Oblivion was the first game I played on my Xbox 360 and it had an effect on me similar to Super Mario 64. Nintendo 64 owners will remember what it felt like when Mario first jumped out of his green pipe and into the third dimension. It was the realization that this was a game unlike any that had been seen or done before on a console. That’s exactly how I felt after emerging from Oblivion’s first dungeon and properly entering the fantasy realm of Tamriel.
This was an entire world packed with temples, ruins, lakes, forests, mountains, treasure, quests, towns filled with cat people, lizard people, green people and people people, not to mention all the cups, bowls, chairs and books – thousands of books, with real words in them! And it all fit on a single disc!
Yes, like any good RPG there are monsters to slay, kingdoms to save and skills to learn, but that’s not why Oblivion is one of the best games on the Xbox 360. It’s because of the huge world it lets you explore and get lost in.
Everywhere you turn there is something new to find, whether it’s a new dungeon, a quest or even just a plant you haven’t seen before. I remember bringing it along for a weekend trip to a friend’s house, a guy who had never once shown an interest in RPGs. As soon as he got the chance to explore the countryside, the controller never left his hand for the rest of my stay. The fact that game studios could now pack this much content into a game amazed both of us.
I’ll be the first to say that the game isn’t perfect. The level-up system is backwards, dungeons and towns tend to be samey-looking and the people all have a weird glow to them, like there’s something radioactive in the water. But the sheer scope of Oblivion, from the amount of real estate to the multiple ways to tackle quests, makes up for any shortcomings it has.
I still haven’t seen the end of the game’s main storyline, but this is a buffet of game where you pick and choose what to play according to your tastes. I had a blast making new weapons and spells at the Mage’s Guild and tracking down rare potion ingredients. Another friend of mine spent a whole afternoon just trying to hunt deer. It is one of the most literal example of a role-playing game I have seen.
Other games like Mass Effect 2 and Fallout 3 have arguably eclipsed it in terms of mechanics and accessibility, however Oblivion will always remain a sentimental favorite of mine. It was the first game to really give a taste of what this new generation of hardware had to offer and I look forward to the next game that can give me that experience.