiveness of characters and its governing attribute is personality. Conjuration grants players the capability to summon creatures, magical weapons and armor for a limited time, and turn the undead, its attribute is intelligence. Mysticism is casting spells which absorb, reflect, dispel magic, move objects, sense life, and bind souls to soul stones, its attribute is intelligence as well. Last but not least and almost the most importance class of magic is Restoration allowing players to cast restore, fortify, absorb physical and magical attributes, cure disease, and resist magical attacks and is governed by the willpower attribute. Players have the ability to make their character skilled in all classes of magic or master one specific class.

As players create their character they have the ability to choose a pre-set class or create one entirely from scratch. Three armor classes are available, heavy armor, medium armor, and light armor as well as blocking which allows more damage to be absorbed by shields. Concerning weapons there’s Blade, Blunt, hand to hand, and marksman. Players can combined these skills to create, for example, a warrior type character that can use one or two classes of magic and that can use the security skill to pick the locks on doors or chests or ever sneak so that they can silently pass a group of enemies. The combinations of skills are nearly endless and the main point of choosing skills at creation is that the ones you choose at that point will build skill quicker than others you don’t. At creation you will be able to choose from seven major skills which have a base value of 25 while all other skills not chosen will be considered minor skills and have a base value of 5.

While there is a main story line that is progressed through a main quest chain in Oblivion there are an enormous amount of side quests that can be completed and can be extremely rewarding. Players can just about find everything from their basic dungeon crawl to helping a farmer fight off an invading group of enemies. The side quests often tie in with the different guilds that inhabit Tamriel. The Fighters guild has always been a good place, for characters that prefer to get up close and personal for fights, to start at and a means to earn money and equipment. The Mages guild would be similar for those trained and specializing in the arcane arts and offer similar rewards like the Fighters guild. The Thieves guild would end up being for those who prefer subtle methods of getting what they need and not having to resort to violent actions. While not quite a guild there is an Arena that all manner of characters can participate in to show your valor and skill to all of Cyrodil and make some quick cash. Last but not least would be the Dark Brotherhood a secret organization of assassins that operate all over Tamriel doing the dirtiest of deeds for those in power, if players wish to seek the Dark Brotherhood and join their ranks don’t worry... They find you.

Each guild offers the ability to move up in rank until you’re at the top and become the leader of the guild after doing many missions for them which will have you moving all over Tamriel. When a player becomes a leader of a guild they are granted ownership of one of the several guild houses in Tamriel and can send their lower members of the guild on missions, this can pay off later on as members can end up bringing back items and money over time which you can lay claim to. Guilds overall end up offering a learning experience, putting your character to the test, also giving a flow of quests to do that will help you build your characters skills and abilities. Guilds are always something to look into if you’re interested in doing some side quests and want to get the full experience of Oblivion.

Controls in Oblivion are fairly easy to grasp because the game starts you out simple and slow then gradually builds in complication, running you through easy scenarios and terrain to get the hang of things and allowing you to try out each skills before you choose which ones you would like to have as major skills. The nice thing Oblivion offers is the ability to switch between third person view and first person view, third person is handy for navigating terrain and making sure nothing is sneaking up behind you while first person view is helpful for melee, ranged, or magic combat since aim is important.

Combat is pretty well developed the right trigger is attack and the ability to hold the trigger to charge up a power swing is capable while the left trigger utilities the block feature while wearing a shield, two handed weapon, or a single handed weapon and on bows it brings up the zoom feature. Some of the abilities for melee and bow require higher levels of mastery to use, like zoom. As a small note at time combat can become difficult and confusing depending on the abilities and skill of your enemies while at other times it can be a walk in the park if you’re character is strong enough.

While there are a few bugs and glitches animation and general graphics are very beautiful, especially when you take in the rolling grassy hills clear over to the next city or decide to take more notice in the dungeon environments. The sound and audio is pretty well done but at some points the voices which NPCs have can get extremely annoying and sometimes NPCs decide to switch accents which can just be confusing.

The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion has a good amount and variety of downloaded content on Xbox Live like the Shivering Isles expansion which adds a nice chain of quests, adding 30 hours of game play, or something a little less impacting like more dungeons with different items inside, The Wizard’s Tower, The Thieves Den, and Knights of the Nine. Other than actual game affecting content there’s always the multitude of picture packs. The downloadable content ranges from 80 Microsoft points for your basic downloads to 1,600 Microsoft points for something like The Shivering Isles.

Overall The Elder Scrolls Oblivion offers a delightful story that also allows for many hours of game play along with countless possibilities and customization. Oblivion also offers a ton of achievements so even after you’ve completed the main story line players can continue to play and rise through each guild and go through the downloadable content. Oblivion didn’t win 2006 RPG and game of the year for nothing and it’s defiantly a game to pick up if you’re either a RPG fan or have been following The Elder Scrolls series.