Video Games: March 2006 Archives

I wasn't sure what to think when I finally picked up my copy of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the Xbox 360. This game has been long awaited and exceedingly well hyped up to the 3/21/06 launch date. While I was pretty sure it would be a good game, it was the Oblivion game guide from Brady Games that stopped me from opening the box for a day. The game guide is over 300 pages long. And it isn't just one of those guides that replicate what's in the Bethesda manual-no, it actually tells you to read the manual and come back! The guide has detailed maps, notes on each dungeon, and incredibly detailed stats on all races. Without their suggestions on character creation, I doubt that I could have come up with a Pure War Wizard (a High Elf with Destruction and Melee combat skills).

How's the game? It's fun, addicting, and totally open-ended with tons of choices to play the game the way that you decide. The graphics show off a world that is lush, beautiful, and dangerous. The gameplay is much like Diablo crossed with a First Person Shooter (if you choose that mode instead of third person). You see through your character's eyes, swinging swords and casting spells at your enemies. When you walk through a dimly lit dungeon, you can carry a torch and instantly swap it for a weapon when trouble arrives. When people say this game probably has over 100 hours, if not 200 hours, they are not kidding. The minute you escape from the dungeons and start walking around, there are dungeons, caves, and mini-quests everywhere. I keep trying to get to Imperial City and I stumble across another dungeon filled with loot. There's a place nearby that has some vampires that I might want to see, too. This is just in the first area; there are probably hundreds of dungeons you can trek through. I'm still a newbie at Elder Scrolls, so little things like the compass markers or leveling up were mysteries, but I've learned the details in the documentation and the message boards. Only one thing has been irritating, and that's the lock picking mini-game. You'll come across locked rooms or chests that will be important to open. The lock pick screen shows up, and you must lock each tumbler in place by flipping it up and pressing the A button before it can flop down. I broke many picks and resorted to reloading the saved game until I could get it right.

At my slow pace, I could probably play Oblivion until the end of year and not be finished. There's so much to learn and many places to visit-hopefully it won't interfere with my work too much. If I had one game to take with me on a deserted island, this would be it! Nuff said.

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I received BLACK from GameFly last Monday and I'm on the last level of the game. It's a very intense FPS, the video clip above illustrates what the game play is like. The environmental effects are outstanding. You can see in the video that when you are shooting, debris flies through the air and you can't really see. The recoil effects on the guns are very realistic. If you are shooting an Uzi, it bobs up and down violently. Reloading the guns has a really cool haze effect on the screen--I suppose because the guns are so hot that steam is coming out when you put in a fresh clip. There are only eight levels in the game, but each of them are huge, and one of the knocks against BLACK is that it takes a while to reach a checkpoint--you can't just save anywhere like you can in DOOM 3. There's no multiplayer or co-op modes at all, which is why BLACK has a metacritic score that translates to a three-star game. Despite that, I think BLACK is fantastic. The graphics are near next-gen quality and the soundtrack is by Michael Giacchino from the TV show ALIAS--you will feel like a spy on the run in some scenes! I can't purchase it at $30-40 because I'm so into the 360 titles. If I could knock down 360 achievements with BLACK, I would be tempted. It's a damn great rental. Nuff said.

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I'm skipping Heaven and Hell and going straight to Oblivion. I haven't played a good fantasy RPG in ages and all the hype on Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has made me decide to pre-order from Buy.com. The screenshots on the official site for the Xbox 360 version look gorgeous. The previews on the 1UP Show, GameTrailers, and IGN 360 finally won me over. Although I'm worried this will be another one of those massive games that I play for six hours and never touch again! Kathleen Saunders at 1UP was amazed by the lifelike quality of the environments-you look off in the distance and see mountains that you can actually walk to. On a high-def screen, this should look amazing. There are eight main cities and several areas outside each of them. Unlike Morrowind, it's faster to travel from place to place. The first person sword fighting view really knocks me out. Achievements won't be cheap as there are 50 of them scattered through the various sub-quests. IGN Xbox 360 has a thorough walkthrough of a recent playtest and it seems like the 360 controller is perfect for this game. IGN's Charles Onyett did note some minor framerate slowdowns when many NPCs were gathered in one place, and low res textures in the draw distance. I hope these are minor because I really want to play this on my big screen TV. Gametrailers has an interview with Peter Hines from Bethesda, where he talks about the Guilds you can join (including the Dark Brotherhood), and you see some of the actors doing voice-overs, including Terrance Stamp and Lynda Carter. Having them both in one game makes it worth buying alone. What would happen if General Zod killed Superman and had babies with Wonder Woman? Egads! Nuff said.

External Links:
XBox 360: Elder Scrolls Oblivion--Free Shipping at Buy.com!
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion : Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides)

WorthPlaying has some pretty cool screenshots of Lara Croft from the forthcoming Tomb Raider Legend game. This promises to restore Lara's franchise back to classic form. If you were disappointed a bit in that new outfit, don't worry--here she is in a slinky evening dress, with a belt made out of grenades.

I'm also looking forward to the following 360 games: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Battlefield Modern Combat, Burnout Revenge, and Elder Scrolls Oblivion. I'll be renting these from GameFly. If you've tried GameFly in the past and given up, their service has really improved a lot. Returning games, which took up to two weeks before, happens almost instantly for me. The post office scans the GameFly return envelope, and GameFly gets an electronic notification that the game is in the mail. They update your game queue and send you a new game right away. Very cool. Nuff said.