Oblivion Review
Now that you are out in the world, you can do whatever you like, whether it be exploring the landscapes and ruins, completing various quests for villagers and townsfolk, joining guilds such as The Fighters’ Guild, The Mages’ Guild, The Thieves’ Guild or any other guilds or groups, or you can focus on completing the main quest. Whatever you want to do, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will allow it.
The sound and music in the game was very well chosen and suits Oblivion. The theme music for walking, loading, etc is all orchestral, and follows the vein of the soundtrack of The Lord Of The Rings. Once under attack, or if an enemy has spotted you, the music becomes more intense as a warning to let you know you are in danger, and to make the battles feel more involved. The general sound in the game has been well executed. There are all sorts of noises ranging from deer, sheep, rivers, wind and birds, to pretty much anything in the game that you can think of.
The Artificial Intelligence in the game is excellent. Individual people react to the world around them. Unlike the first Elder Scrolls games, people now go to sleep when it gets dark, and will lock up their shops, not reopening them until the morning. You can break into their stores if you really need something, just make sure that you don’t get caught by the guards. Lip-synching has also been introduced, so when characters are speaking to you, their mouths move in time with their words. People also eat, drink, harvest their crops, have conversations with other people, and will like or dislike you depending on what you say to them. People that are in the same guild as you will like you more and you will be able to get better prices with them when selling or buying items from them.
Oblivion has a very neat way of handling combat. Instead of continually pulling the right trigger to swing your sword regardless of what your opponent is doing, creatures can block your attacks, causing you to pause briefly. This gives them a chance to hit you, and if you’re fighting more than one opponent then you will take quite a bit of damage. If you pull the left trigger your character will raise his or her shield (if you’re using a one-handed weapon) and cause the same effect to the attacker, giving you a chance to cast spells or get some much needed damage in on your opponent. This adds a new dimension when fighting multiple opponents or creatures, and adds more realism to the fights, as you have to time your strikes and blocks.
