The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

You know, all the talk about Bethesda's new Elder Scrolls game, and I still wasn't convinced that it was the real deal. After all, screenshots can go only so far as far as jaded gamers are concerned. So how about this then: I got to see an interactive demo of the game, as Bethesda's Todd Howard was actually playing a couple of levels and explaining them to us. And, oh boy.

Dark caves are usually inhabited by hermits or monsters. With my luck, it's going to be the latter.

Come out, wherever you are! I don't have the proper outfit for hide-and-seek!

As far as next-gen gaming is concerned, this is certainly the first and possibly the only truly next-gen game I have seen at the show. The graphics look even better than in the screenshots. The details on the objects (like your Claymore sword for example) are simply astounding. Todd explains that the artists painstakingly designed more than 9000 objects for the game in all, so yeah, the world of Elder Scrolls IV looks detailed. And when I say detailed, I mean it's taking the concept of detailed computer graphics to the next level. Once you get past the fact that everything looks so detailed and that there are more layer of light maps and bump maps on the objects than you can deal with, you are treated to a completely interactive environment, with a completely believable and powerful physics engine. Todd was rattling some chains as he was walking around the prison cell (it's where your adventures in the game start), and then I seem to remember this amazing demonstration with arrows, where he would manipulate the environment by simply shooting arrows at stuff. They would be stuck in wood, bounce off stone and metal in a realistic fashion, etc. Another thing that closely ties to the phenomenal look and feel of the game is the combat itself. For those of you fearing that the combat in Elder Scrolls 4 might be a bit too generic, like the one from the third game, I can reassure you that you can put your fears to rest. The sword fights take place in first person, like the rest of the game does, but the good news is that you can kind of feel the weight and the power of the swords as you and your opponents swing them at each other. There are more combat moves that I could notice, and then blocking a blow with your shield or doing a power swing feels like you're actually engaged in melee combat with big and bulky metal weapons. It's just great. Partly, this has to do with the physics engine, and partly it's the game's amazing sound effects.

Next thing that truly impressed me to the point of having my lower jaw drop a bit as I was watching the real-time scene is the way that Elder Scrolls IV renders forests. You've seen it on the screenshots, but it's a whole different ballgame when you actually see it live. The forest truly comes alive. The number of polygons on the screen at the same time is scary to say the least, but the good news is that the high-end PC rig that was running the game had no problems rendering it. The frame rate was VERY decent considering what I was seeing on screen. Todd walked a bit through the forest only to decide to take our hero to this clearing, where old elven ruins jotted from the lush forest undergrowth. Holy hell, the detail on the stone statues just blew me away completely. Incidentally, places like this are guarded of course, so this was the first time I saw the abovementioned combat in action.

Another fear that I had from seeing the previously released screenshots was that the bloom effect would just make everything look too shiny and nice and that you'd never really get that dungeon feel from playing the game. Hell no, man, I was so wrong. One of the last scenes that we were shown takes place in a city that was attacked and razed to the ground by the forces of Oblivion - you enter the scene on a cold rainy night surrounded by death and ruins. The weather effects are amazing and the scene is about as grim as they come in computer games. The thing is that the Elder Scrolls IV engine is so powerful that it can create both the dreamy look of buildings and forests drenched in sunshine, as well as scenes of gloomy dungeons with festering corpses and monsters.

Finally, Bethesda has gotten onboard so many great actors (like Patrick Stewart for example) and there's like more than 50 hours of recorded voice overs for this game that takes up like half of their DVD. All of the dialogue that I've seen was lip synced so you just getting this sensation of being completely immersed in a living and breathing game world. So much so that your hero, while still leveling up, will do so seamlessly, so that the illusion of a virtual world is never broken.

The NPC AI is fantastic and fully situational. They literally react according to what's going on in there world, which can create both some funny and very lifelike scenes. The whole idea is to have you fully immersed in the game world, which in my mind is what Bethesda has managed to do.

I think I could go on and on about this game. There's just so much more to say. To cut a long story short though, this is by far the most impressive game I have seen on the show so far.

-- Uros "2Lions" Jojic