The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion

Three words: Best. Game. Ever. Its simple math, really. Insane graphics + endless freedom + hundreds of missions + tons of things to do + a gigantic world full of dungeons, mines, old forts, and camps to explore + great controls and camera + easy to learn elements + great stealh element + neat new freeform missions like buying houses, betting on matches at the arena, riding horses, enchanting items, making spells, and more + the incredible realism = the best game ever. Simple, no? Lets go in depth.

First, the sick graphics. When you first step out of the Imperial City Sewers, the first word of of your mouth will be "holy shit!" You look around. In front of you is a Aylied ruin, literally glowing in the bright sun. Behind you is the gleaming majesty that is the Imperial City. White Gold Tower reflects in the waters of Lake Rumare. Its a work of digital art. Then when you look out from the watch towers at Cloud Ruler Temple on a clear day, you can see the entire province of Cyrodiil. That is when you realize this is probably the best looking game ever.

Next, the endless freedom. You can do whatever you want after you complete the tutorial. You can go join a guild. Do a side quest. Join the arena. Work on the main quest. Even just walk around talking to people, if you want to. You can do whatever you want. But do go trying to kill the guards as they are always 10 levels above your own. If you save up enough gold, you can buy a house. Or a horse. You can buy some armor or weapons, kill some wolves and sell their pelts, go hunting for deer in the woods. You can ride your horse around, raiding bandit camps or old abandoned mines. IT DOESN'T MATTER. Do whatever the hell you please.

If you get bored with the main quest, there are literally hundreds of side quests. Pretty much anywhere you go, theres a quest. Whether it's killing a few ogres or stealing a rare ring, there is a great variety of quests for you to do. If you don't want to fight or get in trouble, head to Chorrol and help the countess with her investigation. If you want to go on a wild killing spree, help the Odiil boys recover their farm. There are enough quests to fufill anyone's needs. Theres even a quest where some girls invite you to have "a little fun". Unfortunately, you have to kill them. Awwww, poopy.

The province of Cyrodiil is HUGE. It could take you at least an hour to cross it by foot. Thankfully, you can "fast-travel" to any location you've already been to. Everywhere you go, there are dungeons, mines, bandit camps, and more quests for you to explore. Go ahead, head into that Aylied ruin and kill everything in sight. It's your choice! You will also find small villages and camps with people to meet and sometimes help out. If you're bored of quests, you can hop on your horse and go exploring in the woods. You never know what you might find! In fact, a lot of mines and dungeons have special enchanted items at the very end. Go for it!

The controls in Oblivion are a peice of cake. Mmmmmmmm, delicious cake. Move with the left stick. Typical. Move the camera with the right stick. Typical. Attack with RT. Cast a spell with RB. Block with LT. Jump with Y. Talk and activate stuff with A. Open your inventory with B. Sheath/Unsheath with X. Change the camera view between first- and third-person with the right stick button. Enter sneak mode with the left stick button. And finally, wait with the Back button. This may seem like a lot, but a easy tutorial will guide you through the basics of gameplay. The camera is great. Variety with the view helps A LOT. Overall, the controls and camera in this game are flawless.

As I said before, the basics of the game are easy to learn in a simple tutorial. But the tutorial also helps you with harder things, like potion-making. Other elements are easy to learn too. The manual tells you how and where you can make spells, enchant items, and more.

The new stealth element adds another aspect to playing. The sneak mode (easily accessed with a click of the left stick) can help you evade guards and creatures. It also serves as the basis for the Theives Guild and Dark Brotherhood quests, as you need to sneak your way through. It is easy to tell when you can be detected by any living thing (plants excluded) with an "sneaking eye" that appears around your crosshair. When it is dark, you are unnoticed. But when it brightens, somebody knows your there. Even in sneak mode, not everyone will attack you. Also, when you are in sneak mode, you can pickpocket someone. Unless your sneak skill is higher than theirs (there is no way to tell), they will detect you. But if your sneak skill is higher than theirs and your sneaking eye is dark, you wont be detected. Hazaa!! There also is a new lockpicking mini-game. You basically push up the tumblers and press A just as it hits the top. If you hit A too early or too late, your lockpick breaks and you have to start over again. As your Security skill gets higher, picking locks becomes easier.

The addition of Freeform Missions (missions where there is no objective; you start them on your own) provides cool new things to do. You can do things like buying houses and horses, reading books that raise specific skills, getting trained, and betting on Arena matches. You can buy houses in every city. Houses vary in quality and cause. For example: there is a beat-down shack in the Imperial City for only 2000 gold, while there is a mansion in Skingrad for 25,000 gold. Two of the 7 houses have mini-quests. The house in Anvil (a nice manor for 500 gold) is haunted. The first time you sleep you are awakened by ghosts that want to kill you. After you defend yourself, you start a short mission. In Skingrad, there are two quests. First, if you buy the House Servant's Quarters (a furniture set), a nord woman name Ejya will offer to be your maid for 150 gold. Also, if you look on top of a ledge on the 3rd floor of the house, you find a letter depicting where treasure is hidden inside the house. After you purchase a house, it only comes with a bed and perhaps a few small things. To spruce it up, you can buy furniture sets from a local trader. These sets may include Bedroom Areas, Dining Areas, Studies, Storage Areas, Wall Hangings, and a lot more. You can also buy horses at stables outside of every city. Except for the Imperial City (the seller there has...well...eaten all the horses. Horses range in price from 500 to 5000 gold. You can bet on matches at the Imperial City Arena. Your Luck greatly effects your chances at winning. Also, you can get training in various skills from various people all across Cyrodiil. Other Freeform Missions include making spells, enchanting items, and reading skill books.

One of the best parts of the game is the realism. Bethesda added things like crime and punishment, bounty, fame, and infamy to make Cyrodiil seem like the real world. If you commit crimes such as assault and robbery, you get a bounty. If anyone catches you, that is. If they do and the guards nab you, you have 3 choices. You could: A. Pay gold equal to your bounty, B. Go to jail (your skills will be damaged permanently and your stolen items will be confiscated), or C. Resist Arrest. It is just as it sounds. I would never chose C, as the guards are always 10 levels above your own. Fame and Infamy effect how well known you are throughout Cyrodiil. If you complete "good" quests (like completing Main Quest segments and helping the Counts and Countesses throughout the land) your Fame is raised. If you complete "evil" quests (like Theives Guild and Dark Brotherhood quests) your Infamy is raised. This doesn't effect your game much, but it will help you in many small ways.

Add all those things together and you get one kick-ass game. If Elder Scrolls 4 was this good, man, i can't wait to see 5. I give Oblivion 10 paint horses out of 10. HAZAA!!! BEST GAME EVER!!!