Now that I’ve reached the end of my arduous journey, I can safely say that Oblivion has been the most difficult game I ever had to review and score thus far. Because it’s not as simple as it may seem at first glance. From the tone of this article, the criticism and the examples I gave, you probably would have expected me to give it something like 75 or less. But I can’t, because it’s not just about giving a score to certain criteria. Although some aspects of the game can’t be denied – the stupidity of the NPC’s (especially when they try to help you in a fight), the system requirements, the stability issues, the bugs – everything else is open for debate. Who am I to tell a player, that likes how the scaling system is balanced, that he is wrong and I’m right? What should I uphold most, the size of the world and the hundreds of locations that you can explore, or the horrendous interface the designers created? The satisfaction you get when you hit an enemy with a fireball or the silliness of the Speechcraft mini-game? The attention and love for detail with which all the locations, weapons, items and armor where created or the necessity to dig through the game’s ini to boost the level of detail in the background? The disappointing main storyline or the brilliant side quests that you will uncover along the way?
The truth is that Oblivion will represent a very different experience for each and every one of you. Some will hate it, some will love it, others will abandon it after a while or wait for some fan made mods to entirely change the game experience. Oblivion isn’t something that you can “study in the library†or “read about in booksâ€. You have to experience it for yourself and make your own opinion. I’ve made mine. And until Gothic 3 is released, I’m going back to Fallout 2 and Planescape Torment.
