Oblivion

I picked up my Oblivion: Collector's Edition last night from my local Gamestop. Now THIS is what a "Collector's Edition" should be. I felt completely ripped off by the Perfect Dark: Collector's Edition, which aside from a cool metallic case, had absolutely nothing of value. $10 extra bucks for a tin case. Joy.

Now, Oblivion's on the other hand, is quite the treat. First of all, the packaging is extremely similar to the Extended Cuts of the LotR movies. Very, very nice. We get an extra disc which uses its 4 gigs of storage space for more than a few gamer pics, themes and concept art *cough* Perfect Dark *cough*. We get a behind the scenes look at the development of the game. We also get a nice, large, map of Tamriel. We get a 100+ page, very nicely illustrated, handbook that talks about the different races and history of this land, and we get a replica coin of the currency of Oblivion. That is some cool extras if you ask me.

I only played for two hours last night, so I can't give much of an opinion yet, but I am very pleased so far. The physics are fantastic and one of my favorite features. Practically any object can be picked up and manipulated by the player and having fun with the game's physics is very enjoyable. Combat is far and away more entertaining than in Morrowind, since there isn't any hidden "rolling dice" in the background to determine if you make contact with an enemy. In fact, I've noticed that the game is far more forgiving and easier to get into for new players than Morrowind. If ever you tried Morrowind and gave up after an hour because you felt the game was too intimidating, I say give Oblivion a try, you might be pleasantly surprised.

The character creation system is pretty deep as well. At first I thought it was going to be something like in Fight Night, but actually, you have even more control than that. You can shape your character's face however you want. It is pretty impressive. But, I do have to admit, all the characters are a bit on the ugly side, no matter how much you tweak them.

The menu system was a bit confusing at first, but I didn’t read the instructions before playing, so it’s really my fault for being desperate to play.

Graphically, the game is overall very, very solid, but it does have a few snags here and there. The character and enemy models tend to look a bit strange. Ugly if you will. They have great textures and lighting, they're just, I don't know, ugly. In large outdoor environments you do notice the game struggling a bit. There is some pop-up and frame-rate hits. Not to point where it is unplayable, but you definitely notice.

In the end though, all is forgiven because of the sheer scope of the game (same as Morrowind). I didn't want to stop playing and that's what counts. I'll give further impressions as I get more play time.

Oh, I hope to do a write up on my final thoughts on GRAW soon as well. I say that alot don't I?