By Cody Webb

As the summer gaming drought comes to a close and this fall’s gaming surge approaches, you have to wonder to yourself just how you’re going to spend your time from now to then. Indeed, this fall’s lineup is impressive, from already known titles like Gears of War 2 and Fable II to promising newcomers like Left 4 Dead and Mirror’s Edge.

A good game to get to pass the time until the first of the lineup (Silent Hill: Homecoming which is releasing on Sept. 30) is The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. It’s a first- or third-person RPG, meaning it can be played through your character’s eyes or from a camera behind him/her. The game features an open-ended style of gameplay, sort of like Grand Theft Auto in that you can pick where you want to go and do what you want to do. It has been released for the Xbox 360, PS3 and the PC. It’s rated M for Mature, meaning kids should stay away from it. It was designed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by 2K Games. The system requirements for a PC are kind of steep, though a recent PC should be able to play it without a ton of lag and skipping.

Oblivion starts off simple: you’re a prisoner for unknown reasons and, after you design your character using a very detailed and in-depth character creator, the tutorial is cleverly hidden in your escape from the jail. As soon as you make it through the tutorial, the game unleashes you on a fully interactive world. It also gives you a gorgeous view of mountains, trees, and a ruin you can investigate up ahead.

For those of you who’ve played The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, you’ll be pleased at the new combat mechanics, along with the impressive graphics. The fighting has been improved from the random dice rolls that dictated if you hit your target or not to where you always hit your enemy, though your attack’s strength depends upon your strength and fatigue when you strike. Holding down the attack button results in stronger attacks at the cost of more fatigue. Magic has also lost its dice roll mechanics and adopted the “always hit” style. Although you can’t make an all-powerful spell like you could in Morrowind, now you can only use spells that fit into your skill with a school of magic. Each skill has five titles, starting at Novice and ending at Expert.

Oblivion features a unique “leveling” game engine, which tailors monsters and bosses to your character’s level to keep things fair. Gone are the times in Morrowind when you would come across a monster you just couldn’t defeat. There’s a difficulty changing option, but you probably won’t use it. As in Morrowind, there are several guilds, each with their own problems and storylines. You can join them any time you want, or ignore them altogether. You can even wander around the wilderness to find small settlements in need of help as well.

As you start out, the frame-rate is decent, only an occasional hiccup and “Loading Game…” now and again, but as your level increases the game tends to lag as it has to factor in stronger monsters and loot. There are well over two hundred hours of gameplay if you tackle the questlines early on and don’t take the time to explore, more if you do explore. If you’ve got the extra money, spring for the Game of the Year Edition; the extra content is worth it. Best of all, you can find Oblivion for around twenty dollars, and the Game of the Year Edition for about thirty. Definitely a great time waster for any RPG fan!

Cody Webb is a 2008 graduate of Suwannee High School.