Main Game:

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a game that took 2006 by storm, offering the player the possibility of exploring the beautiful but dangerous province of Cyrodiil, located right in the heart of Tamriel. The Imperial City located right in the middle of Cyrodiil serves as the seat of government for the Empire in the Third Era. The game begins with one of the best intros in gaming, followed by the player being locked in a cell, some unexpected events unfold (as it is always the case in the Bethesda games), and the player is released into the magical and colorful province of Cyrodiil. The story is great at first, it hooks you up right from the beginning and it is good enough to keep you engaged, but as in all Bethesda games, the main story isn't as important as all the other elements in the game.

First, the good things:
This is a true RPG, with a mind-blowing amount of RPG elements ranging from your character's birth sign, its class, its main and secondary abilities, and an AMAZING leveling system in which XP is non-existent and your level/abilities improve the more you use them (if you run and jump all the time your character will improve its Acrobatics skill, if you use maces it will increase your Blunt skill, etc.), and you also get a system ranking your character passive abilities such as intelligence, personality (fun persuading game), endurance, luck, speed, etc. The lock-picking system is unique and fun to learn, working just as in real life with springs and pins. Side-quests have their fair share of ups and downs, ranging from the classic recovery mission in a cave to quests in which you get sucked inside a painting or in which you solve a murder mystery in the classic whodunit style. The faction quests are where this game shines at its best, while the Fighters Guild and Magues Guild are good, its the Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild what set this game apart from the others, the DB quest line is simply perfect, same as the Thieves Guild. You have dozens of factions, and you can get promoted in each one of them depending on your work and help towards them. The Arena quest line is so good, you start as a nobody fighting basic enemies and you slowly work your way up towards the reigning champion, dozens of monsters and of course, the infamous Adoring Fan. You can even bet on the arena results and watch the fights as an viewer, a really fun and innovative mechanic at the time which still is fun to engage in today. One of the things that set this game apart is the fact that it somehow feels bigger that its successor, Skyrim, even though the world is way smaller, the pace at which the game develops make for a much more relaxed experience. It is a game that definitely feels dated, but makes up for it with its amazing world, fun quest lines, great factions and surprisingly good DLCs.

Now lets get to the bad bits about Oblivion:
Exploration is fun at first, Cyrodiil is a province filled with variety, and since it is located in the middle of all the other provinces, you get to explore small parts and biomes of the 8 other provinces once you travel far enough, to the borders of Cyrodiil. First of all, while the game has a huge variety of content, ranging from all the different plants, enemies and monsters to the various cities and towns along the way, due to the technology at the time, most dungeons, caves and castles become repetitive way too quickly. I wasn't able to complete 100% locations as I have done with Fallout 3, NV, 4 and Skyrim due to the repetitiveness of the locations, which offer almost the exact same layout and enemies, making exploration unrewarding once you played enough. Same thing can be said for the Oblivion doors into the Planes of Oblivion, they become old way too quickly and are only good for farming Sigil Stones. Combat is clunky and enemies become damage sponges once you reach high levels, making combat boring since all you will be doing is spamming left click and occasionally block (unless you run a Magicka build which I haven't done.), specially goblins and gloom wraiths, they were a headache due to their blocking abilities and damage resistance even with my maxed out character. Being a 18 year old game, graphics, animations, voice acting and character models are outdated, but mods should be able to fix those issues. As in any other game using the Creation Engine, quests have their fair share of bugs, from the silly ones to the game-breaking ones, just make sure to press F5 every time you remember, may save you hours and a lot of frustration.

DLCs:

Knights of the Nine:
An interesting story-focused DLC in which the Hero of Kvatch heads out to find the Crusader's Relics. These relics belonged to a series of knights who were slaughtered by Umaril, the DLC main enemy. You find the souls of the knights in an ancient tomb, and vow to avenge their deaths, uncovering the mysteries and power-struggle between the knights that led to the relics being lost in the first place, and bringing them back to their owners (or keeping them). It features new locations, fun new puzzles, as well as some sweet loot and new items to have fun with.

Shivering Isles:
The jewel of the crown, Shivering Isles is as perfect as you can get with a DLC. The Hero of Kvatch travels to the Shivering Isles, the plane of Oblivion belonging to the prince of madness, Sheogorath, one of the most emblematic, unpredictable and loved Daedra lords in the Elder Scrolls franchise. From there on is pure chaos, the Shivering Isles live up to its name as the Realm of Madness, being a strange world with strange quests, strange enemies, weird locations and unpredictable dialogue which make this DLC feel like a fever dream straight out of Alice in Wonderland. The story is worth every minute, being unpredictable, ironic and iconic. Sheogorath is fun to talk to, since you never know what is the next thing he is going to say or do, since he doesn't even knows it himself. You can play this DLC in 2 ways depending on which door you enter at the beginning, the Mania questline is more like a fever dream, representing the crazy, wild and colorful side of craziness, while the Dementia questline is dark, twisted and paranoid, representing the darker side of craziness. It is a must-play DLC which has to be experienced in order to fully understand it and grasp the vibe. It is the best content Oblivion has to offer.

