Newbreview - Massively Overrated: Oblivion

The Newb Review's Kieran Roycroft tells us why he thinks you should avoid playing Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

[itsactuallyadam]

Oblivion was the first game i bought when i got a gaming pc, all those years ago, in fact oblivion was the game which made me want to buy a gaming PC, i played what was the first 20 mins of the game and thought it was incredible, the scale, the swords. Really seemed like my type of thing, but the more i played it, the more i came to loth it. Defiantly Overrated, there was one part however that always amused me, STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM!

[ComboBreaker]

No story line at all. No character development. No other characters (a party system like JRPG) to go on the quest with you.

And when you talk to people, the camera moves to their face, and it's like talking to a robot, their emotionless face, staring at you with no expression.

And when you leave town, you don't know where to go, because there is no storyline to move you forward. And then you just walk around, in a empty lifeless world with lifeless NPC.

[WittyAdrian]

No story line? Get yourself checked dude :S. No character devolopment? How háve you played this game? I believe there are actually a few quests in which you get help from a NPC.

True, the talking to ppl was awkwardly weird, but that doesnt change the fact that the game was awesome. If you cant step over a little thing like that, you should stop gaming right now.

When you leave town you have a handy little compass with a handy little marker to tell your handy little feet where to go in order to complete your quests. Besides that... ITS AN OPEN WORLD GAME... Does free roaming mean nothing anymore to you? The beauty of free roaming is entering a world where you can do anything, go anywhere... If you want a linear game with invisible walls and routes planned out for you, go play Call of Duty.

In the end; Oblivion is a hell of a game. One of the best, kickass RPG's out there. If you can't see that, you should stop playing games, or at least dumb down your gaming level to games like forementioned CoD or MoH...

[crofterz]

@ComboBreaker I agree with you entirely. I see a lot of the comments on this article talk about it's the only game out like it. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's good, does it?

Take a game like Heavy Rain for example. There's no other game out there like it, yet a lot of people disregard it as pretentious toss and "not a game".

For the record though, Heavy Rain is brilliant.

[Jacobite]

WHAT! mmmmmmmmmm you on something lol. I myself loved Oblivion spending over 60+hrs on the PC and least 20+hrs on the 360, my youngest son least played 100hrs easly on the 360, this game is a great experience, might not be your cup of tea in RPGs, but it has its fans anyway the 360 graphics looked fine, and the PC mod support is second to none.
And you only played 4hrs on the PC & 360 just looks it wasnt your type of game I say to any gamer out their give it a go still looks and plays good, its what a call a open world game.

[crofterz]

Only high on life maaaaaaan.

ONLY 4 hours? If by 4 hours a game hasn't won you over, you've got to be extremely committed (or crazy) to carry on...IMO of course..

[PidgeottosCrew]

@crofterz

I played Half-Life 2 and disliked most of the game during its running time. But then I got to the end, which I still consider it one of the best sequences in gaming.

So perseverance can sometimes wield rewards, especially if you're playing a game that has received critical acclaim though you're not sure why. There are plenty of unique missions in oblivion that really boost the experience, such as the mission where you get sucked into a painting or the one where you have to murder everyone in a house while making them suspicious of each other.

[Jacobite]

lol each to there own then, but the thing is I dont go for RPGs, this game will stick with me like classics like UT, RTCW, DF2, HL, TF,SOF and so on.

[mightyles]

I loved Oblivion when it first came out. I clocked up well over 100 hours on the 360 version, and I have collected 100% of the achievements. However, it really hasn't aged well.

Terrible, monotonous voice acting, frequent and long loading times, and contradictions in the plot (So I can be the leader of the Dark Brotherhood AND the Mage's Guild AND the Theieves Guild all at the same time?). I actually find it quite depressing to go back and play it, becuase it just doesn't live up to my possitive memories :(

[crofterz]

@PidgeottosCrew That is some commitment you've got there but I really don't see why you should have to put up with a game for hours on end, despite not enjoying it at all, just in case there's some enjoyable moments further into the game.

Answer me this, would you say, watch an hour into a 2 hour long film, despite it only actually getting good during the last half hour?

If i'm honest, I think 4 hours is enough for a game to win me over, if it hasn't by then..what's the point?

[blackhammer]

I'd like to find a better RPG with similar style as Oblivion and the Elder Scrolls, but unfortunately there were none at the time.

[lastdual]

I loved Oblivion (and Morrowind, Fallout 3, etc.), but I agree that it would be nice if Bethesda had some competition.