Overall:
Main Game: 9/10
Knights of the Nine: 8.75/10
Shivering Isles: 9.25/10

Final Rating: 9/10

Main Game: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a game that took 2006 by storm, offering the player the possibility of exploring the beautiful but dangerous province of Cyrodiil, located right in the heart of Tamriel. The Imperial City located right in the middle of Cyrodiil serves as the seat of government for the Empire in the Third Era. The game begins with one of the best intros in gaming, followed by the player being locked in a cell, some unexpected events unfold (as it is always the case in the Bethesda games), and the player is released into the magical and colorful province of Cyrodiil. The story is great at first, it hooks you up right from the beginning and it is good enough to keep you engaged, but as in all Bethesda games, the main story isn't as important as all the other elements in the game. First, the good things: This is a true RPG, with a mind-blowing amount of RPG elements ranging from your character's birth sign, its class, its main and secondary abilities, and an AMAZING leveling system in which XP is non-existent and your level/abilities improve the more you use them (if you run and jump all the time your character will improve its Acrobatics skill, if you use maces it will increase your Blunt skill, etc.), and you also get a system ranking your character passive abilities such as intelligence, personality (fun persuading game), endurance, luck, speed, etc. The lock-picking system is unique and fun to learn, working just as in real life with springs and pins. Side-quests have their fair share of ups and downs, ranging from the classic recovery mission in a cave to quests in which you get sucked inside a painting or in which you solve a murder mystery in the classic whodunit style. The faction quests are where this game shines at its best, while the Fighters Guild and Magues Guild are good, its the Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild what set this game apart from the others, the DB quest line is simply perfect, same as the Thieves Guild. You have dozens of factions, and you can get promoted in each one of them depending on your work and help towards them. The Arena quest line is so good, you start as a nobody fighting basic enemies and you slowly work your way up towards the reigning champion, dozens of monsters and of course, the infamous Adoring Fan. You can even bet on the arena results and watch the fights as an viewer, a really fun and innovative mechanic at the time which still is fun to engage in today. One of the things that set this game apart is the fact that it somehow feels bigger that its successor, Skyrim, even though the world is way smaller, the pace at which the game develops make for a much more relaxed experience. It is a game that definitely feels dated, but makes up for it with its amazing world, fun quest lines, great factions and surprisingly good DLCs. Now lets get to the bad bits about Oblivion: Exploration is fun at first, Cyrodiil is a province filled with variety, and since it is located in the middle of all the other provinces, you get to explore small parts and biomes of the 8 other provinces once you travel far enough, to the borders of Cyrodiil. First of all, while the game has a huge variety of content, ranging from all the different plants, enemies and monsters to the various cities and towns along the way, due to the technology at the time, most dungeons, caves and castles become repetitive way too quickly. I wasn't able to complete 100% locations as I have done with Fallout 3, NV, 4 and Skyrim due to the repetitiveness of the locations, which offer almost the exact same layout and enemies, making exploration unrewarding once you played enough. Same thing can be said for the Oblivion doors into the Planes of Oblivion, they become old way too quickly and are only good for farming Sigil Stones. Combat is clunky and enemies become damage sponges once you reach high levels, making combat boring since all you will be doing is spamming left click and occasionally block (unless you run a Magicka build which I haven't done.), specially goblins and gloom wraiths, they were a headache due to their blocking abilities and damage resistance even with my maxed out character. Being a 18 year old game, graphics, animations, voice acting and character models are outdated, but mods should be able to fix those issues. As in any other game using the Creation Engine, quests have their fair share of bugs, from the silly ones to the game-breaking ones, just make sure to press F5 every time you remember, may save you hours and a lot of frustration. DLCs: Knights of the Nine: An interesting story-focused DLC in which the Hero of Kvatch heads out to find the Crusader's Relics. These relics belonged to a series of knights who were slaughtered by Umaril, the DLC main enemy. You find the souls of the knights in an ancient tomb, and vow to avenge their deaths, uncovering the mysteries and power-struggle between the knights that led to the relics being lost in the first place, and bringing them back to their owners (or keeping them). It features new locations, fun new puzzles, as well as some sweet loot and new items to have fun with. Shivering Isles: The jewel of the crown, Shivering Isles is as perfect as you can get with a DLC. The Hero of Kvatch travels to the Shivering Isles, the plane of Oblivion belonging to the prince of madness, Sheogorath, one of the most emblematic, unpredictable and loved Daedra lords in the Elder Scrolls franchise. From there on is pure chaos, the Shivering Isles live up to its name as the Realm of Madness, being a strange world with strange quests, strange enemies, weird locations and unpredictable dialogue which make this DLC feel like a fever dream straight out of Alice in Wonderland. The story is worth every minute, being unpredictable, ironic and iconic. Sheogorath is fun to talk to, since you never know what is the next thing he is going to say or do, since he doesn't even knows it himself. You can play this DLC in 2 ways depending on which door you enter at the beginning, the Mania questline is more like a fever dream, representing the crazy, wild and colorful side of craziness, while the Dementia questline is dark, twisted and paranoid, representing the darker side of craziness. It is a must-play DLC which has to be experienced in order to fully understand it and grasp the vibe. It is the best content Oblivion has to offer. Overall: Main Game: 9/10 Knights of the Nine: 8.75/10 Shivering Isles: 9.25/10 Final Rating: 9/10