As it stands, they're pretty much the only developer making 1st-person, open-world fantasy RPGs.

[itsralf]

tried to play it on the ps3 a few months ago, seemed like a solid game but the ps3 version was obviously a poorly-done port. reallllllly bad frame rate... /: granted it was released early in the ps3's life. most multiplatform games did suck on the ps3 around that time. i'll give skyrim a chance though. looking forward to it.

[Tired]

Apart from some textures...i'd read that the PS3 version was much better for loading times and frame rate than the xbox.

Just bethesda's cack handed engine....bring on SKYRIM!

[itsralf]

never played the 360 or pc version. only the ps3 version. i had a lot of trouble with the frame-rate on it, especially with rendering towns and enemies. but definitely, bring on skyrim.

[PidgeottosCrew]

Oblivion was actually one of the first examples of a multi-platform game that looked and performed better on the PS3 than the Xbox.

[MAJ0R]

vanilla Oblivion was pretty bad, but with mods it's way better

[H8GRIP]

Still 1 of my favourite RPGs this gen, I racked up 130hrs alone on ps3 (with no trophies) awesome game and Skyrim looks like its going to blow it away... Fingers crossed

[earbus]

I liked morrowind but not oblivion it was good looking at the time but was like grass growing or paint drying for me im really enjoying the witcher though.

[Xof]

And here I thought most gamers capable of articulating their opinions held Oblivion in fairly low regard.

[CaulkSlap]

It was decent at the time but lacked any depth. More a tech showcase than anything. Big step backwards from Morrowind in every area that really matters. Gonna need a lot more content and depth in Skyrim to satisfy people who grew up before Xbox360.

[PidgeottosCrew]

I liked it. Maybe I should write an opinion piece too.

[Rybakov]

anything elder scrolls is amazing anyone who says its not is a call of dude bro who only wishes they could play a real game but settles for the same low budget crap every year

[Franky7]

Did you guys read all that shit?... dude this game was made 5 years ago...hell it was probably planed 2 years before that...this game was the only think that kept me from playing CoD all day... and don't get me started with fallout... If you dont like it too bad for you...move along and stop bitching.

[kasser]

Pick up a popular game, call it overrated and get fanboys arguing while you win site hits.

Seriously, if Oblivion features are nothing of your interest then DON'T PLAY IT.

And you dont play a sandbox game and then you keep bitching about lack of story progression!

It is like if someone plays a racing game like GT and he bitch about repetitive racing all over the game.

[Legion]

Wow... a little late on the review maybe? Waiting on the end of my chair for his review on Pacman.

I myself have just chose to go back and complete the game... seeing that for some reason I had it on my shelf with the hundreds of other titles and never finished playing through. (I tend to get side tracked by the next best games as they appear)

It doesn't match up with todays titles and does have many issues brought up within the review. But... it has its own merits that keep it enjoyable. So much you can do in the game... You don't need to do everything to complete the game but if you want to join every faction then you can.

There are in game scenarios that prevent you from being in multiple factions if you aren't careful. So yes you can end up being leader of each Guild but you can also be kicked out when trying to move up in level in each Guild. Kill a fellow mage while trying to steal from him for the Thieves Guild quest and you get tossed from the Mages Guild. If your infamy is to high then you can't even join the Fighters guild.

Yes much can be said about improving the game... but how many years later...? For a huge RPG world with options galore... this title is worth a pick-up if you haven't played it yet. To attack it so much later is just puzzling.

And as for the combat... obviously this guy had no idea how to use the block button when fighting. Combat is easy and I am not finding it an issue even after so many years playing it again.

[mightyles]

You are aware that this isn't a review, right?

[Legion]

What would you call it then...? A 5 year late description of what is wrong with the game? The only reason for the article is hits due to Skyrm coming out later this year and knowing that talking about an old game and it's faults will give them noticed. As the author basically claimed.

The site even has the word review in it. Isn't this newbreview.com? Even in their "About us" section they state... "We will strive to bring news, content, reviews (for both old and new games) to the common gamer so you don’t feel out of place just because you don’t know everything about games." Note the both old and new part. Basically an old review of a game this newb thinks is not worth playing. You can call it what you want but basically it is a late review of a great old title which can still be enjoyed today.

[Tex117]

I had the unfortunate experience of playing this after Fallout 3.

I LOVED Morrowind, but playing Oblivion after Fallout 3 (better leveling, story...a tighter game really), I just couldn't fall in love.

Skyrim though....Looking forward to it.